Obituary for Rena Espling Hultgren

NEW SWEDEN - Rena Espling Hultgren was born in New Sweden, Maine to Helmer and Edrie (Olson) Espling and grew up on the farm. Rena married in 1944 and had two children, Sylvia and Roger, three grandchildren, and one sister, Mabel Todd. Rena attended New Sweden schools, transferred to Caribou in grade 8, and graduated from Caribou in 1940. She worked at the Caribou Public Library and completed the Augusta State Library Course in cataloguing. She worked at A&P grocery stores in Caribou and Fort Fairfield. In 1942, Rena went to live in Worcester where she worked at Norton Company until late 1944 when she moved to Princeton, Massachusetts where they farmed. Rena spent 8 years at a Belgian-owned machinery office transcribing parts and service manuals into English from French. From there she went to a l2-year office position in a construction company, writing parts and service manuals for machinery. The next l0 years were spent organizing and operating a retail and wholesale business of several motorcycles brands with over 350 dealers to keep supplied. Rena completed courses in sales, service, direct mail, and office management and made approximately 20 trips to Oregon, Colorado and Chicago to cover related fields in the industry. Her next position was at the Chevrolet Dealership in Holden, Massachusetts where she was responsible for maintaining inventories, accounting, and payroll. She was executive secretary to the owner for 11 years before moving back to Maine in 1993. Rena traveled extensively. She had been to Hawaii nine times, to nine countries in Europe with her son who was stationed in Germany, to New Zealand with her daughter's family, to Australia on her own, and to Sweden with friends. She spent a great deal of time camping with her children in the northeastern U.S. and Eastern Canada. She also spent several winters in Florida since moving back to Maine. After retirement, Rena was occupied with helping Maine's Swedish Colony, Inc. as Corresponding Secretary, Treasurer, Assistant Treasurer and Gift Shop Manager. Rena's hobbies included family genealogy, woodworking, sign painting, cross-stitch, and other crafts, and reading. Much of her work was donated to, and sold, by the gift shop in New Sweden. Rena's genealogy work covered nearly ten generations, dating back to the late 1700's in Sweden, and includes over 1700 names. The reason for this study was in keeping the Swedish heritage alive. She is survived by a son Roger Hultgren and his wife Kathy of Rutland, Mass, a daughter Sylvia Lee and her husband Duane of Honolulu, Hawaii. She also leaves behind three grandchildren: Christopher, Brett, and Shauna, as well as a sister, Mabel Todd of South Carolina. A memorial service will be conducted 2 PM Monday March 22, 2010 at the New Sweden Covenant Church. A reception will be held in the church fellowship hall immediately following the service. Those who wish may make donations in Rena’s memory to the Maine Swedish Colony P.O. Box 50 New Sweden, ME 0476.2 Arrangements in care of Lancaster-Morgan Funeral Home 11 Clover St. Caribou, ME 04736. Friends may express their condolences to the family at www.lancastermorgan.com