- Date Of Birth: September 13, 1920
- Date Of Death: October 6, 2022
- State: Arizona
Gunhild “Gunny” Marie Carlson, was a woman of faith who loved Jesus all her life. She passed away peacefully in the early morning hours of October 6, 2022. She was 102 years old. Our family mourns her loss, but with joy celebrates the life she lived, her hope and her faith.
Gunny was preceded in death by her husband Wilbur, her sister Sylvia, and her oldest son Peter. She is survived by her sons Roger, Paul, Donald and their wives, eight grandchildren and fifteen great grandchildren.
Born on September 13, 1920 in Newark New Jersey, Gunhild Marie Englund was the daughter of Swedish immigrants, Gustav and Rosalie Englund. Gunny and her older sister, Sylvia, were lifelong friends. She grew up in West Orange, New Jersey in a large and loving extended Swedish family. While her parents were proud American citizens, they valued and celebrated their Swedish heritage. Our families have maintained many of those traditions (particularly the foods) especially during the Christmas season. Gunny’s parents passed on to their daughters a legacy of hard work and determination, a love of family and an attitude of gratefulness.
Both Gunny and Wilbur served in many roles in the churches they attended throughout their lives. Wherever they lived they sought the fellowship of Christian friends and excellent preaching. Gunny’s passion in life was music, and she used that God given gift to bless countless people. She loved the violin and played in the New Jersey Youth Symphony. She performed until the age of ninety, when she retired from the Mesa Senior Symphony. Gunny also played the piano. Till just weeks before her passing, each evening, with her little dog beside her, she would play the hymns she knew so well. Those hymns were her testimony to her love for God.
Mom’s passing marks the end of an era. She was one of the ‘Greatest Generation’ who lived through World War II and the Great Depression.
