Anna Ingegerd Bastida

[Ingegerd pronounced “Ing” as in king, “e” as in med, “gerd” as in yerd, with the e as in med]

Inga was born in Gothenburg (Göteborg) Sweden on November 20, 1930, and died in Prattville, Alabama, October 22, 2024. She had moved to Prattville later in life, to reside near her daughter Anna. Inga graduated from Lund University and with a health degree focused on physical therapy she emigrated to the USA (Seattle, Washington), initially to help rehabilitating Polio victims.

She worked for decades as a physical therapist in numerous hospitals/rehabilitation facilities throughout the Seattle area, including Harborview, Virginia Mason and Group Health. She met aspiring architect William (“Bill”) Bastida while climbing Mt. Baker. They later married in 1959 in a small ceremony in the Preston, Washington home of sculpture artist Carl Freemanson and his wife Solveig. Bill and Inga later moved to Lausanne Switzerland, where Bill did his graduate work in architecture. After Bill completed his studies they moved back to the Pacific NW, to Mercer Island where they raised two children, Marcus and Anna Benicia Josephine.

Though they clearly loved each other, the marriage of Bill and Inga was troubled. They eventually divorced in 1990. Bill later remarried a truly wonderful woman, Monica Parra, from his home city of Bogota Colombia. Inga remained single for the rest of her life.

Inga was a Confirmed Lutheran, however she never made religion part of our family life. She never read anything from the Bible to either me or my sister when we were young. Instead, she immersed us in Norse mythology to the point that I dressed as Thor in my Kindergarten school photo (meaning I wore a belt on the outside of my sweater). This led me to one of my pet theories about Inga: that she was secretly an old-school pagan (admittedly no one else in the family shares this belief about her). However, she told me numerous times that she experienced God through nature. One time I can still remember she said words to that effect on Sunrise, the ridge just north of Mt. Rainier. For the unfortunate reader not familiar with Sunrise, its view of the mountain is breathtaking, and no doubt would cause even die-hard atheists to question their non-beliefs.

Inga loved the outdoors. In her early years she climbed many of the Cascade mountains (Mt. Adams, Mt. Baker, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier at a minimum – probably others that I don’t recall). She loved cross-country skiing and hiking/camping. Though part of a hiking/cross-country skiing group from Mercer Island, the Sitzmates, Inga often went on overnight solo hiking trips throughout the Cascades and Eastern Washington (including Leavenworth, Winthrop, Twisp and many other areas). She went on her solo hikes well into her 80’s, stopping only upon her move to Alabama. Many people, myself included, warned her about the dangers of solo hikes. But as her close friend Fran Call stated recently “…she was very capable! And stubborn!”

Inga was quite fond of competitive one-on-one sports, especially tennis and pickleball. She played one team sport: basketball, but only during high school. The one form of TV that she enjoyed was tennis matches.

Inga eschewed pop culture, especially anything related to rock music, television and film (the exception being Ingmar Bergman’s films). She probably secretly liked Abba (but only because they were from Sweden). She enjoyed classical music, especially Vivaldi, and art. While she rarely actually discussed art, it was an important part of our family. Bill and Inga were not what I would call art collectors, but they owned many pieces of original art including sculptures, paintings, photographs and some prints. Inga raised her children to appreciate art and often took my sister and myself to art museums and galleries. She and Bill were long-time friends with Carl Freemanson, and photographer Paul Dahlquist. Linda Farris (of Linda Farris Gallery) was once our next-door neighbor.

Though Inga moved away from Sweden early in her life, she was quite proud of her heritage. She had numerous close friends from Sweden, including Anna Märta Claeson and Richard Birgh (who later married and had two children, Stefan and Kim). Throughout my childhood every Christmas Eve was spent with the Birgh family where numerous Swedish ex-pats gathered to sing traditional songs, with pepparkakor (gingerbread cookies), kanelbulle (cinnamon buns), risgrynsgröt (rice pudding with a blanched almond), pickled herring, glög, and the dreaded (by the children) lutefisk (fish gelatin that must be consumed with mustard or similar condiment to make it palatable). Anything related to Swedish/Scandinavian culture that happened in the Seattle area was a must. Including the Poulsbo Midsomer Fest and numerous activities at the Norway Center. Inga kept her traditional Swedish folk dress, which has been passed on to my daughter Lucia.

During the 1990’s Inga took up crochet and made extra money selling knit caps at crafts fairs including the Stroum Jewish Community Center on Mercer Island, where she was much-loved.

When it became apparent that Inga was getting too old to safely live on her own, she decided to move to Alabama with my sister Anna, who had room in her house after her children had moved out. She spent her remaining years in Prattville, swimming nearly daily at the local YMCA and reading any-and-all mystery books borrowed from the local public library. She died a few weeks after hip surgery from a fall in September. Her grandson Makoa was with her and held her hand as she passed.

Inga is survived by her daughter, Anna, her son Marcus, and her grandchildren Makoa, Genvieve, Maxwell and Lucia.

Her surviving extended family include nephews and nieces: Eva Bengtsson, Per Bengtsson, Maria Bengtsson, Ann-Britt Ramsbo, Karl Ramsbo, Lena Ramsbo.

A memorial service will be held at Anna Bastida's home on Sunday, November 4, 2024 from 4:00 pm to midnight at 745 N. Court St. Prattville, AL 36067. Another memorial service well be held in the Seattle vicinity (precise location and date to be determined).

In lieu of flowers gifts in memory of Inga may be made to the Washington Trails Association (https://www.wta.org/) and/or Stroum Jewish Community Center (https://sjcc.org/donate-to-the-j/).