Carl Frederick Erickson

Athletic director, 89Carl F. Erickson, 89, of Forest Grove, died Monday, Jan. 17, 2005, in Hillsboro.

Mr. Erickson was born Oct. 15, 1915, in Clatskanie. His parents, Granas Erick and Anna (Pearson) Erickson were Swedish immigrants.

Mr. Erickson graduated from Clatskanie High School in 1934 and from Pacific University in Forest Grove in 1939. He played football at Pacific, and during his senior year, coached the freshman football team. He took a year off from college to work and fought the massive fires of the Tillamook Burn in the 1930s.

Mr. Erickson married Lottie Belle McConnell on June 10, 1948. She died in 1989.

He and Pat Davis Aslin were married May 5, 1990 in Chinook, Wash., where they lived. She died in 2000.

Mr. Erickson joined the U.S. Navy Seabees at the beginning of World War II. He taught and coached at McKenzie High School in Blue River from 1948 to 1967. His baseball team placed second in the Oregon state championship in the early 1960s. In 1989, he received the Meritorious Service Award, District 2, National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.

Mr. Erickson earned a master’s degree in education from the University of Oregon. He spent his summers working for the U.S. Forest Service and served as an interpretive guide at the Dee Wright Memorial Observatory in the lava beds of McKenzie Pass.

In 1967, Mr. Erickson moved to Knappa, where he taught and served as athletic director until his retirement. He continued as a substitute teacher in Clatskanie and Knappa and tutored individual students.

Mr. Erickson served in many organizations over the years, including the Knappa Water Board, Pacific University Alumni Executive Council and the Pacific University Booster Club. He was also a member of the Elks in Springfield and Astoria, Veterans of Foreign Wars in Ilwaco, Wash., and the National Retired Teachers Association.

Mr. Erickson is survived by his children and their spouses, Wanda and Hannu Laukkanen of Forest Grove, Carol Erickson and Michael Salber of Portland, George and Nancy Erickson of Seaside; seven grandchildren Katri, Carl and Erick Laukkanen, John and Anna Salber and Michelle and Sabrina Resa; a great-grandson; and many cousins, nieces and nephews.

In addition to his wives, Mr. Erickson was preceded in death by two brothers and three sisters.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Friday at Evangelical Lutheran Church of Chinook. A reception will follow. A family graveside service will be that morning at Knappa Prairie Cemetery in Knappa.

Memorials may be made to the Pacific University Athletic Football Fund, Knappa School Foundation or the McKenzie High School Scholarship Fund, in care of Penttila’s Chapel by the Sea, P.O. Box 417, Long Beach, WA. 98631.