Gordon Andersen

Gordon Herbert Andersen

8/10/1934 - 3/7/2023

Gordon was born in Portland, Oregon on August 10, 1934 to Herbert and Twila Andersen. Two sisters, Arlene and Carol, would later bless the family. Gordon was especially close with his grandfather E.P. Armstrong who was a saw filer, designed filing equipment, and founded Armstrong Manufacturing in Portland in 1904.

Gordon attended high school at Benson Polytechnic High School - at the time, it was an all-boys technical school. During high school, he worked for a local pattern maker, which fueled his passion for design and all things automotive. After graduation he enrolled at Portland State University and upon completing his schooling, he was hired by Freightliner Trucks in 1957 as a draftsman.

Soon after starting his work at Freightliner, he was drafted into the Army and served in Italy for 2 years from 1957 - 1959. He was a SP4 Intelligence Analyst and draftsman with the Army Engineering Headquarters in Verona, Northern Italy. While stationed in Italy he loved traveling around Europe and skiing in the Italian Alps. He was honorably discharged.

After completing his military service in Italy, he returned to his job at Freightliner Trucks in Portland as a mechanical engineer. Gordon worked at Freightliner from 1957 until his retirement in 2001. In his retirement, he studied Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) at Mt. Hood Community College and continued his career by doing contract jobs for Freightliner and ConMet for an additional 10 years. It was believed that this was just a front to have an excuse to be in Portland where he moored his sailboat. He loved racing his sailboat on the Columbia River and enjoyed taking longer sailing trips with friends around the Puget Sound.

In 1962, he met a beautiful lady, Gladys Denny, who worked in the typing pool at Freightliner. They married on November 5, 1964. The new couple enjoyed snow skiing, waterskiing, and traveling to Europe.

They were blessed by the adoption of their son, Bruce in 1970. Their daughter, Carla was born in 1972. The family soon relocated to Salem and joined Salem Central Seventh Day Adventist Church in 1974. Gordon was active in church and served in various roles including as a deacon and assistant treasurer and enjoyed helping with Pathfinders.

Gordon worked at Freightliner by day and had a wooden boat building business by night. They also had a farm with U Pick grapes and he and Gladys ran the farm.

Throughout his life, he loved to travel and enjoyed trips throughout Europe, Asia, the United States and Canada. He had many hobbies and was a pilot. He enjoyed skiing, flying, boating, cycling, hiking, camping, woodworking, taxidermy and much more. He also loved animals – especially dogs and they loved him too! In addition to building boats, he restored several vintage automobiles and won prizes at car shows. In particular was his “57-year Itch” – the 1929 Ford Model A Roadster that he bought in 1951 for $750. He owned the car for many years and he completed a total rebuild in 2008.

His dry sense of humor delighted many and brought fun and laughter at unexpected times. He would often make his wife and daughter cackle with laughter and then dryly ask, “How many eggs did you gals lay this time?”

Gordon Andersen passed away March 7, 2023 of natural causes. He will be greatly missed by many.

Gordon is survived by son Bruce, daughter Carla, 2 grandsons Branden (Meryl) with great grandson Baker, Braden, 3 granddaughters Ashley Moye (Greg) with great granddaughter Loren, Brittney with great granddaughter Charlie, Breanna Andersen (Paul) with great grandson Dillon. His Sister Carol Lofgren (Gary), numerous nieces, nephews and lifelong friends. Gordon was preceded in death by his wife of 58 years, Gladys, his sister Arlene Goodman, his parents, two nieces and a nephew.