September 2, 1920 - November 22, 2011
I was born in Marquette, Kansas. My father was Erland "Rip" Carlsson, my mother Emily Evangelin Carlsson. My grandparents in McPherson, Kansas were Eben Carlsson and Annie Swensson Carlsson. After third grade at Marquette Grade School, my parents moved to Lakewood, New York, to be with Emily's father and mother, who were in failing health. This was Lars A. Larson, former mayor of Jamestown, New York, and his wife Amanda Ericson Larson. My parents, my brother Bob, and I spent several years at Sunnyside Fruit Farm - south of Lakewood.
In the early years in Marquette, Kansas, and Lakewood, New York, my brother Bob was the Big Brother, leading while I tagged along. Although we put in long hours helping Dad and Mom operate the Sunnyside Fruit Farm. This was a beautiful place on the south shore of Chautauqua Lake. We studied quite a bit and were able to clobber the New York State exams. We also played on the Lakewood High football team, Bob as a tackle and I was a right end.
Dad and Mom figured the only way Bob and I could get an education was to move back to Kansas and go to Bethany College. I was able to skip my senior year in high school, so Bob and I were freshmen in the fall of 1937. We both worked on the Bethany campus at 20-cents per hour, and I was fortunate to work in the library at 25-cents/hour. Bob and I had some classes together, including Anna Marme's. I became a member of the Honorary Chemical Society, and studied under artist Birger Sandzen. Bob and I both graduated in 1941 (I with a Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in mathematics) and the two of us sort of went our separate ways.
Since Dad had been appointed to Chief Grain Inspector of Kansas, I took a job nearby as a Material Control person at the North American Aviation Plant in Kansas City, Kansas - building B-25 Bombers. World War II was on, and a year later I became an Army Air Force Meteorologist cadet in an intensive training program at Chicago University. Graduating as a Second Lieutenant, I spent a short time as Weather Officer at Coffeeville Air Force Base (BBa) in Kansas. Then a few weeks at replacement depots at Goldsboro, North Carolina. Then I was shipped overseas on to H.M.S. "Cynthia" from Newark, New Jersey, to Glasgow, Scotland. Then down to Manchester, London, and finally landing in High Wycombe, assigned to the 8th Bomber Command (later 8th Air Force Headquarters). I was assigned to Upper Air Forecasting, reaching the rank of Captain.
As my four year service wound down, I could be found at a weather reconnaissance base near the North Sea at Ayr, Scotland, next onto Wales, then Boston, Kansas and, finally, as Station Weather Officer at Topeka Air Force Base. After Honorable Discharge, I spent three additional college years to get a Bachelor of Architecture degree at Washington University in St. Louis. Two summers during this period I was employed by Emil O. Bayerl of Kansas City, Mo., and then Charles Marshall, who was Kansas State Architect. I graduated with Final Honors and moved west to become an architectural draftsman for John Malony, Architect, of Seattle, and then Whitehouse & Price Architects, in Spokane.
My brother Bob went on to become a doctor. He and his wife Judy chose Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, near Spokane, to set up his first practice. And we all gravitated to the area: Judy's folks Martha and George Doering, her sister Ruth, and I. Ruth Doering and I fell in love and were married by the reverend Lyman Winkle in Coeur d'Alene in 1951. Our two son's, James and Paul, were born and we lived in Spokane and in the Spokane Valley (Ruth and I, later moved to Olympia).
I became chief designer for the large Victor Louis Wulff architectural firm in Spokane, designing buildings including Salk Junior High School, Boudish Junior High School, University High School, and Saint Paul Lutheran Church. After setting up a private architectural practice in the Spokane area: some of what I designed include the Spokane Eye Clinic and the original (prize-winning) North Spokane Branch Library in Spokane; the Valley Clinic, the Saint Mark Nave/Sanctuary/Choir and the Carlsson residence in the Spokane Valley; and the Gumprecht Clinic in Coeur d'Alene.
Later, now in Olympia, I was Project Architect for Washington State General Administration, on such projects as: the (highly-regarded) Old Capitol Building Renovation and the Insurance Building Renovation in Olympia, and the State Health Lab in Seattle. And as an Architectural Preservation Consultant: I contributed to Weyerhaeuser's Dupont Development regarding the remnants of Nisqually's "Dupont Powderworks," and conducted a major (100+ page) Cultural Resource Survey for the Port Blakely Tree Farm's Bainbridge Island project, "The Port Blakely Mills & Milltown."
Ruth and I have made our home on Holmes Island, near Olympia, for 37 years.
Lars is survived by wife Ruth Carlsson, son James & his friend Patricia Phelps, son Paul & his wife Glenda Carlsson, grandson Scott & his wife Jillian, grandson Evan, granddaughters Jacquelyn and Erica Ann, great-grandson Parker, nieces Martha Rohrs, Erica Bender, Ruthie Carlson, nephews Erland Robert "Rip" Carlsson IV, George Carlsson, Donald George Gumprecht, Tom Gumprecht, and Ernest Gumprecht.
A memorial service will be held on December 3rd at 2:00pm at St. Mark Evangelical Lutheran Church, 2109 College Street SE, in Lacey, Washington.
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