Wittenmark, Petersson, Lars                                           * Home

1965(Vestal Central HS)                                No current picture available yet

 

  Commentator:  Johnson(2)     ,  n/a               ,  William Michael (Mike)  11/21/1999

I remember Lars attending meetings of the student council, where we were freely deciding things just because we thought we had been elected to be in

charge of other people's lives, and he would be trying

to impose some sort of responsibility on us. "No, no!! That's not democratic!" he would shout.

Cultural note: He visited our house one time, and my mother quizzed him on the names of dishes that were part of our "Swedish" (Johnson) family

tradition. He had never heard of them.

  Commentator:  McLean         ,  n/a               ,  Rich  10/27/1999

Lars is on the Vestal HS site:http://www.vestal.stier.org/alumni/

  Commentator:  McLean         ,  n/a               ,  Rich  10/22/1999

We've recently  talked about how strange it was that in '65 Vietnam really wasn't a hot topic... like it became just a year or two later. It was Goldwater,

Johnson, civil rights and Robert Kennedy

I think this is one reason that '65 is considered a watershed year... marking the true transition/boundary from the 50's mentality to the more open and

liberated and protesting injustice 60's!

  Commentator:  Scott            ,  Kuehl            ,  Ann  10/22/1999

Knew Lars as a good kid. He stayed with her family for the 64/65 school year. She will contact him tonight (10/22/99)

  Commentator:  Wittenmark     ,  Petersson      ,  Lars  9/14/2001

Sorry that you haven't heard from me for a long time. Today after the horribel attacks I feel a need to share my feelings with all Americans I know and send

my sympaties. I hope you and your close ones are well and safe.

In a couple of hours there will be a silent moment all over Sweden to honer the victims. In fact there will be a common silent moment for all countries in the

European Union. Take care. Lars

  Commentator:  Wittenmark     ,  Petersson      ,  Lars  10/27/1999

I think it´s good for young people to get away from their parents when theY are 17-18. It was definetly very good for me. Being an exchange student far

away was of course even a bigger challenge. How would I get along?

I was supposed to stay in an other country for a whole year. There were no easy ways out if you didn´t like it. But of course I liked it very much.  And

people were very kind to me.

Hundred years ago lots of people left the southern part of Sweden, were I was born, and moved to USA. Some came back. And I remeber when I was a

child I used to meet some old people, distant relatives, who always talked about Chicago when they met

It was as if USA was just around the corner. So from a very early age I was keen on going to USA.

One of my relatives always used to say, when he came for a visit to my home-town: "This town is half as big as the graveyard in Chicago. And twice as

dead." No wonder I wanted to go there.

  Commentator:  Wittenmark     ,  Petersson      ,  Lars  10/27/1999

My girlfriend Barbro is Swedish. We met when we both worked at the Ministry och Labor for a while. She got a job for three years in Brussels and when

Filippa was about to be born I went on parental leave and joined her in Brussels.

So I have been here since last spring

  Commentator:  Wittenmark     ,  Petersson      ,  Lars  10/24/1999

Finally found out Ann Kuehl's email and they are in contact now.

Yes, that is me trying to get the ball (p17). Not too big a crowd watching. I wasn´t that good really but I scored a lot. I remember Gerry and I talked about

tactics and we had noticed that the off-side rule was not followed so strictly, if at all.

So I was often just standing for myself, way out off-side, waiting for a pass from Gerry.

I was in America, I think in 1978, traveling with a group from the Foreign Office. We went to NY, Washington and Chicago. And then on to Canada. When

in NY I tried to phone people but didn´t get any contact.

At a reception I met a young Swedish couple who was living in Binghamton. Small world.

  Commentator:  Wittenmark     ,  Petersson      ,  Lars  10/24/1999

I don´t have any music skills to speak of. I just write the lyrics. Only in Swedish. I hardly read music so they send me a cassett with the music

My girlfriend - you say that is the right word - works with labour-market politics and she has said that the American labour-market works better than the

European because people are more moveable. I guess she is right.

We have just decided that we will move back to Stockholm december 15. I´m looking forward to it. I love Stockholm and I don´t really like Brussels.

  Commentator:  Wittenmark     ,  Petersson      ,  Lars  10/22/1999

Has been trying to get in touch with his Vestal classmates for years with no luck until now.

He lives in Belgium with his girlfriend and their daughter bron in Brussels last year. She works for the European Union while he cares for their daughter,

but writes prose and song lyrics professionally for shows in Stockholm. Will return home  in Dec 99.

When he returns to Stockholm, he will probably go back to working for the Ministry of Social Affairs. He has written a novel about Swedish government...

but I haven't been able to get him to tell me how he portrayed the government yet.

He changed his name from Petersson to Wittenmark while at Vestal. He didn't explain why.

Was there a drama/English teacher by the name of Welch? He remembers Mr. Wells as Willie Lohman in "Death of a Salesman." I had forgotten that.

  Commentator:  Wittenmark     ,  Petersson      ,  Lars  10/22/1999

He doesn't have his yearbook in Brussels (it's in Stockholm) so it's hard for him to place all the people talked about.

 

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