Waldo Carlson

Waldo Carlson, 89, Bismarck, died February 19, 2006 in Laughlin, Nevada. Services will be held at 11:00 AM Saturday at First Lutheran Church, Bismarck, with Rev. Allen Wagner officiating. Burial will be in Fairview Cemetery.

       Visitation will be from 4:00 to 9:00 PM Thursday and 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM Friday at Eastgate Funeral Service and one hour prior to the service at the church.

       Waldo Carlson was born on July 19, 1916, in Morton County to Oscar and Anna (Anderson) Carlson. He attended a one room country school until the end of the eighth grade. He then went to find work because it was 1930 and things were tough for all. Through the thirties he found work as a laborer on the Railroad, a laborer and a carpenter on construction crews, and he also helped his father Oscar with coal mining. In 1935, he went to work for Anderson and Aune in Bismarck. In 1936, he went to work for FO Anderson and Son, he earned 40 cents an hour shingling houses and sanding floors for 10 hours a day and 6 days a week. With the money he made he bought his mother her first washing machine, it had a gas motor because there was no electricity on the farm.

        In 1933, Waldo went to work for Loren Anderson, his brother-in-law, to help rebuild a house that Loren had bought, working in the evenings for his room and board. His first car he bought was a Maxwell. In 1936 he bought a 1931 Chevy for $125. In 1939 he met Aileen Bock, who came to Bismarck from Marmarth, North Dakota. They were married in Baker, Montana, on April 6, 1940. In 1941 Waldo worked in the FO Anderson Shop on Avenue A between 7th and 8th street building bars for liquor establishments such as Kavaney's Bar. In the fall of 1942, Waldo and Aileen went to Seattle, where he did odd jobs. In 1943 he moved back to Morton County and went into farming on the land he had bought years before. That fall he went back to work for FO Anderson and Son as a foreman for $125 a week. In 1950 it became Meisner and Anderson and Waldo was one of their foremen. They built the Annunciation Priory and Waldo and Bob Guthrie were the foremen on the job.

       In 1958 Meisner and Anderson broke up and Waldo, Bob Guthrie, and Loren Anderson started Associated Builders, later to be called ANDERSON, GUTHRIE, AND CARLSON. Their first job was Saint Lawrence Church in Flasher. The company office was  713 Avenue A. In Waldo's spare time he was building houses in Bismarck, the first was on Anderson Street in 1949, the second on Griffin Street in 1950-51, the third-fourth-fifth on Washington Street at 1115-1113-1109. The sixth on Remington Avenue. The seventh on Custer Park St. He also built one in Mandan that he never lived in. In 1960 Associated Builders built St. Anne's Church. In 1961, they started the first addition on the Annunciation Priory, and built the chapel and the dorms. Waldo worked hard at building the Bell Tower the way it was meant to be, he even went to St. John's University in St. Cloud, Minnesota, to look at theirs. They also built the sisters home in Valley City (Maryvale). The company became Anderson, Guthrie, and Carlson. They built schools in Ashley, Plaza, Stanley, Glen Ullin, Watford City, Lamoure, Linton, Leeds, Milnor, Bowman, Rugby, and the Roncalli High School in Aberdeen, South Dakota. In 1964, they built Corpus Christi Catholic Church. In 1967, they took on their biggest job when they built the Bismarck Civic Center. Over the years he was involved with building many buildings in North Dakota.

       Waldo and Aileen would have celebrated their 66th wedding anniversary on April 6, 2006. They had four children, Dean, Janice, Bonnie, and Sharon.

       Waldo is survived by his wife, Aileen; his children Dean Carlson of Bismarck, Janice (Harlo) Thon of Bismarck, and Sharon (Larry) Thorne of Billings, MT; his grandchildren Larry Thorne, NYC; Kara (Pete) Cockfield, South Haven, MI; Michael (Meahan) Thorne, Atlanta, GA; Andrea Emerson, Bismarck; Erik (Alison) Anderson, St. Louis Park, MN; Matthew (Carole) Thon, Bismarck; and Richard Thorne, Billings; his great-grandchildren, Justin, Andrew, Skylar, Walker, Aiden, Liam, Jack, Anna, and Anthony; one sister, Eunice Anderson of Bismarck; one brother and sister-in-law, Raymond and Doris Carlson of Mandan; and numerous nieces and nephews.  

       He was preceded in death by his parents, Oscar and Anna Carlson; his daughter, Bonnie Carlson Anderson; his brothers, Harlin Carlson and Archie (Anne) Carlson; his sister, Julia Carlson; and one brother-in-law, Loren. Anderson.