Harold LeRoy Engebretsen

July 19, 1929 – July 9, 2021

Harold L. Engebretsen, 91, passed away July 9, 2021 in Homer, Alaska, at the Senior Citizens Center where he had lived for the past five years.

Harold was born July 19, 1929, in Humboldt County, Eureka, California, to Luther Engebretsen and Naomi Peugh Engebretsen. His dream at 18 years of age was to marry Edith Patrick and move to Alaska. They married in 1947, and in 1959, moved their five children from Oregon to Alaska and settled a homestead on the Anchor River in the spring of 1960.

Construction took him to job sites around the state of Alaska, and commercial fishing filled up his summers. For 13 years, Harold and Edith spent three months each winter donating their time to assist a village ministry in the Philippines constructing churches, buildings and a boat. They also spent some other winters traveling with the Mercy Ship Anastasis, Harold doing construction and Edith housekeeping. Harold loved to tinker with machines and built swamp buggies for the homestead, as well as playground equipment for the kids.

Visiting neighbors in Anchor Point and Homer brought him pleasure. Around 2001, he and Edith moved to Weippe, Idaho, where he bought property from his sister and built a new home and an amazing workshop on a remote 13 acres of beautiful wooded hillside. Edith passed away in 2007, and Harold returned to Alaska in 2015.

Harold was preceded in death by his wife Edith; his parents; brother, Edwin Engebretsen; sister, Donna Kasper; grandson, Nathaniel Bryan Mattson; and great-grandsons Oliver Zane Weisser and Hunter Orphus. His ashes will be buried his wife in Weippe, Idaho.

Harold is survived by his brother Dick Engebretsen and sister Shirley Humphreys. He will be missed by the family he has left behind, including five children, Kerry Engebretsen, Allen Engebretsen and Marla Weisser, all of Homer, Gene Engebretsen, of Post Falls, Idaho, and Rhonda Mattson, of Bozeman, Montana; 36 grandchildren, 90+ great-grandchildren and six great-great grandchildren.We will miss your humor, storytelling and steadfast faith in God you so faithfully spoke about and lived. We already miss you, Dad and Grandpa!!

A celebration of Harold’s life will be held as a memorial on the Engebretsen Homestead at 36010 North Fork Road, Tuesday, July 27 from 5 – 8 p.m. Food will be served. Please join us.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Homer Senior Citizens Center – Alzheimer Unit. Thank you!