A life well lived. A man well loved.

Fritz Erick Forsberg died peacefully at home at 6:30 in the evening on Thursday, August 6th, 2020—12 days shy of his 101st birthday. Fritz’s wife of 73 years, Eleanor (aged 96), was at his side holding his hand, as she had done throughout the four days in which he had been finally bedridden, as she had done every day of their married life. Fritz’s daughter and her husband, Rita and Jerry Love, and his 7 grandchildren and their families—including 9 great-grandchildren—surrounded him with songs and prayers, expressions of love and gratitude, and emotional goodbyes. 

Fritz was born on August 18, 1919 in Bredåker, Sweden to Franz Valfred “Fred” and Hilma Juhlin Forsberg. He spent his childhood in a small red house by the Lulealven, a wide blue river near Boden. At age seven, Fritz immigrated to the US with his parents and two younger siblings, Everett & Alice. The family settled in Pinehurst, Idaho, where Fritz taught his parents English with words and phrases he brought home from school. In his youth, Fritz first found work helping his father as a lumberjack in the forests of Northern Idaho. Possessing a knack for solving mechanical puzzles, he soon became a machinist for the flourishing mining industry in the neighboring Silver Valley.

Fritz’s career at Bunker Hill in Kellogg was interrupted by the call to service in World War II. He spent four years as an airplane mechanic in the Mediterranean theater, deployed in Italy, southern France and North Africa. While a soldier, he survived a bout of yellow jaundice, convalesced in an army hospital, and hopped a cargo plane from Tunis to Lecce, Italy to rejoin his unit. He was present when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 1944 and fixed planes damaged by rocks rained down from the volcano. His deep patriotism and commitment to service were emblematic of Fritz’s character throughout his life. He had a particular affection for the beauty and symbolism of the American flag. Fritz served his country from August, 1941 until October, 1945 in the Army Air Corps, the precursor to the Air Force.

Home on furlough and attending a social gathering, Fritz met the love of his life: Eleanor Sieverding. They were married on February 4th, 1946, four months after Fritz returned from the service. The couple was overjoyed when Eleanor gave birth to a beautiful daughter, Rita Dawn. To support his family, Fritz used money from his job at Bunker Hill to bootstrap the building of his first home, which he then sold to launch a career as a self-employed carpenter. He and Eleanor custom-built six more homes entirely on their own. Fritz and Eleanor lived for over 60 years in the last home they constructed: a charming and immaculate 1950s ranch they had situated at Idaho and Third Street in Pinehurst.

Fritz and Eleanor relished a creative and meaningful life. Rita was their darling and their delight, a bright, curious and gentle girl whom they taught to love God and pick huckleberries, whose character they molded and achievements they marveled at. When Rita left for college, Fritz and Eleanor opened their hearts and their home to a number of foster children with whom they remained close throughout their lives. When the mining industry declined in the late 1980s, Fritz pivoted to work as a mechanical engineer, helping to design assembly lines for the printed circuit boards of calculators and the first IBM PCs. He continued this work until his retirement in 1992.

Fritz and Eleanor’s daughter, Rita, married Gerald “Jerry” Love of Concord, New Hampshire on June 1, 1968, after they had met and dated while both students at Idaho State University. Rita and Jerry gave Fritz and Eleanor seven grandchildren: Garrett, Ginger, Fayvor, Nolan, Chapel, Aubrey and Echo. When the Love family moved from Idaho to New Hampshire, Fritz and Eleanor would drive “The Rig” — a 1972 sky-blue Suburban that Fritz kept in beautiful condition for decades — 3,000 miles each way across the country to spend every summer with the family. Ever handy and hardworking, ever generous with his time and energy, Fritz spent many of those summers remodeling the kitchen and bedrooms of the Love Family’s 1800s farmhouse, including building a beloved jungle gym for the kids. Fritz was an expert craftsman with a talent for woodworking. One enduring achievement was an enormous, oak dining table with matching stools he constructed from discarded shipping crates. That table gathers generations of family still today. Fritz’s workshop was a creative enclave where he would turn maple on the lathe, plane long, pine boards, and shape oak with routers, drill presses & band saws to make cutting boards, rolling pins, cabinetry, children’s toys, and intricately decorated, solid and sturdy furniture.

Fritz was an avid fisherman, and he passed along his enthusiasm by teaching his grandkids to catch catfish and perch in cold, mountain lakes. He would cook cornmeal-battered rainbow trout on a Coleman grill in the backyard. The harmonica was his instrument of choice, and he was always quick to pull out an arsenal of mouth harps in different keys to accompany songs being sung around feast or fire. Fritz was equally quick with a spontaneous rhyming couplet to suit any moment and delight any ear. “I love my oatmeal, can’t you see? If you don’t want yours, give it to me!”

Fritz & Eleanor enjoyed travel and every one of their summer trips back East, yearly visiting Eleanor’s family in South Dakota. They frequented musical venues in Branson, Missouri. They visited Hawaii three times, took a cruise to Alaska, toured the American Southwest, and attended the weddings of four of their grandchildren in one summer. Fritz and Eleanor even visited granddaughter Ginger in Japan on a 10-day excursion, a remarkable show of reconciliation for a veteran who had defended against the Axis powers in WWII. Fritz’s enthusiasm for other cultures and his lifelong commitment to learning made every conversation with him an education.

Fritz will be remembered as a patient man with great intellect, striking ingenuity, outsized mental and physical strength & stamina, unflagging commitment to family and community, and an unparalleled sense of kindness. His devotion to and care of Eleanor was his life-long priority. His integrity shone like a beacon, and his legacy will live on in the lives of all who love him.