Aud Oline Ramstad
Flakstad, Lofoten
One of the saddest little graves in Buckie New Cemetery is a tiny memorial to Aud Oline Ramstad. It is easy to miss it and walk on by and very little is known about the life of the young girl that it commemorates.
Aud Oline Ramstad was born on 11 July 1935 to Elias Ramstad (1901-1990), a fisherman, and his wife Signe, née Antonsen (1904-1989). She had four siblings, Mildrid, Erling, Valborg and Gunvor. They all fled from the Lofoten Islands and, indeed, the Germans burned their house after they had left. Eventually, they came to live in Buckie but we are unsure how or when. It appears they did not come via the Shetland Bus. The Ramstads lived at 2 Union Terrace in Buckpool, with the family of Olav Langedal living next door at number one. Aud died on 5 June 1942, a month short of her seventh birthday having suffered from endocarditis and gastritis. She is buried in the New Cemetery at Buckie and her grave is tended by a member of the local community. Elias and Signe returned to Norway after the war, outliving their daughter, who lies in Buckie, by almost half-a-century. They had no house to return to but, in the words of their granddaughter, "the community looked after them". Elias and Signe died within a year of one another; Signe on 25 September 1989 and Elias on 18 April 1990. They are buried at Moskenes Kirkegård at the tip of the Lofoten Islands. Many years later Mildrid, with her daughter Aud, visited Buckie and saw 2 Union Street and visited the grave of her little sister. For Mildrid it was a chance to close an important chapter in her life. She is one of the little girls sitting on the knee of King Haakon below. Aud Oline is not forgotten in either Norway or Scotland. |