Oxnard, CA
Agnes Olga Carlson
Agnes Olga Carlson was born on December 21, 1925 in Alexandria, MN, to parents Martha and August Heinn and died at home peacefully on September 1, 2014. As was common in the Depression years, Agnes was given by the family, which had 11 siblings, to a wealthy family in Minnesota headed by a lawyer to complete grade school, high school and high-speed court typing. Agnes' first job was to type incoming information on the code for the U.S. War Department on the midnight/dawn shift.
When the War ended, Agnes took a bus from Washington, D.C. to Pasco, WA where her stepsister got her a job teaching swimming and diving and later as a secretary at the Pasco Airport.
Agnes met a marine who had served on the death march on the Bataan Peninsula while thousands of Americans were slaughtered. After the war Agnes met and married the returned marine, and they had a baby boy. The marine quickly returned to the war against China attacking Southern Korea. The marine was killed in the enemy attack. Agnes attempted to have the marine buried in Arlington National Cemetery, but could not.
Several months later, Walla-Walla Washington newspaper reporter Don O. Carlson called the airport at Pasco, and was "stunned" by the typist. It wasn't easy but Carlson finally got a date with the typist. After two years of dating, Agnes and Don O. Carlson were married. Shortly thereafter Carlson was offered a job on a new Michigan magazine called Inside Michigan. This move started a string of changes for the Carlson group, leaving Washington state and moving to Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, New York and then back to Indiana. Along with the location of homes the Carlson family had just one child but then later added two more sons to the group, who today are in their fifties.
In 1964 the family purchased Automated Builder Magazine, which became the top information on building homes and commercial structures inside factories. The Carlson family covered the world in learning about construction for a total of 35 nations, of which 33 went along with Agnes.
However, in 2010 the Automated Builder Magazine had to close the doors due to the lack of ads. But the Carlsons said, "If the industry comes back, we will start it up again" – which we have done. We have had two editions of Automated Builder on the Internet and the third edition will be November/December 2014.
Agnes will be with us in spirit! We know that because when we first got our IBM typewriter with the "ball" to apply the letters, Agnes said it "needed work," as the letters piled up when she typed. When the IBM people came to the office to watch what happened, Don watched their jaws drop when they saw how fast Agnes typed. It developed that the same story was true for just five typists in the United States, who had to get "faster balls." IBM came through just as Agnes O. Carlson always did, and Agnes and Don Carlson enjoyed a perfect period together of 63 years.
Agnes is preceded in death by son Russell D. Carlson, and is survived by her husband, Don O. Carlson, her sons Lance and Scott, her brother Al Heinn, and her sister Irene, and countless extended family and friends.
In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the American Cancer Society.
Cremation Arrangements are under the direction of JOSEPH P. REARDON FUNERAL HOME & CREMATION SERVICE, Ventura.