Background
Hilmar Reksten grew up in a small flat at Nordnes, a central quarter of Bergen. He was the eldest of three siblings; there was a younger brother called Hjalmar (1900–1961), and a sister, Sofie. Their mother, Helene Monsen Søndervåg (1869–1902), died when Reksten was only four years old. His father, Erik Reksten (1873–1963), was a stoker and later engineer, spending most of his time out to sea. He sent home money for the children' support. It was not until 1907 that Reksten senior had saved up enough money to stay more at home with his motherless children. The same year he married Hanna Gregoriussen, whom Reksten later began calling "mother", and who created a good home for her stepchildren. She gave birth to a son, Karl (1909–1999).
Reksten did well at school, and in his free time joined the local buekorps, Nordnæs Bataillon. He had his heart set on a career in shipping, but World War I caused difficult times in that field. In 1917 he started doing unpaid volunteer work for a new shipping firm. Reksten's talent was soon recognized though, and he was given a paid job; but his employer went bankrupt in 1919, caused by the recession in shipping following World War I.
Read more about this topic: Hilmar Reksten
Famous quotes containing the word background:
“Pilate with his question “What is truth?” is gladly trotted out these days as an advocate of Christ, so as to arouse the suspicion that everything known and knowable is an illusion and to erect the cross upon that gruesome background of the impossibility of knowledge.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“I had many problems in my conduct of the office being contrasted with President Kennedy’s conduct in the office, with my manner of dealing with things and his manner, with my accent and his accent, with my background and his background. He was a great public hero, and anything I did that someone didn’t approve of, they would always feel that President Kennedy wouldn’t have done that.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“They were more than hostile. In the first place, I was a south Georgian and I was looked upon as a fiscal conservative, and the Atlanta newspapers quite erroneously, because they didn’t know anything about me or my background here in Plains, decided that I was also a racial conservative.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)