CELEBRATION
and served as his caregiver, lived in it until her death at
95 in 1999. She bequeathed the house and five acres to the
historical society.
Axel Hallstrom seemingly kept records of every aspect
of his life and businesses. When the historical society took
over the house, members found — in nearly every room
as well as the third floor attic — documents stacked up in
file cabinets, hat boxes, packing boxes, bookcases and oldfashioned
and handwritten letters. Smith saw an invoice from a Fort
Pierce doctor to a Hallstrom relative that was dated in the
late 1940s.
“The bill said if they paid by the 10th, they’d get 100 S&H
Green stamps!” Smith said.
Some of the correspondence between Axel and Ruth
Hallstrom and relatives in Sweden was written in Swedish,
so the historical society has brought in a number of people
who know the language to translate. Students from Indian
River State College are converting the material to a digital
format. Now, Smith is looking for more volunteer docents
to give tours of the house so that it can be open more than
three days a week (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday). He
also hopes to find someone who knows “Old Swedish,” the
language that grew out of a Norse dialect in the Middle Ages.
Gradually, it was supplanted by the less complex “New
Swedish,” but hundreds of years later, at the dawn of the
20th century, some of the Hallstroms’ relatives and associates
still corresponded in “Old Swedish.”
Ruth Hallstrom was born in the United States in 1904.
When her mother was dying four years later in St. Lucie
90
A SEASON OF CELEBRATION
satchels, from typed bills and receipts to journals
ANTHONY INSWASTY
Sara White, 7, gets ready with the help of her mother, Emma White.
County, Axel promised he would take the girl to Sweden to
meet her relatives.
“They maintained a steady correspondence over the
years,” Smith said. “The Swedish bond was very strong with
Ruth.”
Ruth went to finishing school in Sweden after graduating
from Fort Pierce High School in 1924. She would be delighted
to see Swedish customs continue at the house her father built,
Smith said.
“She was very much a traditionalist,” he said. “She liked
the old ways.”
PORTRAITS IN PHILANTHROPY
“Whatever tool you use and however much you give, you’re choosing to make a dent in the universe.
In my thirty-five years of practice in the area of charitable planning, I have not dealt with a better organization
than The Community Foundation. They are a gem of a resource for area philanthropists.”
– Bruce R. Abernethy, Jr., Attorney and Philanthropist
851 SE Monterey Commons Blvd. | Stuart, FL 34996 | 772.288.3795 | www.tcfmsl.org
/www.tcfmsl.org
/www.tcfmsl.org
