Why did he have to leave at the age of twelve? He was orphaned, along with his sister (10) and younger brother (4), when they lost their father through suicide and their mother during a blizzard. The father, Will Engel, was a farmer; the mother was Erica. The sister was placed with her mother’s sister, the young boy with another relative, and Sven was sent to an Orphanage, called Amazing Grace, north of Winnipeg.