On Tuesday, Stig Salming attended and buried his brother, Börje Salming.
Their mother, Karen Salming, passed away on Saturday at the age of 95.
– It feels empty, and now there is only me left, says Stig Salming.
Karen Salming died Saturday in hospital after falling and breaking the neck of her thigh at her home in Kiruna.
– Three weeks ago she fell and had to have an operation, from which she never recovered. I was there to visit her, but came home to Gavle on Friday for Porgy’s funeral. We thought she would live a little longer, and then she informed me that she had passed during the night. It’s a tragic feeling, says Stig Salming.
Earlier, he had also gone upstairs and told his mother, Karen, that Porgy had passed away.
– She had a hard time grasping for things over the radio and TV, so I had to come up and tell her myself. This news was hard to come by, very, very sad of course, says Stig Salming.
“Porgy was pleased”
On November 24, Porgy Salming passed away at the age of 71 after developing ALS.
On Tuesday, a memorial service for the ice hockey legend was held at Skogskyrkogården in Stockholm, where he is also buried.
It was a private and closed memorial ceremony for 150 invited guests, who were family members, relatives and close friends.
– There were speeches, music and laughter. It was so beautiful and so atmospheric, it was done with dignity and I think Porgy would have been satisfied if he had been able to take part in the whole thing. She touched us all in such a nice way. All credit to everyone for being so respectful, says Stig Salming.
“It’s all horrible.”
He is four years older than Boreh Salming’s older brother, they have been close to each other all the time since Father Erland Salming died in the mine at the age of 35 and they were nine and four years old respectively.
Last year, 75-year-old Stig Salming lost his wife, Lena, after she had been ill with cancer for six months.
– It’s terrible everything that happened, hard to accept and hard. It has to be a process and I have to fight through it, I don’t feel any better this week than I did last week. Boreh and I should have spent another ten years together. Life takes paths it should not predict. I feel empty, I just let go. I’m now planning my mother’s funeral for January, says Stig Salming.
Want to go to hockey
To process grief, he tries to be open and talk to those who want to.
– Already when my wife died, I decided not to run away and hide in any way. I will try to be who I am and meet people. I will still go to hockey games when Briannas plays. I want to be involved in different contexts and try to get used to the fact that it has become like this for me. In this way, I hope to be able to heal in the best way, says Stig Salming.
Stig Salming himself played at Brynäs, Kiruna AIF and Tre Kronor and was the head coach at Brynäs.
Karen Salming lived in the house in Matojarvigatan next to the ice rink until she died.