Kari Fandek

Kari was born Sept. 5, 1923, in London to father Bjørn and mother Signe Bunkholdt while Bjørn was on assignment there for Aftenposten, Norway’s leading newspaper. Bjørn went on to be editor for Aftenposten after the family returned to Oslo. Kari and her two younger sisters, Bjørg and Vigdis, spent an idyllic childhood in Norway. All that changed in April 1940, when German armed forces invaded Norway. Her school was turned into a barracks, and the family often had nothing but potatoes to eat. Born, an active member of the resistance and reserve officer in the Norwegian Army, had to go into extended hiding at least once to avoid arrest. In her memoir, Kari writes, “We were not afraid of the soldiers, but we were very afraid of the Gestapo (Nazi secret police). We knew very early on what they were capable of.” She entered the Ullevål Hospital School of Nursing, Oslo, in 1945, graduating in 1948. That same year, she met a ship’s first mate named William G. (“Bill”) Fandek, who had broken his leg while on an American cargo ship in Oslo. The two fell in love, and after a short courtship, he went to her parents’ house to formally (and successfully) ask for her hand and to move to the United States. Kari arrived in America not knowing the language, customs or cuisine well, and the couple were married in Brooklyn in 1949. They settled in Pikesville, a suburb of Baltimore, then a major cargo and transshipment port. Bill would ship out from there on Moore-McCormack Lines vessels throughout a long career. Three of their four children were born in the United States: Philip in 1953, Neal in 1956 and Kari-Anne (now Kari-Anne Lynne) in 1960. Bill was transferred to Copenhagen in 1963 to serve as a staff captain in the Baltic Sea through 1967. Living in Denmark those years allowed Kari to see more of her parents and sisters, and her children to experience idyllic Norwegian summers and winters. Their fourth child, Ingrid (now Ingrid Obrecht), was born in Copenhagen in 1964. Returning to the U.S. in 1967, the family resettled in Towson, and Kari resumed nursing at several psychiatric facilities, including Seton Psychiatric Institute and Sheppard Pratt Hospital. An active and vigorous woman proud of her Norwegian heritage, Kari was a staunch supporter of Sons of Norway, the Norwegian Seamen’s Church and the First Lutheran Church of Towson. She was preceded in death by Bill in 2006 and by her sister Bjørg in 2019. She is survived by her sister Vigdis Bunkholdt of Oslo; her four children and their spouses: Philip (Nedeene), Neal (Marilyn), Kari-Ann Lynne (Mark) and Ingrid Obrecht (Donald); 11 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. A brave and indomitable woman, Kari was the nucleus and moral center of her sprawling family. A memorial service will be held at St. James Episcopal Church, 3100 Monkton Road, Monkton, MD 21111 on Monday, June 13, 2022 at 11am. Interment Garrison Forest Veterans Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy may be directed in Kari’s memory to St. James Episcopal Church, 3100 Monkton Road, Monkton, MD 21111.