Åke was born 6 May, 1928. His father died when he was 17 years old. That was a dreadful shock to Åke, though his father had been a distant, strict figure in his life. Unfortunately, his mother wasn’t very keen on caring for her son. It wasn’t until Åke was in his teens, that she became a little more interested. Her sisters used to visit often, but they weren’t particularly maternal either.

A very important person in Åke’s life was his halfsister Greta, who was 19 years older. He was also very attached to his maternal grandmother Britta. Unfortunately, Britta died when Åke was very young and after his sister Greta moved out, it was years until he next saw her again. His mother and aunt Eva were both opposed to the siblings meeting and spending time together.

During the second world war, Åke was a staunch opponent of the nazi regime and he was strongly in favour of the United Kingdom its Allies. He admired Winston Churchill a great deal, and later acquired the famous politicians’ memoirs.

When his father died, Åke wanted to get away from home for a while, so he applied for work on a ship going to South America. Though he was still a minor, he set everything up on his own then confronted his mother with a paper to sign. In the end, she did, and Åke went off to Venezuela.

When he returned, he devoted himself to his studies, at least to some extent, his friends and his hobbies. Åke loved reading, listening to the radio, going to the movies and writing. He especially liked science fiction and fantasy.

After his graduation, Åke began to work with troubled children. Eventually, he became a teacher, and later a principal in special schools. For a while he was the head of an entire region’s schools. He worked in several different places in Sweden and also travelled inside and outside the country.

Apart from his summer job on the ship, Åke travelled around the Mediterranean. He was also in Germany and Egypt. Great Britain was another favorite destination, over the years. The first time he went to study the language. For a year, he also worked in schools in northern England.

For some time Åke was politically active, at the town and regional level.

At a course for further education, Åke met his future wife Ingegerd. They were soon engaged and married just over a year later. A year after their wedding, they had a daughter, then two years after that, another.

Åke, too, was very fond of animals, especially dogs and cats. He had both kinds.

After a computer course at work, and after his wife got a Macintosh computer (as one of the first people in Sweden) Åke became interested in computers. He didn’t spend much time online, but he had a homepage his daughters had helped him make.