Victor Ferdinand Malen

The world has lost a special member of the “Greatest Generation.” Victor Ferdinand Malen passed away peacefully in Bellevue, WA after battling the effects of diabetes and recent heart issues. He was born to Finnish immigrants Victor Elis and Greta Klemetti Malen in Astoria, OR; the 6th of 7 children. He graduated from Astoria High School in 1941. After a year of working he enrolled at Oregon State College. With the outbreak of WWII, he left college to join the Navy. He was stationed in the Solomon Islands, repairing landing craft using the wooden boat building skills he learned from his father. After the war, he returned to college at Willamette University where he turned his attention to his studies until a young Patricia Pinkerton caught his eye. After two dates, he proposed, and they were soon married.

They celebrated their 71st wedding anniversary this past year. Vic transferred to the University of Oregon to complete his studies and became a lifelong “Duck.” He graduated in 1950 with a BS from the School of Architecture and Allied Arts. After graduation, he moved back to Astoria with his wife and two young daughters to begin his building career. He moved his growing family to the Bellevue Lake Hills neighborhood in 1957 to join in their building boom.

He spent his career in the building industry with companies like Sellen and HS Wright as well as establishing a family corporation that specialized in single and multi-family projects. His structures are throughout the region and include Kane Hall and the Law Library at the U of W, and Overlake and Group Health Hospitals. He was superintendent for a major project at Cedar Sinai Medical Center in LA and a jail project in Wenatchee. While in LA, he and Pat bought and lived on their sailboat, The Athena, as their home away from home. As the LA project finished, they sailed the boat up the coast to its final home at Shilshole Bay, creating a special retreat away from the busy life of the city. Vic loved to golf. He and Pat were longtime members of the Sahalee Golf Club. They traveled the country on special Sahalee golf trips and hosted many family gatherings at the club house. In addition, they held season tickets to the Seattle Seahawks, Seattle Symphony POPS, and local community theater companies. They attended Bellevue First Presbyterian Church where Vic made sure to always save seats for their friends.

Vic loved family and was the patriarch and last living member of his family’s generation. He and Pat hosted regular parties at their home and every meal included a welcome speech and a joke. He spent a wonderful weekend this past July at the Malen Family Reunion, where over 130 Malen family members gathered to share memories and fellowship together. He loved those gatherings.

He is survived by his loving wife Pat; his daughters Carol Kyllingstad, Susan Dunaway (Richard), and Joan McCauley; and son, Thomas (Sharon); his ten grandchildren Barbara Kyllingstad, Kirsten Kyllingstad, Erika Salamon, Catherine Albertson, Kristina Eseman, Rachel, Megan and Brian Malen, Jacqueline and Laura McCauley; nine great grandchildren; and numerous nephews, nieces and friends. He will be dearly missed by us all but is at home with our Savior.