Karen Nielsen (born Sørensen) born on 11 August 1939 in Aarhus. Karen lived with her grandparents (grandmother and grandfather) in the small East Jutland village of Lillering during her childhood. She came into the house of a family in Rødovre in her early adulthood. During that period she met Egon V. Nielsen, whom she married on xx. November 1961. Together they bought a small house in Haveforeningen Engly in Amager, which she still lives in. She was a stay-at-home housewife, where she took care of the household and took care of her two children Kirsten Skjølstrup (born Nielsen) and Hans Steen Nielsen (born Hans Christian Nielsen). After her husband's sudden death in 1985, she was thrown back into the labor market, where she cleaned at the Holmen Naval Station and in a kindergarten. Karen has four grandchildren whom she has looked after from the start and visited as often as possible. In her spare time she enjoys her garden, plays pétanque, goes to gymnastics and travels when possible both in Denmark and Europe.

The childhood home in Lillering

The local area of ​​Amager as it looked in 1956

The following is from an article in H/F Engly's internal magazine and the internal part of H/F Engly's website in 2026. However, this little story deserves to be published....

• H/F Engly

Karen is the person who has lived in Engly the longest. When you step inside Karen's small, fine house in garden 61, the walls are filled with family portraits and the living rooms are filled with stories of a long life lived with 2 children, 4 grandchildren and 1 great-grandchild. And it's not surprising, because Karen has always lived here, in the 64 years that have passed since Karen and Egon bought the house in 1961. Here she has lived with her husband, given birth to and raised her children, and lived a long life with sorrows and joys.

• Growing up in the countryside

Karen was born in 1939, shortly before World War II. She grew up in Lillering, a small village just outside Aarhus. Karen was born "out of wedlock". At that time, it was frowned upon and difficult for young single mothers to manage, so the grandparents were granted foster care and lovingly took care of Karen's upbringing.
The grandparents worked on a farm, where they lived in half of a small house belonging to the farm. Karen says that they worked hard from early morning until late at night. "..We had free lodging and got potatoes, meat and such from the farm, but back then it wasn't like you got money for it. You had to go to the farm yourself and ask for them. Then grandpa went in and got 100,- kr. and they could work for a long time."
When Karen turned 14 after 7th grade, she was sent out to "earn" on a farm. It was usually out in the countryside at that time. "..and it was hard, because I missed them so much at home. Back then you only had Sundays off, when I could cycle home to visit".

• Next stop Copenhagen

After working on two farms and a bakery, Karen thought it was time to try something different than just being in the countryside. Through an advertisement in the newspaper, she was hired in the house of a family in Husum. She worked here for 5 years and lived in a room nearby.
Karen's mother lived just over in Tingbjerg with her husband and 5 children and it was here that Karen met her future husband Egon at a New Year's party in 1960. Things went well and already in the late summer of '61, Egon had bought the house here in Engly no. 61 and the little family moved in.

• About Engly in the 60s and 70s

"..Back then, Engly was far outside the city. There were nurseries and fields where Dyvekeskolen is today. Even down here at the bend in Kongelundsvej, where you turn onto Røde Mellemvej to Engly, there were greenhouses and nurseries," says Karen and explains that many people already lived here all year round. It was said that you could be evicted with 3 months' notice, but then the municipality would also have to find you a new place to live..
"..Back then, we paid 15,- kr. in garden rent and every 1st Sunday of the month you had to go down to the board shed and pay the board. Afterwards, we went over to the market, where the children were allowed to hang out with "Mrs. P" as we called her, and the adults had a nice chat."
There was running water and electricity, but there was no lighting on the garden paths in the first years, so it could be a bit unsafe to come home at night. You had to dig your own drains. We had a toilet out back of the house and then the "Chocolate Car" came once a week and emptied the latrine buckets. We had a kerosene stove with a tank for heating, as well as two gas burners and a gas stove - a bottle of gas cost only 11,- kr.
In the winter of 1962, just after Karen had given birth to her son, it was so cold that the water froze to ice and everyone had to go up to Englandsvej and get water from a tap there. At that time, Englandsvej also had shops such as a bakery, butcher, etc.
The party square (*) was the focal point of social life in Engly. Here the children played and played ball, and here was the Marketenderiet, where you could shop and have a chat. This was where you went down to the telephone shed (the barter shed) to call family and friends and where you held summer parties, Shrove Tuesday, celebrated St. Hans, etc. "..back then there were almost no cars. We couldn't afford that kind of thing, and many of those who had cars parked them in the gardens. So the kids could play down there safely! . . The summer parties just consisted of a flatbed truck with a couple of speakers on it and then we all dragged our tables, chairs and whatever we had in the fridge down there and then we always danced and partied until the early hours of the morning" says Karen.
Back then there were also no restrictions on flights like today, so there were quite often planes landing or taking off over Engly. "..You get used to it" as Karen says. "..Every time a plane came, Egon picked up our son - Look! - and that's probably why my son ended up as an air traffic controller today," says Karen and smiles. "..It was also because of the planes that they said we couldn't build so high. But otherwise you could just build as you wanted. You didn't have to apply in all sorts of places, like today."

• The years that passed

In the early 80s, Karen's husband was fired after many years of hard work and faithful service at the Sugar Factory and later LK-NES. "..he was very concerned that he could no longer get any work, that I actually think that was the reason why he developed a brain tumor and later died in 1985, - all, far too early' says Karen. Up until then, she had been a stay-at-home mom, taking care of the children and the home, but was now thrown back into the labor market in order to make ends meet. She first got a few hours of cleaning work out at Naval Station Holmen and supplemented it with some private customers. Later she managed to get full time, until she could retire.

• Today

"..I feel so good here in Engly and could not imagine ending up in an apartment", says Karen. "It is so safe and good here and I have all my children and grandchildren who help me and take care of me. My daily life includes, among other things, with gymnastics, petanque, family and then I travel with friends and acquaintances. I talk to people around where I live, but I don't participate much in the social life here in England anymore; there's so much going on and all that stuff with pigs, popcorn machines, noise and commotion at the summer parties - Nah, I think it was much simpler and more pleasant in the old days! - we talked and got to know each other more, there was more community back then."
Karen tells of an episode to illustrate the security: One very early morning she had been out to the mailbox and walked around the garden a bit. Sørine, who lives opposite, heard the fussing in there and saw the sensor light come on and she immediately ran to her father, who came over and knocked and asked if everything was ok! ".. We look out for each other here in Engly and it feels so safe to live here!" says Karen.

(*) The current parking lot. At that time the parking lot/party area was asphalted and the playground did not exist. In the gardener's shed there were communal toilets (das), which were emptied weekly by the municipality. Here was the Marketenderiet (in no. 13) and in the Telefonskuret (exchange shed) there was a pay phone. The communal land as we know it today was then inhabited by the former treasurer Morten Ryde until 1987, when the association bought the land.

Rosengangen 36, which was previously called Engly 61, is seen here on the right with the beautiful and sharp hedge.