In Memory

Gordon Bergum (Teacher)

Gordon Bergum (Teacher)

Mr. Bergum taught Chemistry 1 & 2.

 

Gordon B. Bergum (W7ADM)

At the age of 86, Gordon passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loving family.
Gordon was born on March 26, 1923, in La Crosse, Wisconsin to Oscar and Louise Bergum.
Gordon joined the army during WWII. While stationed in Nashville, TN, attending Vanderbilt University, he traveled to Minnesota to marry Barbara Knapp. After the war he was honorably discharged and returned to Minneapolis to finish his education and received his masters at the University of MN.
In 1963 they moved to Edmonds, WA, with their daughter, Amy. Gordon taught chemistry at Meadowdale High School. In 1978, Gordon married Irene Johnston, who has been his devoted and caring wife for 31 years.
Gordon is survived by his loving and devoted family: wife, Irene; daughter, Amy Young (Jack); step-children, Jeffery Johnston (Linda), Jolynn McCort (Robert), and Judy Bangs (Peter); foster daughter, Kandy Brown; eight grandchildren; and many great grands. 
Gordon was preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Barbara; and his brother, Ralph. 
Gordon was an avid traveler. He and Irene have seen most of the world. Because of his love of fuchsias, he became a judge, speaker and grower. He was president of Puget Sound Fuchsia Society for four years and belonged to the Sno King Fuchsia Society. While with Edmonds School District, he was involved with the Special Olympics. Gordon was a mariner fan; never missing spring baseball in Peoria AZ. Gordon was active in the Lutheran Church. He was an active amateur radio operator.
At his request, there will be no service.
Gordon believed in education. If you wish, remembrances may be sent to NWFS Scholarship Fund in care of Sally Williams, 11822 31st pl. NE, Seattle, WA 98125. (obituary from legacy.com) 



 
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07/05/15 04:28 PM #1    

Jeff Johnston

Gordon died in 2009....Jeff

07/06/15 03:46 PM #2    

Kevin Cloud Brechner (66)

I had Mr. Bergum for Chemistry.  He was a good teacher and made chemistry interesting.   He had kind of a quirky, humorous style of teaching.   What I remember most about his class was one day I was sitting in Chem class, which was located on the west side of the school.  Outside the window was a narrow strip of green grass that rose up to a patch of fir and pine trees.  Suddenly I heard a deep and loud rumble as the whole building began to shake.   I looked out at the strip of lawn and could see the surface of the grass moving in a perfect sine wave maybe six inches high.  The waves crossed the entire length of grass.  It was a major earthquake.  Something like 6.4 on the richter scale.   I remember it cracked the Capital dome Olympia.  There is one funny story I don't want to tell in public about the event, but another funny story that happened the next day was one of the boys in the class had figured out that if he leaned back against the aluminum framed plate glass windows, and used his elbow to bang the window frame hard about 3 or 4 times he created the same sound that we heard during the real earthquake.  He scared the crap out of everybody in the room including Mr. Bergum.


07/06/15 05:45 PM #3    

Marty Marthaler

Thanks Jeff for that update.  Mr. Bergum was a great teacher and made Advance Chemistry an adventure.  I remember actually taking to the woods to do one of our labs.  He was instrumental in jump starting my career in the Coast Guard. He informed me that there "was" a Coast Guard Academy and introduced me to a former student of his from Michigan (?) who had graduated from the Academy and was stationed on the icebreaker North Wind in Seattle.  What can I say.  24 years later I started my second career - as a ferry boat Captain. Thanks Mr. Bergum for a great life!


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