Centralian Advocate:
July 30, 1993
© News Ltd: used
with permissio
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Old
character leaves behind happy memories
One of
the old "characters" of Alice Springs was laid to
rest this week.
Jimmy Bergengren, who died last Wednesday from
melanoma at the age of 69, was buried on Monday.
Swedish-born Mr Bergengren arrived in Alice Springs
in 1956 with just 20 pence in his pocket.
In later years his shop "House of Goodies" in Todd
Mall became well known, but he closed it down in
1991 because it was losing money.
In its profitable days the House of Goodies sold
everything from wooden elephants made in Thailand to
trumpets from Tibet or cedar chests from India.
A friend, artist Julie Burdis, described Mr
Bergengren as "a very quiet, private person, but
absolutely eccentric".
She said he was "a great procrastinator". He had
finally had the melanoma removed last September, but
it was too late.
"He started a lot of different businesses and at one
time had quite a few shops going," she said. "He was
also the original photographer in town.
"He arrived here in 1956 and he never left the town
until April this year when they flew him to Adelaide
because of the cancer. He never saw Ayers Rock.
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