Col. Gunnar Norlind

Gunnar Norlind, retired dentist and Colonel in the U.S. Army, passed away on December 5 at the VA hospital in San Francisco. He was born in Bergen, Norway on April 4, 1924. At the age of twenty one, he arrived in New York aboard the Stavangerfjord from Oslo. He went to Minnesota to study dentistry and graduated in 1949. He was drafted during the Korean War after becoming a naturalized citizen. He met his wife Gundl from Cologne, Germany in Paris. Their daughter Turi was born in Norway and the family returned to the US together. Gunnar continued his education and received his specialty in prosthodontics. After various assignments in the U.S. and Germany, he was stationed in Fort Ord from 1975 to 1980. He and his wife moved to Mill Valley for his last assignment at Letterman, retiring after 30 years of active duty. Gunnar had a lifetime love and appreciation of nature and photography. Over the years he had several Great Pyrenees dogs and was rarely seen without one of his large, fluffy, white companions.

Gunnar is survived by his devoted wife of 48 years, Gundl; his sister, Aslaug Gjerken of Bergen, Norway; his daughter, Turi Kozel of Corral de Tierra along with her husband, Geno Kozel; his three grandsons, Cory Hoffman, Oleg Kozel, and Gunnar Kozel; his great-grandson, Kai Hoffman; and many extended family members in Norway, Germany, and Austria.

He will be buried with full military honors at 2 pm on Saturday, December 15, 2012 at the San Carlos Cemetery in Monterey. Gunnar was a great patriot and would have wished for any contributions to be sent to the Wounded Warrior Project.