Her father was a saw mill foreman in Bayfield, and when Hilda was 5 years old, he had saved enough money to send to Sweden for his family. Hilda was then five years old, and one of three children. She was 20 years old when she married Tom Stahl, after which they lived in Virginia, Minnesota and frequent moves took them through Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. She lived in Flint, Michigan in 1940. 257In 1944 they moved to Los Angeles where Hilda lived in the same home for 46 years and spent 23 years as book keeper and manager of a store in Huntington Park. She retired at age 72. She lived near Harry and Genevieve LaPointe in 1983. She suffered a stroke in 1989 and moved to live with her daughter and son-in-law in Grand Junction.

He owned his own ferryboat by the time he met Hilda and they spent a lot of time on the ferry during their courtship. He spent most of his life as a salesman and died following hip surgery at age 65. He died from a stroke.446