Obituary: Anderson, Einar Arthur “Art”
He now rests in the arms of the Lord.
Known by his Marine buddies as Andy and lifelong friends and family as Art, he was born December 28, 1924 in Winnipeg, Canada.
The youngest of Minda Olafine Nyborg and Albert Johan Anderson’s six children, he drove a team of horses to school 4½ miles each way in frigid blizzards on the Manitoba prairie.
His parents emigrated from Norway, first settling in Canada, moving to North Dakota where they became U.S. citizens, and then returning to Canada before he was born.
When Art was 14 in 1940 it was back to the Voltaire, ND area to reclaim the farm where they grew durum and thatcher wheat, raised cows, chickens and hogs.
Art helped his mother with the animals and the garden and at an early age he decided he wanted to live somewhere warm and probably wasn’t going to be a farmer.
Life adventures began when he left high school after his junior year to earn a decent wage.
He was soon building cement ammunition dumps in SD and that led to laying foundations at a Japanese concentration camp near Cody, WY.
Moving on to cannery work in Veradale, WA Art lived over an IGA store and helped the owner with her grocery and feed business—so began his career in sales and customer service.
When seasonal work dried up he went with a friend to the shipyards in Portland where Kaiser sent him to welding school and he worked on the ships until he joined the Marine Corps September 29, 1943.
While waiting for his parents to provide proof of U.S. citizenship he returned to Veradale, picking apples for 10c a box.
Art’s active service began May 22, 1944 and he was sent to the Pacific Theatre where he operated an amphibian tank in the 1st Marine Division.
He saw his first action at the Island of Pellilu on September 15, 1944, a 72 day battle that took 12,000 American lives.
Art trained new men on the M4 Sherman tanks after the 3rd Armored Division was formed.
In April of 1945 their Division was the first to land on Okinawa-not leaving for 3½ months.
A ship taking Art home was rerouted, stopping at Nagasaki after the bomb was dropped in 1945.
There he and others secured the area by recovering weapons from survivors and making it safe for the Army and scientists to come in later.
After the end of his active service in early 1946 he returned to ND and there he met Eldora Christenson in Minot in April 1946.
They married in December, and drove to Spokane, to live, in January 1947.
Housing was at a premium after the war.
They eventually rented a house in the Northtown area and Art bought his first Mobil station at 3rd and Sherman.
Due to his Tank Commander experience Art was called out of the reserves for the Korean War in August 1950.
His year of service took him to Inchon, Seoul, Wonsan, and finally the decisive battle at the Chosin Reservoir in November and December where he and other survivors fought the massive Chinese forces and the terrible cold for 17 days to reach the Sea of Japan and reconnect with American forces.
Both Art and Eldora remained active in the Marine Corps Auxiliary.
Art was the face of a succession of entrepreneurial businesses—four Mobil service stations, the Boat Dock, and Anderson Subaru—while Eldora managed the business accounts, their personal finances behind the scenes, and raised three children.
Buying one of the first Subaru franchises in the U.S., cars began arriving in 1969.
They frequently had the top sales in the U.S. and peppered the Northwest with the new “front wheel drive,” selling the business in 1986, and retiring shortly thereafter.
Art was an early master of slalom water skiing and loved to hunt pheasants and geese with family and friends.
A farm boy at heart, he performed many a surgery on the perpetually wounded family cat and loved to pick cherries at Green Bluff.
Art enjoyed a Sunday meal of pot roast and brown bread, second only to fresh lefse from Central Lutheran and Eldora’s Swedish meatballs.
He never lost his brogue, speaking and singing in Norwegian for all his 90 years.
A hard worker, he wasn’t much for relaxing except with his grandchildren, whom he adored.
Art and Eldora were active members of Zion Lutheran Church, singing tenor and alto in the choir for decades.
Lastly Art is remembered for his pride in service to his country as a Marine, his love of music and family, his sense of humor, a lifelong passion for the automobile, and his faith in God.
Preceded in death by his wife Eldora, his parents, his brothers Bjarne Lauritz “Larry,” Oscar, Alvir, Roy and his sister Alice; Art is survived by his children Marcia (St. Paul), Craig (Centralia), and Curtis (partner Jeff) Palm Springs, his grandchildren Kayla (Travis Spriggs), Reid, Monica, Erik (Emily), and many nephews and nieces.
Services will be held February 15, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. at Zion Lutheran Church in the Spokane Valley with reception following afterward at the church.
Private interment will take place at the Pines Mausoleum February 14, 2015.
Memorials in Art’s memory may be made to Zion Lutheran Church.