Alfred Earl Ellison

Alfred Earl Ellison

Alfred Earl Ellison was born in Minneapolis, MN on January 5, 1926.

His family moved to Noonan, ND during the dust bowl years and as the oldest boy, at age 14 he took care of the family farm while his father went back to Minnesota to work. He joined the Navy near the end of WWII as a “radar man” on a wooden-hulled mine-sweeper, cleaning up harbors throughout the Pacific.

Alfred attended Minot State Teachers College and the University of Montana. He married Rose Evon Wissbrod on July 25, 1948 and they moved to Coos Bay, OR where he started working for Weyerhaeuser and began raising a family. They later moved to Longview, WA and eventually to Auburn, WA in 1968, still working for Weyerhaeuser. He left them in 1977 and ran two equipment rental stores in Federal Way and Bonnie Lake until his retirement in 1996. Al moved to San Juan Island in the Spring of 2011 to be near family and made his home at the Village at the Harbour up until his death on February 20, 2015.

He is preceded in death by his wife Rose, grandson Drew and by his son Leif. He is survived by sons Roger (Anita) of Friday Harbor, WA, Guy (Brenda) of Lake Tapps, Wa., Eric of Friday Harbor and grandchildren, Bjorn (Ethel), Clare (Tony), James (Niki), Bree and seven great-grandchildren. He also leaves behind a sister, Arlene and three brothers, Engvald, Robert, and Dale, and many nieces and nephews.

Outgoing and gregarious, Alfred made friends wherever he went. He loved to travel and dreamt of returning to Norway, land of his fore-fathers on another cruise like the one he and Rose took. They were snowbirds for years, meeting up with family from North Dakota in Arizona each winter. Alfred was proud of his 300 bowling score, and his holes in one in golf. He had a big heart which at last, gave out.

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