Tor: Husband, Brother, Uncle, and Best Friend are some of the titles you could address him by, but I call him Dad.

On the night of December 16, 1973 Fred and hear the first cries of their baby boy, My Dad his name was TorGrowing up in Marysville my dad had a boring life he said, riding bikes, skate boards and playing with his neighbor that just so happened to be the same age.

When he was old enough he attended Sunny Side Elementary until he was 9 (1982) when his Mom and Dad decided to uproot the family and go to Alaska where my grandfather would work for the Sea Alaska company. Dad said he didn’t want to move but he didn’t really care it was all just another adventure for a 9 year old boy and a new place to play his favorite sports, when he was in Marysville soccer was played on a grass field but in Ketchikan they played on gravel and compacted beach sand, it was rough and defiantly was a big change, another big change was going from a large school to the small confines of Ketchikan where his new class at Valley Park Elementary was an astoundingly small number of children compared to his former school.

When my Father arrived into middle school he had a few good friends and now played soccer for the middle school team, and wrestled for the middle school team! My dad said middle school was dumb and not evens himself a close to fun. But High school was the best he said, High school is when he really found his fondness for working with wood and when he was serious about his sports, and it is when we was able to go hunting, fishing, and snowmobiling by himself without adults around.

Through out his high school career my father stove to become an Electrician. When his girlfriend’s (my Mom) dad offered him a job in his construction business he took it just to learn and to gain skills that he can use in the future.

My father was an apprentice under my grandpa until he graduated in 1992 from Ketchikan High School. Then they became partners.
My dad and my grandfather often told me about the old Ketchikan, no tourists, no TSA no smart cars and most of all no problems in the fishing industry from all the “Tree Huggers”.

Coming out of high school my dad said the three biggest changes in his life were becoming an independent individual and having a family, he said that 5 years after graduating he was blessed to find his beautiful little boy under a rock while hiking and refuses to acknowledge that he was there in the hospital when I was born but says he found me under a rock….

A few years later my sister was born pre-mature and we had to send her to Children’s Hospital in Seattle, she was 2 pounds 3 ounces and about the size of a 12 ounce bottle of water.

Soon after her birth my parents split up and they went their separate ways. During that time it was hard for my Dad he did a lot for us and it was shocking for me to have him not be there with us but it’s what my mom and him decided was best for the family so I kind of just accepted it.

My dad really enjoyed hunting and fishing, so when his friend Brad asked him to join his hunting guide job my dad immediately said yes. He then went and got all the gear that he needed, and went up to join Brad in Kotzebue.

My dad is a great man he is passionate about his work, family, friends ,and his hobbies I can’t wait to go and finally visit him in July and to be able to once again do all of these things with him and remember and create new and exciting new memories with him.