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Inspiring Women Magazine May 2023

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feature<br />

Through My Lens<br />

"Through My Lens" is a compilation feature<br />

with a photo and short caption from<br />

multiple contributors.<br />

For this "Through My Lens" feature, we have<br />

several FAWCO women's contributions on the<br />

subject matter of Saying Goodbye or New Beginnings.<br />

Kristin D. Haanæs, AWC Oslo<br />

S. Earl Dubbel<br />

From the beginning of my life, my grandfather and I forged a special bond. He was<br />

a brilliant,unassuming man who graduated both from Harvard and Princeton then<br />

took six years off just to read. My grandfather was 69, a Professor Emeritus in English<br />

and a semi-retired Presbyterian minister when I came into his life and was 88 when<br />

he left mine.<br />

Having been an English professor and owning over 4000 books, he quite naturally<br />

shared his love of books and reading with me. He instilled this love of books in me<br />

at a very young age. I was told that he started to read to me every evening from the<br />

time I was three years old, and from the time that I can remember, he would read to<br />

me everything from myths and legends to Shakespeare. When I didn’t understand<br />

something, i.e. Shakespeare, he would explain it to me, so by the time I was seven I<br />

was well versed with Shakespeare’s comedies! From the time I could read myself, he<br />

bribed me into reading many of the classics, such as Austen, Dickens and the Brontë<br />

sisters. After I had read them, we would then discuss the books’ themes and their<br />

characters. That helped me sail through all my English classes in high school and<br />

college! Unfortunately, he died during my first year in college and did not get to see<br />

my A from a graduate English literature course on King Arthur. On the first day of this<br />

class the professor suggested that I drop the course because I was an undergrad and<br />

NOT even an English major. As it turned out, I was the one who received the highest<br />

grade in that course. To this day, thanks to my grandfather, I am a huge bookworm.<br />

Kristin, her<br />

grandfather and<br />

their nightly<br />

reading sessions.<br />

60 INSPIRING WOMEN INSPIRING WOMEN 61

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