Gunborg Viola HartstranD

Gunborg Viola Hartstrand died on June 23, 2026, at 96 years old, in Springfield, Virginia. 

Gunborg was raised in Öje, Sweden, a small village in a rural part of Darlana province, where she learned the values of hard work and frugality.  She and her 5 sisters and 2 brothers were raised in a home heated by a wood stove and no in-door plumbing. She attended a one-room schoolhouse and would walk to school, sometimes cross-country skiing when it snowed. At Christmas time, an uncle would send a care package to her family filled with clothing, shoes, and an orange for each child. 

After completing the Peoples High School, Gunborg attended Ersta Deaconness School of Nursing in Stockholm. She became an Assistant Surgery Nurse for 3 years at Ersta Hospital and a Surgery Nurse at Ludvika Hospital for 1½ years. She loved being an operating room nurse and spoke of it fondly for the rest of her life.

In 1959, Gunborg immigrated to the United States to work as an au pair in New Jersey while she learned English through the Camden Public Schools. She returned to work as an operating room nurse in Cooper Hospital. During a spring festival at the American Swedish Historical Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Gunborg met Sven Hartstrand, who was from Forsheda, Sweden, a small town in Småland province.  They eventually married in 1961 at the Gloria Dei Old Swedes Episcopal Church in Philadelphia and settled in Pennsauken, NJ, where they raised two children, Svante and Marianne. Gunborg became a US citizen in 1964. She was a devoted wife and mother who took great care of her family and home. The Hartstrands were active in the local Swedish community and attended Swedish church services monthly in Philadelphia. Gunborg enjoyed telling stories of the many wonderful dinner parties they had at their home with their friends.

Once their children were older, Gunborg returned to school and obtained a GED in 1976 and met all the requirements to become a registered nurse in 1980. Gunborg was an exceptionally hard worker who was dedicated to excellence every day in caring for her patients. She spent 25 years in nursing, ending her career as a charge nurse at a nursing home.

Sven died in 1996 and Gunborg remained in their Pennsauken home for a few years.  However, when her daughter Marianne had her first child, Gunborg sold her house and moved to Pennsylvania. She bought her own small home around the corner from Marianne and her family and spent years caring for her grandchildren, Lillian and Peter. Every Sunday evening, Gunborg made home-cooked dinners for Marianne and her family. Those meals were joyful occasions and filled with precious memories they will always cherish.

When Marianne’s husband, David, got a new job in Washington, D.C., Gunborg moved with them to Fairfax County, Virginia, and lived in an apartment in the basement of Marianne’s home, down the hall from David’s mother, Ann, who also lived with them in her own apartment.  Even in these later years, Gunborg continued to support her family by taking on household chores to keep active in their multigenerational home.  

When Gunborg was not working, she was gardening, a lifelong passion of hers. She grew tomatoes, flowers, and roses everywhere she lived. Lillian and Peter would frequently find their Mormor (Swedish for maternal grandmother) mowing her lawn, weeding her garden, or pruning her rose bushes. Her other passion was animals. Gunborg loved to see foxes, deer, and other wildlife. She always fed the birds outside her little apartment and made sure their birdbath was full. She always had dogs or cats and loved talking to them in Swedish.

Gunborg remained close to her family in Sweden. She would call and write to her and Sven’s family regularly and visit them every few years.

Gunborg spent her last years at Aarondale Assisted Living in Springfield, Virginia. She received the best care and was always kind to the wonderful staff since she knew, from her own experience, how hard a job they had.

Gunborg is preceded in death by her husband, Sven Hartstrand, her son, Svante, and her siblings Erix, Karin, Gunnar, Disa, Märtha and Ingrid. Gunborg is survived by her daughter, Marianne Bleicken, her husband David and their two children, Lillian and Peter; and her sister Nanny Leffler of Gävle, Sweden.

A funeral service will be held on July 11, 2026, at 2:00 pm EDT at Abiding Presence Lutheran Church, 6304 Lee Chapel Road, Burke, VA, 22015. A link to the Church service will be provided at a later date. A reception will follow after the service at the church in Bailey Hall. Burial will be in Forsheda, Sweden, at the family plot with her husband Sven.

In lieu of flowers, the family encourages donations to The Lamb Center, 3160 Campbell Drive, Fairfax, VA, 22031, an organization Gunborg greatly admired and supported.