TOR Eide

Tor Eide was born on January 8, 1922, in Haugesund, Norway, to Ellen and Olaf Eide. He grew up alongside his older brothers, Leif and Gunnar. At the age of 8, he immigrated to the United States and entered the second grade without a word of English. The rapid adjustment to his new country initiated a lifetime love of language, and as an adult he spoke Norwegian, English, Russian, and French with native fluency, as well as German with a bit more hesitation.

Tor volunteered for the Marine Corps in June of 1942. He boarded the Rochambeau for the South Pacific and joined the first Marine Division. He was in the second wave beach-landing on Cape Gloucester, New Britain. Selected for officer training, he joined a Marine detachment for language school at Miami University of Ohio and Dartmouth College. When the war ended, he hitchhiked home to Minneapolis where he graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in Russian Studies.

He pursued his love of language by living in Paris with a Russian family, perfecting both languages and learning to cook before joining the foreign service, where he was assigned to posts in Oslo, Norway and then Paris, France. In the Paris embassy he made a number of life-long friendships and met the woman who would become his wife. He married Dorothy Anne Gilligan in 1960, a marriage that thrived until his death 65 years later. Dorothy and Tor built a family across three continents, welcoming three daughters in capital cities: Chantal was born in Paris later in 1960, Lorraine in Washington D.C. in 1962, and Marian in Tehran, Iran in 1965. Raising their children in Munich, Germany, they continued a life of adventure, teaching their children a love of knowledge, skills in skiing and swimming, and adventures in camping and kayaking, while singing along to folksongs in four languages. Tor is survived by his wife and three daughters as well as his sons-in-law, Richard Schooler and Lawrence James Oliver; his grandchildren, Isabel and Benjamin Schooler; his nieces, Karin Eide and Joan Gray; and grandnieces, Laura Wilkening, Kimberly Walker, and Melanie McLeary.

Tor lived a rich life balanced between his devotion to family and his exciting career in the foreign service. His evenings were spent practicing classical guitar, listening to opera in theaters or in the workshops where he made furniture by hand with antique tools. He delighted in cooking meals for friends, often accompanied by elaborate of competitions in word-game charades, complete with costumes. Weekends found trips to lakes and ski slopes or rounds of golf with good friends. On retirement, he added gardening to his repertoire and delighted in serving meals with ingredients from the back yard in Falls Church, Virginia.

Tor will be remembered as a kind man with unequaled dignity and elegance. He was a modest and thoughtful presence, with a generous capacity for friendship and love.

The funeral will be held at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church on Saturday, March 15, 2025, at 2:00 pm, 7426 Idylwood Road, Falls Church, VA 22043, 703-573-0295.

No flowers or donations are necessary; we hope you will instead enjoy a happy memory of Tor.