Memorial on Saturday for Ralph Svehaug, 1922-2018

| Obituaries | West Seattle news

A memorial is planned next Saturday for Ralph J. Svehaug, whose family is sharing this remembrance with the community:

Ralph J Svehaug was born in Portland, Oregon on January 6, 1922 to Norwegian immigrants Ole Svehaug and Pauline Vie. Ralph was raised in Norway with his younger brothers Henry and Oswald amongst their aunts, uncles and cousins. In October 1939 with the winds of war in Europe gaining strength, they booked passage back to the U.S. Just 6 months later in May 1940, Hitler’s troops invaded and occupied Norway. Ralph was just a few months shy of his 18th birthday when they returned to the U.S. and he enlisted in the Oregon National Guard and was sent to Camp Murray near Tacoma where he was called into the U.S. Army. When he indicated he was fluent in Norwegian and an expert skier who knew the difficult terrain in Norway, the Army sent him to New Guinea, where he served for three years.

While on leave in Melbourne, Australia he met his first wife, Kathleen, mother of sons Erik and Chris. Ralph built a log cabin in rural Oregon, attended Chiropractic college in Portland and later moved to Estacada, where he became the mayor for several years. Ralph and Kath moved to Seattle and Ralph established his chiropractic office on California Avenue in West Seattle where he practiced for over 40 years.

After Kathleen passed in 1995, Ralph re-connected with a dear friend from their years at Hope Lutheran Church, Marion Pommer, and married her in 1996. Ralph was an avid wood carver, Cribbage player and an excellent dancer. Ralph is survived by his sons Erik and Chris, his daughter-in-laws Patty and Cindy, his grandchildren Christopher, Analisa and Katy, and Marion’s children Maureen Meier and Bill Pommer, their children and many nephews and their families.

There will be a memorial of his life in the chapel of Providence Mt St Vincent on Saturday, July 28, at 12:30.

(WSB publishes West Seattle obituaries by request, free of charge. Please e-mail the text, and a photo if available, to editor@westseattleblog.com)

RarelyEver July 24, 2018 (1:42 pm)

Always sad for the loss of a life, my condolences to the family. I did enjoy this part of the obituary, however: “…he enlisted in the Oregon National Guard and was sent to Camp Murray near Tacoma where he was called into the U.S. Army. When he indicated he was fluent in Norwegian and an expert skier who knew the difficult terrain in Norway, the Army sent him to New Guinea, where he served for three years.” Classic. :)

Calires July 24, 2018 (8:56 pm)

Ha! I liked that, too. I’ve heard several stories like this from WW2. One of the documentaries on the History Channel told the story of a man who immigrated to the U.S. from Austria, fluent German speaker, and they sent him to the Aleutian Islands for the duration.