Ragnar Andreas Andersen
June 29, 1928-Aug. 23, 2018
Redwood City, California

Ragnar Andreas Andersen passed away just after his 90th birthday at the Devonshire Oaks Nursing Home in Redwood City, CA on Thursday, August 23, 2018. Ragnar (Andy) was born June 29, 1928 in Bergen, Norway to Knut and Kristi Andersen. He was the oldest of 6 children (Anny, Olav, John (d), Daniel (d) and Reidar (d)) He attended grade school and high school in Bergen and attended the Norwegian Technological Institute from 1945-1949 studying electrical engineering. During this time he also attended the Conservatory of Music's Orchestra School. He served in the Norwegian Air Force 1949-1950. Ragnar first came to the United States in 1951 and worked in construction in Chicago, staying with relatives then to New York to work for Bludworth Marine as an electrical engineer on ship navigation systems until late 1953. He was then drafted into the US Army and served as a Sargent as an instructor for ROTC students at Fort Manmouth and Fort Gordon in Augusta, Georgia. While there he took electronic courses at Georgia Tech and was also the assistant concert master for the Augusta Civic Symphony Orchestra. In 1955 Ragnar began working for ITT – Federal Systems Division in Nuttle, New Jersey as a design engineer traveling around the US for a year to SAC bases selecting sites for navigation systems. (He sometimes pulled over on road trips to show us where he put the systems) He was later assigned as a technical counselor to the Military Attache for the US Embassy in Oslo, Norway until 1960. In 1961 he began working for Grumman Aerospace as an electronic systems engineer. In 1963 Ragnar came to California as a quality engineer working out of the west coast Grumman office in El Segundo. In 1976 he met his second wife Virginia Gill at Dalmo Victor in Belmont when he was doing quality engineering for Grumman. They were married in 1979 and lived in Woodside until their move to Redwood City in 2011. Ragnar is survived by his wife Virginia, 3 son's, Roland Phillip (Jun) (from a former marriage), Thor Daniel, and Erik Allen and his sister Anny Sivertsen in New Jersey and brother Olav Andersen (Ella) in Bergen, Norway. There are many nieces and nephews in Norway, New Jersey, Chicago, and New York. Ragnar had many interests, loved playing golf, skiing, boating, flying his Cessna 182, woodworking, music and was very handy around the house. Private services for family will be held. In lieu of flowers, the family suggest donations to a favorite charity. A Celebration of Life will be announced.