Marvin G Anderson

Marv was born on November 18th, 1935, in Spokane, Washington to parents Barbara (“Bobby”) Weichsl & John (“Johnny”) S. Anderson. He grew up on Queen street where he lived with his Aunt Mable and Uncle Roy.

When Marv was a boy, he spent some summers with his grandpa Hans Christian Anderson and stepbrother Duane Traaen at Lake Pend O’Reille, Idaho – Garfield Bay in particular, where he helped his grandfather rent out boats to guests and did maintenance work at the resort.

In his younger years, before launching into the career of his dreams (teaching), Marv first worked at the Crescent department store in downtown Spokane as a stock boy, and at White Pine Lumber Company and Trentwood Rolling Mill in the summers while he attended college.

Marv attended North Central High School, University of Washington and Washington State University, and earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Biology. When Marv was in college, he was in ROTC. After college, he served in the army reserve as an officer, training at Fort Benning, Georgia, and Camp Roberts, California.

Marv met Loretta (his wife of 59 years) on a blind date on Memorial Day weekend in 1959. On their date, he asked her if she liked to fish and she said, ‘oh yeah, fishing’s fun!’ (to impress him)… so on their next date he took her out on a boat to Badger lake in the mid-afternoon and around midnight she really thought they’d be through fishing, but they were still on the lake! She couldn’t believe that man kept her in the boat for THAT long! However, she agreed to another date, and another, and they continued dating through the summer, and on October 19th Marv presented Loretta with her engagement ring at a surprise dinner party.

They were going to get married the next June, but since he was in his first year of teaching at Olympic High School in Seattle, Marv wanted them to get married over his next break (Christmas)! So, on December 26, 1959, they were married at North Hill Christian Church in Spokane, then moved to Burien, Washington and soon after that to Des Moines, Washington, where their first child (Mardell) was born on October 27th of 1960. When their daughter was 9 months old, they went back to Spokane so Marv could attend summer school to get his Master’s degree. He was excited when he was contacted by School District 81 with an offer to teach at Shadle Park High School and he accepted the job. They immediately started looking at homes and moved back to Spokane, making a cozy home in a little house on Milton street. Marv started teaching at Shadle the next year in 1961. Their sons Steve and Dave were born a couple of years apart not long after that (1962 and 1964, respectively).

Marv taught Biology and was the boys’ tennis coach at Shadle Park High School for 10 years. His boys’ tennis team were State Champions one year and he also received the coveted Washington State’s Coach of the Year award.

Marv taught some night school classes at Spokane Falls Community College (SFCC) during his tenure at Shadle, and was recognized as a good solid teacher and he had his Master’s degree. When his kids were approaching high school years, Marv didn’t want them to feel uncomfortable around the other students with him teaching there, and because of his excellent teaching record at SFCC, he was offered a teaching position at Spokane Community College (SCC), and he jumped on it.

Marv taught Biology at SCC, carpooling with his buddy Gordy Brunette for many years. Often, he also taught both summer school and night school. Marv wasn’t afraid of a hard day’s work, was proud of the work he did, and he did it well.

Of his teaching career, Marv said he “never had to work a day in his life”; he loved teaching, it was his passion. Then, when he retired in 1999, his passion turned to his garden, yard, roses and the church.

Marv and Loretta attended family camps, adult retreats, enjoyed going to weekly home groups, and Marv taught adult Sunday School at Zion for many years.

Earlier, he had a stint singing in the church choir for a few years (with the whole family)! He had a hard time singing harmony and per his own words: “I don’t sing between the cracks, I just sing whatever the guy next to me is singing.”

Marv and Loretta became Elders at Zion church, during which he went on a missionary trip to India and two trips to Australia (one of which included Loretta). Each trip was several weeks long and very special. Marv and Loretta became Elders at the church in the late 1970’s and continued serving for many years.

Together, Marv and Loretta led the senior group at their church for a number of years.

During his retirement years he and Loretta went to Hawaii numerous times. Kauai was their favorite destination where they had a condominium they rented that overlooked the beach. Dad had many fond memories of their trips to Hawaii and the pictures to back them up.

Marv is survived by his wife, Loretta Anderson of Spokane Washington, daughter Mardell Sours (Dan) of Kennewick Washington, son Steven Anderson of Chandler Arizona, son David Anderson of Redmond Washington, and five beautiful grandchildren (Ryan, Kirstin, Mikayla, Cameron, and Garrett).

A celebration of Marv’s life will be held at 11:00 am, Saturday, August 25th 2018 at Zion Spokane, 545 Wellesley Avenue.