Former Annuitant, Marianne Sundberg, Passes Away
Marianne Walvoord SundbergMarianne Walvoord Sundberg, 73, wife of Art Sundberg, who lived in Dhahran from 1955 - 1977, passed away peacefully Friday, August 9, 2002 at 12:20 pm, in Cottage Hospital, Santa Barbara after a 4-year off-and-on struggle with melanoma. She lived at home undergoing out-patient chemotherapy for several months before being released and going on Hospice July 10. Her daughter Ann lives in Los Angeles and was frequently up in Santa Barbara during her final months. Son Paul also was there, after taking a leave-of-absence from his doctoral studies at the University of Illinois to spend the last 6 months with her and Art. None of that time is regretted!
Marianne was born in Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin October 31, 1928, daughter of devout Dutch Reformed parents, and graduated from high school in 1946. She attended Central College in Pella, Iowa (Class of '50), a well-reputed Reformed Church academic institution, and received her Bachelor's in Nursing from Johns Hopkins University in 1952. She served as a missionary nurse with the Arabian Mission (Reformed Church) on the island of Bahrain and in Muscat, Oman from 1952 until 1955, when she married Ernest ("Art") Sundberg, an auditor with the Aramco Oil Company in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. During her years in Aramco, she raised two children, volunteered as an Arabic-speaking nurse with the Women's Hospital in Dhahran, and participated actively in the life of the Dhahran Protestant Fellowship. After 22 very happy years in Dhahran and 6 idyllic years in the Hague, Holland, they retired to Woodland Hills, California in 1983, and then moved to the Samarkand Retirement Community, Santa Barbara, where they have lived since 1998.
A service of thanksgiving for her life will be held at El Montecito Presbyterian Church, Santa Barbara Saturday, August 17, at 11:00 am. The interment service is Monday, August 19, at 11:30 am at Forest Lawn Cemetery Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles. She is survived by her husband Art, 80, son Paul, and daughter Ann and her new husband Cameron Johnston, another Aramco Brat. Marianne was first of all a woman of faith, then wife, mother, friend, nurse, Bible teacher and spiritual mentor of women, musician and hymnologist. Mom, we can hardly begin to imagine all the ways we will miss you!
Letters or cards may be sent to:
The Sundberg Family
2562 Treasure Dr., S-4203
Santa Barbara, CA 93105
In lieu of plants and flowers, the family prefer that a donation be made in her name to the "Nehemiah Fund" at:
El Montecito Presbyterian Church
1455 E. Valley Road
Santa Barbara, CA 93108
Mom would want to send her love to all of her many Aramco friends and remind them that she is actually doing "fine" where she is now. We, the surviving family are less "fine", of course, but we know that she had a full, fruitful life, and that comforts us.
Editor's Note: Paul wrote that the funeral will be next Saturday, August 17, at 11:00 am in Santa Barbara (El Montecito Presbyterian Church), and any old Aramco friends are warmly invited to be there.
He also asks that this news be passed on to any Aramcons you think might be interested. This will help prevent any awkwardness at the Reunion from people innocently inquiring, "How's Marianne?"
Please visit the web page Paul Sundberg created "in memoriam" Marianne Sundberg