Ingrid W. Skoog

Ingrid W. SKOOG Age 85, died January 7, 2006, following an apparent stroke on December 26, 2005. She was born Ingrid Eleanor Westin on August 23, 1920, in St. Paul, Minnesota. Her parents, Olaf and Elsa (Olsson) Westin, emigrated from Sweden in the 1910's. Ingrid's father died of tuberculosis when she was an infant. Her mother returned to Sweden with Ingrid and her brother, Carl, when Ingrid was very young. The family returned to St. Paul after a year or two, where Elsa's siblings Anna and Carl Olsson had immigrated. Elsa later married Andrew Anderson, also of Sweden. Ingrid's connections to the old country enabled her to share with her children their Swedish heritage. Ingrid was salutatorian of St. Paul's Johnson High School class of 1938. In 1942, she graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Minnesota's College of Education, where she was a member of the Pi Lambda Theta and Kappa Phi sororities. On September 25, 1943, she married Richard Bruce Skoog, an aeronautical engineer and Navy ensign, also of St. Paul. The couple lived in Virginia and California, then settled in Bellevue, Washington in 1953, after Dick took a job with the Boeing Company. Dick and Ingrid moved to Medina in about 1960. They raised six children and introduced them to the outdoors through boating, skiing, and camping trips. They traveled throughout the United States, often in a small plane piloted by Dick, a Boeing Flying Club member. After Dick's untimely death from a heart attack in 1977, Ingrid continued traveling. Over twenty years, she visited every continent and most countries around the globe, filling over sixty photo albums with her memories. Beginning in the early 1970's, Ingrid worked in the library and office staff of the Bellevue Public Schools, where she made friendships that lasted the rest of her life. She was also active in TOPS and a women's investment club. Ingrid was preceded in death by her husband, Richard B. Skoog and her older brother, Carl Westin. Her youngest son, Carl Skoog, tragically perished in a mountaineering accident on October 17, 2005. Ingrid is survived by five children: Lawrence Skoog of Seattle, WA; R. (Randall) Philip Skoog (wife, Janice) of Washington, D.C.; Anita Skoog Neil (husband, Bill Neil) of Bellevue, WA; Gordon Skoog of Redmond, WA; and Lowell Skoog (wife, Stephanie Subak) of Seattle, WA. Ingrid was a loving grandmother to Courtney Skoog (Philip), Wendy Gerber, Julie Iriondo, Dana and Erik Skoog (Gordon), and Thomas Skoog (Lowell). She is also survived by cousin May Olmsted (mother of Renu Olmsted) of Redmond, WA; sister-in-law, Elsie Skoog of Mercer Island, WA (widow of James Skoog, mother of James, Jon, and Leonard Skoog); and sister-in-law, Marge Westin of Minneapolis, MN (widow of Carl Westin, mother of Carla and Richard Westin). A Memorial Service will be held Saturday, January 21, 2006, at 2:00 p.m. in the Chapel at Sunset Hills Memorial Park, 1575 - 145th Place SE, Bellevue, Washington (425-746-1400). In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to NAMI (National Alliance for Mental Illness) of Greater Seattle, 802 NW 70th Street, Seattle, WA 98117.