Alan Andersen

Alan Andersen, of North Bend, passed away in Puyallup, WA, on Friday, December 31, 2010, just two days after his sister Phyllis Knowles. He was 82 years old. Alan was born on April 16, 1928 in Arco, Idaho, the son of Harold and Isabel Andersen. He grew up in Badger Pocket, near Kittitas, and moved to North Bend in 1943 where he worked many different jobs for over 60 years in construction, on railroads, and at Weyerhauser. During the ten years he worked for George Wyrsch (‘46 through ‘56), he met and married Delores Dana (Dody) Stillick and had 5 children: Lani, Beckie, Terri, Jeffrey and Tracie (born in 1959). He was also working at the Renton Boeing plant while his sister, Phyllis, was there in 1945. Alan built the famed Wilkeson Castle, several North Bend “Bavarian” storefronts, and spent the last 30 years of his life developing and presenting a transportation improvement plan called “The Andersen Master Transit Plan”. His concern was always to anticipate world problems and to work toward solutions. He published a book in 1985, The Impossible Dream, describing his journey with it. He was preceded in death by his son Jeffrey and daughter Tracie.

Survivors include his three daughters Lani Kenner of Waterville, Beckie Andersen of North Bend, Terri Drymon of San Diego, CA; two sisters, Jean Lantz of Newport, OR, Cecelia Torie of Kennewick, and one brother, Jim Andersen of Kennewick; 5 grandchildren and more than 9 great-grandchildren.

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