Bertil Sture Asklund

Bertil Sture Asklund, known as Bert to his friends, Dad to his son and daughter, and Grandpa to three generations of grandchildren, escaped his failing body and was called home by Jesus on December 22, 2020 due to complications of kidney disease, internal bleeding and a weakened heart.

He was 88 years old and resided in Ontario, California in the same home he raised his family in since 1966. In recent years he enjoyed spending weeks or months at a time with his granddaughter Krissy Roodzant in northern California and his daughter Anna Smith in Tehachapi, California. It was while visiting his daughter Anna in Tehachapi that he passed away.

Bert was born in Queens, New York on February 20th 1932 to Gustav Emanuel Asklund and Siri Norrby Asklund, immigrant parents who came from Sweden in the 1920’s.

He was the second born of five children and contracted polio as a baby. He was a fighter and survived the dreaded disease making a virtually complete recovery. While polio left many confined to a wheelchair or paralyzed, Bert learned to walk by the age of 2 1/2.

As an adult the only visible reminder of the affliction was one foot that was smaller than the other. He was predeceased by his brothers Kenneth and Vincent and sister Eileen. He is survived by his brother Jack Asklund of Laughlin, Nevada.

After High School Bert traveled around the country following various possible career leads and having so many adventures that they were the subject of many epic and nearly unbelievable stories he told for years to come.

However, on Pearl Harbor Day- December 7th, 1950 he joined the Navy, fought in the Korean War, and later was stationed in Occupied Japan. Then, years after he was discharged he joined the Navy Reserve. Fast forward many years and in the 1970’s, due to some special circumstances he joined the Army and then also served in the Army Reserve, finishing up his career in the military as an E8 Sergeant First Class .

The love of Bert’s life was Muriel Camp, whom he met at Fort Wayne Bible College in Indiana and married in Indiana on February 19th, 1957. She preceded him in death in 2005. They had four children together. Ruth Eileen Asklund (1958-1994), Gordon Alan Asklund (perished 6 hours after birth in 1959), Anna Marie Asklund (1960) and Paul Alan Asklund (1962).

Bert was a man of many interests; History in general and World War ll in particular was high on his list and he had an entire library of books about it. Writing fiction and non-fiction occupied his mind and many hours of his time throughout his life.

However, his most enduring passion was volunteering at the Red Cross.

He began volunteering as an elementary student during the Second World War. He and his class mates were provided with patterns to cut out bandages for specific areas of the body and carefully rolled them up or folded them according to the directions provided by the Red Cross.

Over the years his service expanded and he helped out in many ways. Nothing was beneath him. He was not too proud to clean bathrooms, or pitch in to do repairs to facilities, he would also bring snacks and drinks to the blood donors. When asked what he did there he would often reply “whatever I am told”. At one point he was in charge of disaster services, making sure the supplies were inventoried regularly, stocked and organized. He was also known to purchase shelves, and other items for the organization, if the chain of command said there were no resources to meet the need he saw.

As the years went by he began to have a growing interest in the history of the Pomona Valley Chapter he volunteered at, and spent years researching about and writing the history of that chapter. At one point in recent years a lot of his research was accidentally destroyed and he spent months painstakingly re-writing and verifying the facts again. Although disappointed he was undaunted, and committed to see it through. Again.

On September 24th, 2016 while the LA County Red Cross chapter was having a big celebration dinner commemorating 100 years of the Red Cross in LA, Bert was given a presidential award for 75 years of service; the most years of voluntary service of any person in the history of the Red Cross. Although the Keynote speaker for the event was a space shuttle astronaut, at the end of the evening when it was announced that attendees could get a signed photo of the astronaut people also flocked to Bert to get their picture taken with him, and for a brief moment he felt what it was like to have celebrity status.

After it was all over he still continued to ride the bus almost every day to the Cal Poly Pomona Campus, where the Red Cross offices are located, to continue writing the history of the Pomona Valley chapter. At some point someone realized that maybe the real story was about the humble man who spent a lifetime volunteering there on a regular basis, and at one point a small group of employees interviewed him and showed interest in writing the story of his involvement with the Red Cross over his lifetime.

Fast forward to 2020 and Covid 19 brought his service to a grinding halt. Being 88 years old it would not be wise for him to take public transportation to his office there. He was in too high of a risk category. He still maintained his interest in what was happening there and lamented often that he was out of touch with the Red Cross for much of the past year.

But there was still more to Bert. He had an underlying influence in his life that surpassed all others. That was his relationship with Jesus Christ. It started at a young age and was woven through everything he did. The underlying strength and purpose of his life was to love Jesus and share Him with everyone through everything he did. He was a disciple of Jesus and even though he spent so much time at the Red Cross he also was dedicated to the Gideons. An organization whose purpose is distributing complete copies of the Bible, New Testaments, or portions thereof free of charge.

Bert spent many hours outside of local Junior High Schools handing out New Testaments, or the Gospel of John to any student who wanted one. He did this as often as weather and his health permitted all the way up until the pandemic brought it to a halt. But that did not stop him from discipling people one on one over the phone or through the mail.

Through his lifetime Bert had many adventures, all over the globe- in the military, and closer to home too.

He never met a stranger and was known to talking a person’s ear off if given the opportunity.

He was a man of strong ideas and opinions and loved to debate, yet had a heart of gold.

If he saw or heard of a need he would try to help people out, sometimes to his own detriment and the dismay of his family. A couple of years ago his daughter got a text from the bank asking if it was possible that Bert could have spent $800 in a single transaction at Walmart. She panicked and called her dad asking if he lost his debit card or could have it been stolen?

“Oh no”, he said “It was me”

“What? Dad have you lost it? What in the world were you buying?”

“Oh, I met a widow a few weeks ago who has some children and they needed clothes and beds so I bought them for her.” He barely knew the woman and took her on a shopping spree to walmart.

That was Bert, a man who was generous, had a servants heart, was opinionated, strong willed, a talker, and who desired to be a humble follower of Jesus.

When parting ways with friends and family, and at the close of his phone conversations he would conclude with the phrase “Bye for now.”

So Bert, we will miss you so much and we say to you “Bye for now”

Bert is survived by his daughter Anna of Tehachapi, CA and son Paul of Ontario, CA. Also, his granddaughter Krissy Roodzant of Livermore, CA. Grandsons Daniel, Jacob, and R.J. Smith, all from Tehachapi, CA. Grandson Michael Smith of Cobleskill, NY. Grandson Westley Asklund of Ontario, CA and granddaughter Maggie Asklund of Medford, Oregon. Great grandchildren Elijah, Gianna, Lincoln, Leah, Evie, Damon, Ricky, Blaze, Matthias, Coco, and Zade Smith of Tehachapi, CA. Great granddaughter Mariah Buffum of Kansas and Jarred Roeback of Texas. And, great great grandchildren Connor and Allison Buffum of Kansas.