Stig Emanuel Ekblad, age 91, a resident of Mount Vernon, passed away July 15, 2011, at Harborview Hospital, in Seattle.
He was born May 3, 1920 in Bofors, Sweden, to Axel and Hildur (Ramberg) Ekblad. Stig came to this country when he was 2 years old, excelled in school, and graduated High School when he was 15. He built his first radio receiver and had a license to operate at the age of 15. His love of ham radio never faded, and he was on the airways for 76 years. He had a fondness for Indian and Harley motorcycles. Stig was in the Army Signal Corps during WWII, where his overseas duty was in Greenland. There were a number of Nazi subs offshore, and he monitored them as best as possible and changed our codes every 4 hours. After the war, he became a founding father of Scandinavian Airlines Systems. He rose to VP of Operations for SAS at 6 airports. Stig and his wife, Doris traveled quite a bit, taking their son, Eric with them a few times. This was the golden age of commercial flight. After retiring about 1977, they moved to Sedro-Woolley in 1979, where Stig and Doris really liked living a private life.
He is survived by his son, Eric and his wife, Betty Ekblad, of Sedro-Woolley; sister-in-law Helen Ekblad and niece, Linda Ekblad, both of Florida.
He is preceded in death by his wife, Doris; brother, Alex Ekblad; mother-in-law, Caroline Ragger; and brother-in-law, Frank Ragger.
Memorial Contributions are suggested to the Helping Hands Food Bank, PO Box 632, Sedro-Woolley, WA 98284.
A memorial service will be held at 11:00 AM, Saturday, July 23, 2011 at Lemley Chapel, Pastor Walt Rice, officiating.
I knew Stig for over half a century, through his son, Eric. A soft spoken and thoughtful man, I always found him a fascinating conversationalist, when coaxed ! He will be missed by all who knew him.
Stig was a good friend. After he first moved to Sedro-Woolley he was active in emergency radio communications for Skagit County and belonged to the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service, the Radio Amateurs of Skagit County and the Amateur Radio Emergency Service. His main interest in ham radio was in high speed code communications with hams world wide, where he had many friends. He was liked by everyone at Mountain Glen Retirement Home for his friendly and polite nature. He will be missed.
Eric, your Dad lead a full active life with so many experiences to share. Wish we would have had more opportunities to listen to all his stories.
Our Condolences, Bill & Kathy
Stig was my table mate in the dining room at Mountain Glen. I was a signalman striker in the Navy, & forgotten most of my Morse Code, Stig was helping me remember.We had many pleasant conversations. He was a fine man, a good friend to have. I will miss him!!