The Man I Call Morfar

Carsten Adler Hubertz was the son of a sail maker. He took a boat to school with the other children in his small island town of Lyngor, Norway, and at an early age became a ship boy and sailed the world. In his early 20's he stood in line with the the other immigrants on Ellis Island and swore an oath of loyalty to the United States of America.

Over the course of his life, he would move many times, but always remained close to the sea: New Jersey to California to Florida and back to California. He worked a series of jobs: at a pond that rented toy sailboats, as a fisherman, and as the in-house painter for the Beverly Hills Hotel.

I remember him in his old age. He was a frail, but bright eyed man with a thick Norwegian accent and a wave of still-blond hair. He had working hands that were always busy building stools, end tables, and miniature ships. He smelled like coffee and sawdust and loved to tell us stories of his days spent sailing the world.

My favorite story about him involves this beautiful old accordion that we found buried in my parents' garage last week. A young Swedish woman by the name of Eva Maria Wilhelmina Lundh was persuaded to go to a dance at the local Norwegian community center in Summit, New Jersey. She didn't really want to go, and entered the dance hall reluctantly. But when she looked up at the stage and saw the handsome young man playing the accordion, that was it.

I love this photo of them all dressed up in their Sunday best. (And Stephanie's frame mat shows it off really well, don't you think?)

Also, much of the work I did in grad school was about Morfar. I blogged about it here.