Josefsen raised his granddaughter, Astrid, after her parents died. He taught her to think for herself and to be extremely uncompromising, strong-willed, independent, and obstinate. Josefsen was the strongest man on the docks, but he was also 65 years old. He was forcibly retired, but refused to stop coming to work, feeling that a man had to work to be a man, or else he would dry up and die. He threatened his boss and then overpowered a squad of policemen who came to arrest him for trespassing. Disgusted, he stormed home, blaming his problems on the lack of real men in the world, whom he saw as being replaced by sissies, hippies, and cowards.