ARTHUR CARLSON Obituary

ARTHUR WILLIAM CARLSON, SR.
August 5, 1910 ~ June 5, 2013

Arthur William Carlson, Sr. passed away from congestive heart failure on June 5, 2013 at age 102 and ten months. He was born in Los Angeles, California to Clara and Elof Carlson. He had an older brother Carl Everett and younger sister, Clare Matilda. All are deceased.
He attended Manuel Arts High School excelling in football and track in which he was outstanding in the long jump and the shot put. He set a record in the long jump, which was not surpassed for over forty years.
He attended the University of California where he joined Naval ROTC and graduated in Economics in the Class of 1934. He played both offense and defense on Cal's football team wearing the number 13. He was awarded the Andy Smith Memorial Trophy for playing the greatest number of minutes of conference football during the 1931 season. He was nominated for All American in football and was known as the "Iron Man" of the Bears. Art was a member of the Big C Society for football.
He was also a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. He was believed to be the oldest living California Golden Bear. While at Cal, he met in English class, Evaline "Couchie" Otis of Alameda and granddaughter of one of the "Twelve Apostles", the first class to graduate in 1873.
They were married on September 13, 1934 and were married for fifty-eight years. They had four children: identical twins, Dr. Arthur William Carlson, Jr. (April 10, 1936 to March 11, 2013) and Dr. Edwin Otis Carlson, Nancy Evaline Carlson Ponder (October 15, 1940 to May 23, 1971) and Susan Carlson Bergeson born in 1953.
At the beginning of war, Art was Captain of a PC 569 (Patrol Craft) whose duty was to patrol the approaches to San Francisco bay, fifteen miles up and down the coast, and out to the Farallon Islands. Later, he was the Executive Officer on the Fomalhaut, which was a fast attack supply ship. His ship supported battles in the Salomon Islands, the Philippines, Saipan and the battle for Japan. After the war his ship was stationed off of Okinawa.
When he returned from the WWII, he joined the Naval Reserves. He retired sometime in the mid 1960's as a Lieutenant Commander. He continued his career working at the home office of Standard Oil of California in San Francisco. He was a member of the Claremont Country Club where he served on the Board of Directors in the 1970's. He was a member of Northern California Seniors' Golf Association. Both Art and Evaline were on their University of California permanent class committee in charge of their reunions every four years. He also was a Boy Scouts of America Assistant Scoutmaster and on the Camp Fire Board.
Art and Evaline Carlson lived in Piedmont for forty-five years, and then moved to Ross Moor in 1987 where their home overlooked the fourth putting green. Evaline passed away in November 1992 and Art continued to live in Ross Moor. Finally, he moved to Ridgefield, Washington in 2006 to live with his daughter Susan, his son-in-law, Garey Bergeson and their children, Hillary and Jeffrey for just over seven years. He was loved and he is greatly missed. We were all looking forward to celebrating his 103rd birthday on August 5th!
Arthur William Carlson is survived by his son, Dr. Edwin Otis Carlson (Kim) of Novato, California and his daughter, Susan Carlson Bergeson (Garey) of Ridgefield, Washington. He is also survived by ten grandchildren and thirteen great-grandchildren: Dr. John Andrew and Cremilda Carlson (Rachel, Grant and Pierce) of Albany, New York; Edwin Arthur and Anne Carlson (Sophie, Dyllon and Duncan) of Beaverton, Oregon; Grace Anne and Dan Yoo (Alex) of San Diego, California; William Wright and Mickey Carlson of Shanghai, China and Reno, Nevada; Christopher Russell Carlson (Betsy and Katie) of Woodland, California; Jonathan Otis and Kelly Carlson (Grace and Sam) of Lafayette, California; Katherine Evaline and Woody Fowler of Las Vegas, Nevada (Carter and Maya); Larry Ponder of Portland, Oregon; Hillary Lauren and Peter Hewson of Ridgefield, Washington; and Jeffrey Michael Bergeson of Ridgefield, Washington.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Heart Association, to The Friends of the Carpenter in Vancouver, Washington or to a charity of your choice.
Please sign his guestbook at www.columbian.com/obits