Arden was born James Arden Kolpin on June 11, 1918 to William Kolpin and Emma Lungwitz Kolpin in Berlin, Wisconsin. When Emma died of the Spanish Influenza four months after Arden’s birth, he was adopted and raised by his Aunt Caroline Kolpin Simmons and her husband Wilbur B. Simmons.
Arden graduated from Rufus High school in 1937.
Arden served in the United States Navy as a 2c Gunners Mate during the Second World War from 1942 to victory in 1945. Arden manned the guns on merchant ships as part of the Navy’s Armed Guard program aboard the M/S Gulf Pride, S/S HH Rogers, and S/S John Sullivan. Arden was in charge of gun crews aboard the USAT Exchequer, USS HR Kenyon DE 683.
Arden saw hostile action in the Caribbean, Mediterranean, North Atlantic, and the Pacific.
Arden was aboard the S/S HH Rogers when it was torpedoed and sunk in the North Atlantic in February of 1943. He was one of the survivors rescued by the British.
Arden served aboard the USAT Exchequer, a US Army Transport ship that carried some of the US Army Rangers to the D-Day Invasion of Europe in June of 1944. In 1945, he served on the USS Kenyon DE 683, a destroyer escort, in the Pacific until the end of the war.
In September of 1944, Arden married Susan Jane Kirk, a Registered Nurse. They had three children, Carol Anne, Lee Arden, and Nancy Lou.
Adren graduated from Lewis and Clark College in Portland with a degree in Economics. He worked for the Veterans Association in Washington DC, and spent 28 years with the NACM in Portland.
Arden died peacefully in the early morning of February 21, 2020. He is preceded in death by his daughter, Nancy Lou in 1967; his wife, Susan in 2018; his brothers Earl Kolpin, Howard Kolpin, and sister, Myrtle Kolpin Kintzler.
Arden is survived by his daughter, Carol Anne Ross of Calgary, Canada; son, Lee Arden Simmons, of Portland; granddaughter, Jill Ares of Texas; great grandson Alex Ares of Calgary; nephew, Ronald Kolpin and wife Maria Kolpin of Pagosa Springs, Colorado.
Arden will be laid to rest with military honors at Lincoln Memorial Park, Portland.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18