| Description |
: |
Owen Fuglie Eide
Aug. 09, 1918- Nov. 13, 2017
Resident of Orinda, CA
On November 13, 2017 Owen Fuglie Eide, 99, of Orinda, CA passed away in his home from natural causes He was surrounded by loved ones. His tale begins in Ulen, Minnesota on August 9th, 1918, the last year of World War I. His parents, Josephine Fuglie and Ole Eide, moved the family from Ulen and ended up in Ryder, North Dakota where Owen grew up. When asked about his childhood his answer was usually, "It was cold." It was the type of cold where the mothers warned...
Read More
|
Owen Fuglie Eide
Aug. 09, 1918- Nov. 13, 2017
Resident of Orinda, CA
On November 13, 2017 Owen Fuglie Eide, 99, of Orinda, CA passed away in his home from natural causes He was surrounded by loved ones. His tale begins in Ulen, Minnesota on August 9th, 1918, the last year of World War I. His parents, Josephine Fuglie and Ole Eide, moved the family from Ulen and ended up in Ryder, North Dakota where Owen grew up. When asked about his childhood his answer was usually, "It was cold." It was the type of cold where the mothers warned their children not to lick outside faucets and breathe-in too deeply.
He was raised with a rambunctious group of three sisters, Corrine, Dorothy, Lois Anne, and one brother, Richard. It was a farming community of a few hundred hearty souls. His father owned a general store.
Owen excelled at school and sports and they were the keys to him leaving high school and going off to the University of North Dakota in Fargo, ND. The year was 1936. It was the Depression years and athletes who were good students had the opportunity to live, rent-free, in a railroad car on campus as long as they kept it up. He lived with three others and it became one of the most vivid memories he had of his young days. He pursued a difficult chemical engineering degree and boxed on the college team. Anticipating America's entry into World War II, and having gotten his private pilot's license, he interrupted his studies, joined the Navy in 1941 and became a naval aviator.
After training in Corpus Christi, TX he was based at Alameda Air Station before getting his first assignment at Pearl Harbor in 1942. He flew PBY seaplanes doing submarine search but also flew many other planes including the Dauntless diver bomber and the J2F Duck, his favorite plane that featured a powerful engine and bi-wings. Eventually he was sent down to Guadalcanal where he flew B-26 bombers as well as PBY's.
When the war ended he moved with his young bride to Oakland where he finished his education at Cal in the late 1940's. He began working at EBMUD as an engineer, helping build the new water system installed in the 50's and 60's to meet increasing demands of the growing population of the East Bay. He wrote several articles on water flow and pressure for peer-reviewed publications. He bought property in Orinda and, with his wife, Mary, built his adobe house that he lived in for the next sixty-four years with his family.
Keeping his love of flight alive he joined the naval reserves in the 50's as well as a flying club, often taking his family out on flying excursions. He flew them to Mexico in 1958 where the plane was caught in a tropical storm and forced to land in a desert near Hermosillo. Rescued by farmers the family spent the night at their ranch and then flew off again in the morning.
He spent his entire working life at EBMUD, retiring in 1978. In retirement he travelled widely including a 6-month cruise on a working freighter from Yugoslavia that took him and his second wife, Norma, from SF to Nicaragua, to the Mediterranean, Suez Canal, Indian Ocean and eventually to Japan, stopping at different ports to drop off or load up on a variety of products. He went down the Amazon River in 1980 with his brother-in-law and spent time in Norway, England, Israel, as well as a six-month camper trip around the United States in 1985.
His hobbies included photography, golf, cards, and reading. He organized a family project to make their own Christmas cards using a hand-made silkscreen. He enjoyed taking his family on camping trips to Mt. Lassen and Big Basin.
He was married to Mary Jane Ballou in 1945 in Shelton, Washington. He had four boys, Joel, David, Jeffrey, and Eric. In 1972 he married Norma Jane Shaffer in Reno, Nevada and gained a stepdaughter, Michele Havel.
He has grandchildren Marisa, Kimberly, Erik, Eric, Jason, Jacob as well as great grandchildren Elise, Kameron, Kassi, Kristain, Arie and Aiden. He has many nieces and nephews throughout the United States. He had a long and special relation with his brother-in-law and neighbor Richard Hersey. He is preceded in death by wives Mary Jane and Norma Jane, sisters, Dorothy, Lois Anne, brother, Richard, son Eric, step daughter Michele and his parents Ole and Josephine.
Owen was greatly loved by everyone, including his grandchildren who flocked to his yearly birthday parties at his venerable home, including this year for his 99th. Deeply respected for his honesty and integrity, he was a spectacular version of the democratic citizen with wide-ranging experience and knowledge all compacted in a fighting spirit and wonderful laughter. His sons will always be grateful for the way he taught them how to fly planes and playing baseball and basketball with them. He kept his doors open for anyone to come and enjoy his company, wine, and fire in the fireplace. In short Owen lived a quintessential American life from the poor wastelands of northern North Dakota to the sophistications of the SF Bay Area. And all the life between could fill several volumes of stories and anecdotes from his college days and living in the railroad boxcar, to his flying days in World War II and the three or four times he should never have lived to tell the tale. Or when he built the wonderful, venerable, cussedness of an old house out in Orinda, built to match the Hispanic influence of the area and so advanced with its passive solar heating and cooling, along with the radiant heat. Or, all the tales from EBMUD and the characters he palled around with, guys like Daryl Jordan, Bill Bradbury, Ed Matsuoka, H.L. Lee, and so many others. Or the tales of his trips; around the world on the freighter, the Amazon River, the middle-east, far east, India, Norway, England, all around the US. Going out to the Bekka Valley in Lebanon or the famed ancient trade city of Petra; to the old Viking ruins on Orkney Island, to a private tour of the water system in Kuala Lumpur. Quite a life! He had the "right stuff." He will be greatly missed. A memorial service is planned for March 10, 2018 with Neptune Society.
Published in East Bay Times on Dec. 17, 2017 |
