Obituary: Gilbert Owen Dyrness

April 9, 1922- July 25, 2020

Our beloved father, Gilbert Owen Dyrness, left this world after a short battle with COVID-19, at the age of 98. He was preceded in death by his loving wife, Oretta Coreen Dyrness in 1994, daughters Debi Ann Walker and Sharon Lee McJilton, and grandson Jack Swain Marden. He leaves behind daughters Kristine Louise Smith of Albany, Ore., and Pamela Susan Hodgson of Huntington Beach, Calif., a son Michael Paul Dyrness of San Clemente, Calif., 13 grandchildren, and 18 great-grandchildren.

Born in Barlow, N.D., in 1922, Gil went through school in New Rockford, N.D. He moved to Seattle, Wash., in 1941. Drafted into the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1942, his Army training consisted of operations and maintenance on aircraft radio and gunnery training. While hospitalized in Santa Ana for six months with rheumatic fever in 1944, Gil married Oretta and went onto celebrate 50 years of marriage.

Gil attended Bremerton Junior College and University of Washington. During the Korean War, he attended the 4-year electronics apprentice program at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyards. He supervised the electronic works on ships for the Korean and Vietnam wars. He was a Ship Surveyor at Todd Shipyards in Seattle, Wash., in the private sector working on the electronics on short, med and long range missiles. Gil retired in 1978 at 56 with 33 years of service.

After retirement, Gil and Oretta bought a 5th wheel, became snowbirds and traveled. They wintered in Apache Junction, Ariz., for 18 years. Long after Oretta passed, Gil moved on to Mesquite, Nev., in 2006 with his best friend, Fern Young. His final years were spent in California near his daughter Pamela and son Michael, where they were able to manage his care. Gil was a 50-year lifetime member with the Elks, American Legion and the VFW and enjoyed his jewelry-making passion throughout his long life.

We will lovingly say goodbye with a Norwegian Viking sea send-off.