Ruth Eileen Gunderson

Ruth was born October 24, 1924, in South Bend, Washington, to Herman and Signe Hendrickson. She was the youngest of four children. She grew up in South Bend and graduated from high school there in 1942. She moved to Seattle after high school and worked as a switchboard operator for a large battery manufacturer there. She met her husband Ed in Seattle, and they were married in December of 1951. They settled in West Seattle where their son Robert was born in 1956.

Ed ran tenders in Alaska in the summer, leaving Seattle in the spring and returning to Seattle in the fall. In 1960 Ruth and Ed moved the family from Seattle to Kodiak, so Ed wouldn’t have the long trip back and forth every year, and Kodiak was her home for 63 years until her passing. They built their home in 1960 on Rezonoff before Rezonoff was a through street. In 1963 Ruth and Ed made the decision to purchase the F/V Bernice which Ed ran fishing crab, from the very early days of the King Crab fishery, the start of the Tanner Crab fishery around Kodiak, and up  to the final King Crab season in Kodiak in 1982.  Ed ran the boat and Ruth took care of the home and the office. Ruth and Ed were at their house when the 1964 earthquake hit and she watched the tidal wave from her front windows overlooking the channel. Luckily their boat wasn’t harmed in the tidal wave.

In Kodiak, Ruth bowled on an afternoon housewives league, was a den mother for the local Cub Scouts, past president of the Emblem Club of the Elks, and a member of the “Band Aids” fundraising group for the school band program.

Ruth enjoyed berry picking and making jelly from the berries. She enjoyed knitting, making many hats and socks for her husband and son. She also enjoyed baking and made many cinnamon rolls, Biscuit (a Swedish Cardamom coffee bread), and cakes for her husband and son to take out on their fishing boats. It seemed like she always had a couple of cakes, frosted, in aluminum pans with lids, ready to go, waiting in her freezer. 

One of Ruth’s favorite times of the year was the fall when she and Ed would vacation in Hawaii from October through December. They did this for 30 years until Ed’s passing in 2009.

Ruth was preceded in death by her husband of 58 years Ed, and her brother and sisters Ester, Signe and Al.  Ruth is survived by her son Robert and his wife Jennifer, her grand daughters Holly and Valerie (Ralph) and her great grandchildren Troy and Synnove. The family would like to thank Dr. Mortenson, and Sonia Ramos for their help with mom over the final years.