Per Bjørn Rekdal

I met Per Rekdal & Dagny Owrenn in. I think, 1972, when, as a U.S. citizen, I was escaping the Viet Nam war by discovering Mexico, & looking for family roots in Norway. I was hitchhiking to Gibostad on the island of Senja, where I would work on a farm for a summer. They gave me a ride. They were working on political campaigns. Together, we painted signs, that said "Frigjøringsbevegelser i Afrika er ikke bare militære organisasjoner, men konstruktive samfunnsbyggere." and "Norge må anerkjenne Angola nå." Those were not useful phrases for an American hippie hitchhiking around Norway, but their openness to give me a ride, and their political convictions, impressed me so much, that I have remembered those phrases to this day. We lost touch for a long time. When the internet appeared, my sister Mary Hanvik in Minneapolis found Per's story online & remembered I had spoken of him many years before. Per & Anne & children & a friend of them visited us in Ancram several years ago. Per gave a beautiful Chinese silk robe to my husband the choreographer Mark DeGarmo. Mark is very grateful to have this beautiful gift to remind him of the kind of tranquil passion, warmth, curiosity, political awareness, and simple friendliness & sense of humor of this beautiful, rare man & his family. Literally, he helped save me life from the terrible mistake of VietNam. And he opened to me a world where people in the U.S., Africa, Scandinavia, Latin America etc. can share the best of our humanity. Thank you Per, for being unforgettable, for having changed my life, & that of many others, for the better. Love to Anne and the rest of the family. How lucky you were to get to know each other!

My deepest condolences. Per was a true friend. He will be missed by many around the world

Takk for samarbeidet vårt. Du introduserte meg til Zambia. Din kjærlighet, hengivenhet og raushet ovenfor det zambiske folk var utrolig flott. Takk for kunnskapen du delte. Jeg ble et rikere menneske av å bli kjent med deg. Og har fortsatt god kontakt med Zambia takket være deg Per. Hvil i fred. Minnes i kjærlighet.

Jeg takker for mange gode treff i Uranienborgparken med utfordrende diskusjoner og litt mimring fra norges og verdens "teaterscener".

En siste hilsen fra Mari med familie.

Gracias Per RIP. Luz y progreso en tu camino Espiritual. Amen