Meet West Seattle’s next centenarian, Russell Lundwall

By Linda Ball
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

Longtime West Seattle resident Russell Lundwall is about to celebrate a milestone birthday: 100 years old on Friday (November 4th).

Hestill lives in the Westwood-area home he built and lived in with his wife Margaret until her death in 2004, 58 years after they married.

The West Seattle lot they purchased was the last one in the subdivision. You might have thought they would settle in Ballard, with Scandinavian roots – Russ’s mother Alice was of Norwegian descent, and his father John, Swedish. But Margaret’s sister and her husband lived in West Seattle, and the Lundwalls came to visit often.

Russell Lundwall says his mother, meantime, born in 1872, “was way ahead of her time” – he says she “went to high school when women didn’t do that.” She and her first husband and daughter, Lundwall’s half-sister, moved to Minnesota, and after doing something else rare – getting divorced – she stayed there and ran a boarding house for married men working in the mines. In Minnesota, she met John Lundwall, who worked in law enforcement, and together they had Russell.

“I went to the fanciest schools from kindergarten to (the first) two years of college,” Lundwall said.

Thanks to the iron-ore-mining boom in the Mesabi Iron Range, every ton of ore was taxed $4, all of it going to education. “I never bought a pen or a pencil from kindergarten on,” Lundwall said. He was adventurous as well as studious – with an uncle and his family in Poulsbo, at 16 years old he traveled west to the Pacific Northwest, jumping on boxcars. “There were hundreds of us doing that!” he said.

After that sojourn to the west, he returned to Minnesota and attended Hibbing Junior College, which had a foundry, the only college to have one, he said. After finishing at Hibbing, he went work in the iron mine as a “gandy dancer,” slang for early railroad workers who laid and maintained the tracks.

He finished his higher education at the Stout Institute in Menomonie, Wisconsin, now part of the University of Wisconsin. He was educated as an industrial-arts teacher, or what some call “shop” now. He taught in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and worked in “one of the fanciest machine shops in the country in Connecticut,” making tools because he was the only one who knew trigonometry, which was required.

He came back to the Pacific Northwest for better opportunity. When World War II began, he was working for Foss Tug and Barge, now known as Foss Maritime. But the U.S. Army/Air Corps recruited him and sent him to Chanute Field, a now-decommissioned military base used to teach ground school and train pilots. At Chanute, he taught young cadets basic aircraft mechanics. The program was so popular, they ran out of classroom space at Chanute, so they moved the program to Yale University where he remained for three years.

After the war, back in Seattle, he was working at a machine shop downtown, when he heard Boeing was hiring. He was hired by Boeing as an industrial engineer, where he worked for 30 years, including 16 years in the “red barn,” where he and his crew built a 200-pound turbine engine that put out 200 hp. He also conducted time studies on workers, akin to today’s LEAN manufacturing principles. Throughout his career with Boeing, he worked in Renton, Everett, Auburn, and Portland.

Lundwall retired from Boeing at age 66, and has enjoyed traveling – first with Margaret, as they cruised through the Panama Canal, where he recalls they saw a ship that had sunk in the canal. After her death, he journeyed to Norway by himself at 88. On a cruise in Norway, he met a fellow traveler who told him about an African safari. A year later, along with his only child MaryAnn and her sons David and Daniel, they all went to Africa.

Lundwall is also a skilled woodworker, so since retirement he’s created many beautiful wood creations; most of the woodwork in his home is his work. He attends the Mayor’s monthly senior get-together from 10 to 11 a.m., with City Councilmembers and other city employees. The purpose of the meetings is to teach seniors how to protect themselves from fraud and other harm. He believes he’s attended at least 100 of these meetings.

That’s not the only way he stays active: “I exercise five times a week,” he said. “I never get hungry, but I force myself to eat three times a day.” He also eats nine gin-soaked raisins every day, something he says is described by the People’s Pharmacy as alleviating pain, something he has very little of. He attends concerts by the Bellevue Chamber Chorus with MaryAnn, and until a year or so ago he brought in the garbage cans each week for his neighbors. He lived by himself after Margaret died, until this past July, when grandson David moved in with him. Together they watch baseball, and David is trying to interest his grandfather in football, specifically the Seahawks!

There’s no stopping this guy, it would seem. On his birthday, a party will be held in his honor in Tukwila. Although the extended family is relatively small, already 40 friends have RSVP’d. Happy Birthday, Russell, and many more to come!!

(Thank you to the tipster who told us about Russell Lundwall’s big birthday. Someone or something you want the rest of West Seattle to know about? editor@westseattleblog.com any time – thank you!)

16 Replies to "Meet West Seattle's next centenarian, Russell Lundwall"

  • miws November 2, 2016 (8:05 pm)

    Happy 100th Birthday, Russell!

    Mike

  • NeighborlyNeighbor November 2, 2016 (8:44 pm)

    Happy birthday and many happy returns!

  • chelle November 2, 2016 (9:13 pm)

    Very cool! Happy birthdat!

  • Nicolas Esparza November 2, 2016 (10:13 pm)

    Amazing

  • John November 3, 2016 (7:36 am)

    Great family story.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

  • West Seattle since 1979 November 3, 2016 (7:53 am)

    Happy 100th Birthday!!

  • Lisa November 3, 2016 (9:07 am)

    Happy Birthday Russell! Thanks for sharing your story with us! (It feels like Happy Birthday isn’t sufficient for someone who reaches 100—I’ll try to think of something better—LOL!)

  • Scott Zellerhoff November 3, 2016 (9:17 am)

    Felix Cumpléáños Russell!!! My GrEaT Uncle!!! See ya soon!!

  • Rachel, Adam, Lewis and Nicko November 3, 2016 (9:44 am)

    Happy birthday to our amazing friend Russell!  Our lives are better for having you in it!

  • Lizanne November 3, 2016 (10:44 am)

    Happy Birthday x 100!

  • SueY November 3, 2016 (11:35 am)

    This is wonderful news.  Happy Birthday, Mr. Lundwall!  It would be nice if the blog could highlight more senior citizens in our area.  They have such wonderful and fascinating stories to tell and we could learn so much from their experiences.

  • Candida November 3, 2016 (11:39 am)

    Russell, this world is a better place because you’re in it!! Happy (soon to be) Birthday!!! 

    Love, 

    Candida ~ Jackson & Julian

  • AceMotel November 3, 2016 (2:53 pm)

    Great story!  100 years is a HUGE achievement.  All the best to Mr. Lundwall!

  • Sara November 3, 2016 (3:47 pm)

    Happy Birthday Russell!!!!!

  • Al November 3, 2016 (5:09 pm)

    Happy birthday!!!

  • Bellevue Chamber Chorus November 3, 2016 (7:24 pm)

    Happy 100th birthday, Russell!  Hope your day is fantastic!!!  

Sorry, comment time is over.