Bernhard and Elise’s home: Translations by Joergen Bang, MD (A grandson of Bernhard and Elise) and his wife Kamma, and updated by Jill Klee, MD, the widow of Valdemar Frederik Klee. The final editing was done by Gerald D'Arcy Klee, MD. It is part of a collection of writings about Bernhard and Elise (Klee) Bang, with various authors. Gerald D. Klee is a son of Bertel B. Klee. (1890-1967)
Translation: Family gathering ca. 1903-04. Seated from the left: Elise Klee Bang, wife of Dr. Bernhard Laurits Bang; Edel Olufsen née Bang, Odine Bang (BB’s sister), Edel Olufsen’s daughter Gerda born May 16, 1901, the widow Sopie Margrethe Bang, Dr. Bernhard Laurits Bang, and in the background Aage Olufsen married to Edel Bang. Standing from the left: Henrik Owesen son of a cousin of B Bang and Elise, i.e. daughter of a third sister Moth (Marie Alette Elise Charlotte married Arreboe Iversen), foster son Valdemar Frederik (Fred) Klee, Oluf Bang, and farthest on the right Olga Barfoed (Margrethe and Ludvig Bang’s adopted daughter). Fred Klee's sister, Caroline "Cara" Milicent Klee also lived with the family at that time, but she is missing from the photo. She would have been 18 or 19 years of age at that time and could have been away in school. Axel Frederik Bang, a son of Elise and Bernhard is also missing from the photo. Axel and Caroline were eventually married to each other. Bertel Bernard Klee, the younger brother of Fred and Caroline Klee resided with Dr Frederik Emil Klee and his wife Gudrun. Bertel is not in the photo. Waldemar (alt sp. Valdemar) G. Klee, the deceased father of Caroline, Fred and Bertel Klee was the younger brother of Elise Klee Bang and Frederik Emil Klee . Please see the genealogical tables at http://www.letreb.com/historyandgenealogy/
As has already been mentioned, from June 1890 until September 1914 Bang lived in the “Professor’s House” in the most southern of the two wings which ran parallel to the garden behind the main building of the Landbohøjskolen (School), in the original Bindesbøllske grounds. When he left the school he moved to a villa, number 12 Ceresvej. This house was very close to the west side of the school, and there was a private entry to the grounds. Thanks to this location, he was able to maintain his close connection with the two centers where he still worked, i.e. the Animal Health Board and the County Veterinary Office on Rathsackvej and Rolighedsvej.
As a part of his engagement Bang must have a number of representative duties, as it is certain that there were many well-known (and less well-known) members of the profession who were interested tin coming into contact with Bang. While the available written and verbal records give very little information about the official side of the family’s life, it is very obvious that they had a very wide circle of friends both outside as well as inside those of his own school and professional circle. Among the first of these were, for example, Professors Tscherning, Rosenthal, Salomonsen and Julius Petersen, and Doctors Elnar Petersen and Gustav Feddersen, all from Copenhagen. Outside this group there were, e.g. Prof. Tage Hansen, Aarhus and Judge Graebe, Vejle.
Among those in the first group were the Professors Paulli, C. 0 Jensen, Sand, and Krabbe, together with the Director-General of the Army Veterinary Department St. Friis, Chief Veterinarian H.P. Hansen, Mrs Stribolt and, from his associates, Harald Mørkeberg, Pout Hansen, Per Tuff, lecturer P. Grunth, junior veterinarian Sigurd Keilg Axel Johansen (F etc. On 18/12-1896 Elise Bang wrote: “Party for all our Veterinarian friends, 40 of them this evening. I will give them fish, saddle of venison and ice-cream.”
A special feature in the Bang’s home which was unusual, was what they called “Come on Sunday”. These meetings, which normally took place every other Sunday, comprised the family with children and grandchildren, cousins, their foster-children Carol and Fred Klee and the young peoples’ school mates and friends, together with the older generation. The guests were always invited beforehand and usually to lunch . This side of life in the Bang home is illustrated in one of the family pictures from about 1903-04, showing part of the closest family together, drinking Sunday afternoon coffee on the garden terrace. (See above) It is possible that the picture was taken in Sophie Margrethe Bang’s home Ceresvej nr 20 - (she was widow of B Bang’s cousin Frederik Ludvig Bang), but there was a similar terrace in Bang’s own home.
For B Bang the Sunday “get-together” must have been a welcome chance to be with the children, and also to relax. His son, Henrik Bang, remarked in his speech of thanks at the unveiling of the monument from the Danish Veterinarians at BB’s grave (June 1933) said: “When I think back to our home in the at the Landbohøjskolen “High School”*, I can remember the many days when my father was tired and stressed by his immense work as teacher, at the Health Board and Health Committee, and he was often harassed by the many lectures, scientific papers, reports, and conferences, which my mother loyally helped him with, by putting them into polished form in many different languages, but beside this I saw my father’s happiness with his work, when he had time and peace for it. But apart from all these serious days I remember a large number of holidays, which Father had a tendency to dread in the morning, but quickly adjusted himself such that he unmistakably enjoyed it all very much”.
It is apparent from Bang’s account books from the Animal Health Board that his daughter Edel received a small amount for copying (by hand) the papers which were send out from the Health Committee.
There cannot be the least question of Bang’s wife, Elise Klee’s, importance within the household and in his work. The wedding in Sorø (20/12-1874) was the introduction to a happy and harmonic marriage, which lasted for 48 years, until her death 2/11-1922., = (November 2, 1922) shortly after Bang had resigned his from his post in the Veterinary College. Their loving care of each other came into words when she, during Bang’s many journeys abroad, wrote to: My dear beloved husband, and gives her loving feelings such expression as: “How are you feeling in all that heat? I hope you are not more dead than living, you poor fellow in the railway carriage. I wish that I could see you again, healthy and happy”.
On his side he wrote to her daily and was always anxious to hear from her. He called her: Kaere lille Skind (Dear little thing). On postcards this was abbreviated to K It is known that she occasionally accompanied her husband on longer journeys, such as the study tour to the European Veterinary Schools in the spring of 1880, to the Tuberculosis congress in Paris in 1888, and she also accompanied him to the tuberculosis congress in London in 1901, where they both stayed with a friend, McFaydean.
While Bang has been called a good father of the family, there are still papers from her private correspondence, and also word of mouth confirmation, which shows that Elise had to bear the main part of the burden in the home and at the same time, be the reliable hub for the children. It is easy to imagine what demands - including “the resignation from her own wishes” in order to give way to B Bang’s great engagement and responsibility - have been required of Elise as wife and housewife. It is to her credit that she was able to create that background of harmony and serenity, which made their home a safe refuge for her husband and children. It is also relevant to note the extra burden that was laid across her shoulders in 1899, when she received the 3 English-speaking children, aged 9 to 14 years old, who were born of her deceased brother and sister-in-law in California. Two of them Cara and Frederik) were raised as foster- children in the home in Landbohøjskolen (while the third was raised by Elise’s brother, Superintendent Frederik Emil Klee, MD, Silkeborg Spa).
Another aspect of Elise was her linguistic proficiency, which was of great importance for Bang, whose letters she corrected, as she did for the children and others in the family. Before she married at the age of 30 yrs she had been teaching languages, and after her marriage she continued teaching the family in French, English and German.
After she became a grandmother she read aloud to her grandchildren a book which she had translated and published: “Juan and Juanita. Two small refugees” by Frances Courtenay Baylor.
One of BB’s grandchildren (Jørgen Bang) remembered BB as a kind and cozy grandfather, “who interested himself in how we were doing, especially whether we were hard-working at school and looked after our things, but also in what we liked doing. Until the last summer that he lived (1931) he visited us in Aarhus, where he regularly took us boys to the school’s salt-water bath and bathed with us.”.
* “High School” is a misleading translation of Landbohøjskolen, the veterinary college that Dr. Bernhard Bang headed and in which the family lived. Gerald D. Klee, Webmaster