NEW SWEDEN – Rena Espling Hultgren passed away March 17, 2010. She was born in New Sweden, 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 eighth grade and graduated from Caribou in 1940. She worked at 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 Co. until late 1944, when she moved to Princeton, Mass., where they farmed. Rena spent eight years at a Belgian-owned machinery office transcribing parts and service manuals into English from French. From there she went to a 12-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 more than 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, Mass., 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 10 generations, dating back to the late 1700s in Sweden, and includes more than 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.; and a daughter, Sylvia Lee and her husband, Duane, of Honolulu. 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 p.m. Monday, March 22, at New Sweden Covenant Church. A reception will be held immediately after the service in the church fellowship hall. Those who wish may make donations in Rena’s memory to Maine Swedish Colony, P.O. Box 50, New Sweden, ME 04783. Arrangements in care of Lancaster Morgan Funeral Home, 11 Clover St., Caribou. Friends may express their condolences to the family at www.lancastermorgan.com.
RENA ESPLING HULTGREN
