Arlan J. Berglund was born on July 30, 1912 in Colton, Oregon to Swedish immigrants Per Eric Berglund and A. Josefina Karlsson. He was the sixth of eight children. Arlan died in Sandy on Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at the age of 98 following a short illness.
A Celebration of Arlan’s life will be held at Mt. Hood Christian Center in Gresham on Saturday September 18, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. A private family burial will be held at Forest Lawn Cemetery.
Arlan attended school in Colton in a one room school house. Along with farm chores, which were a part of his daily life, he began plowing fields on the family farm with a team of horses at the age of 8. At the age of 10 his father died and his brother dropped out of high school to run the farm. After graduating from high school, Arlan continued working on the farm as well as in the logging industry. In 1936, Arlan moved to Seattle, Washington where he attended Northwest Bible Institute. Two years later, Arlan was united in marriage to Elizabeth Blonn in Gresham. Shortly after, they returned to Seattle where Arlan finished his education and graduated from Northwest Bible Institute. Prior to making their home in Gresham, they moved to Oak Ridge, Oregon where they lived for a short time.
Rev. Berglund held a variety of side jobs while serving as the Associate Pastor of the Gresham Assembly of God Church and later when he pastored churches in Fairview, Sandy (he started and built the Sandy Assembly of God Church) and North Howell (Willamette Valley), Oregon. Those jobs included falling and bucking timber in the Colton and Oak Ridge areas, Columbia Brick Yard in Gresham, head custodian at Sandy Elementary School and the head of grounds and building maintenance at Northwest College. When they returned to Sandy in 1963, he worked as a carpenter, eventually becoming a skilled finish carpenter until his retirement in 1977. In 1978, he and Beth moved to Gresham where they enjoyed retirement. Returning to Sandy in 2003, they made their home at Avamere at Sandy Assisted Living Facility since Arlan could no longer care for his wife alone.
Arlan has always enjoyed spending time with his family, his flower gardens and
woodworking.
Survivors include his 3 children, Arlan Robert “Bob” (Pauline) Berglund of Cannon Beach, Oregon; Betty Gilliland of Vancouver, Washington; and Ronald (Joan) Berglund of Sandy; his sister Ruth Hill (age 102) of Colton; 7 grandchildren, 13 great grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.