POVL ANDERSEN
AUg. 16, 1920 – JAN. 18, 2010
Povl was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, August 16, 1920. After a short stay at Josephine’s nursing home, he passed away January 18, 2010 in Skagit Valley Hospital at 89 1/2 years old from severe dementia, kidney failure and diabetes.
As a young man back in the old country at 16, he was looking for adventure and took hire on an oil tanker as a mess boy, heading for South America.
After a lot of seasickness and a long trip, he had enough of the sea, and returned home again and found new ventures, including rolling sand on the beaches in north Denmark.
He worked on a fruit plantation, as a tree cutter in the forest and manager of a baby carriage factory, and later as an instrument technician.
Povl liked to sail and his passion was kayaking in the frisky waters around Denmark. He went underground during World War II when Copenhagen was under German occupation for five years.
Povl married Erna when she was 19 years old in May 1948.
He stayed two more years in Denmark but decided to look for new horizons.
Povl and his wife got hired to work on a farm in Canada, in Penhold, Alberta and immigrated March 1950. They rode on a Polish ship “Badory” eight days across the Atlantic Ocean to New York and then four days by train to their destination.
Several jobs followed after their farm experience.
Povl and Erna worked together at a training school for mental children as
nurse’s aid for a year and a half. They then moved to Vancouver B.C. where Povl worked as an instrument technician. Later Povl found work at a paper mill in Ocean Falls, north of Vancouver where he was in service a year at the time.
Povl’s dream was photography, so we bought a professional camera and 16mm movie camera and toured Mexico for three months filming.
Back in Canada again Povl got employed at another paper mill in Hinton, Alberta, near Jasper National Park.
After 10 years, in 1960, Povl and his wife immigrated to USA with their two-week-old daughter and a German shepherd.
Again in search of new opportunities, they drove from Los Angeles to Missoula on Christmas Eve for a job in instrumentation at a paper mill, where they stayed for eight and a half years.
As always, a new quick decision was made when Povl got an offer to work at the University of Washington in mechanical engineering where he worked for 18 years until retirement in 1986.
Povl and his wife bought property in 1979 on the southend of Camano Island. Before Povl retired they built a log home from scratch.
Povl and Erna were married 61 and-a-half years.
Povl is survived by his wife Erna, daughter Alice Rudolph, grandchildren Austin and Dakota and sonin law Don, extended family in Denmark and close friends on the Island.
He was a member of the Eagles for more than 25 years.
He will be very missed but “always with us.”
A memorial is planned for family and friends in the home Povl built on January 30.
