Feb. 18, 1929 — Aug. 13, 2024
The Rev. Dr. Bert Axel Anderson Jr. died Aug. 13 at the age of 95 at Celia’s House in Medford.
A memorial service will be held for Bert at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28, at Trinity Episcopal Church, 44 N. Second Street, Ashland.
Bert was born in Los Angeles in 1929. He earned a bachelor’s degree at California State University in 1956, followed by a master of divinity degree at Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California, in 1959. In 1988 he received a doctorate from Sierra University in Costa Mesa, California.
Bert served honorably in the U.S. Army.
In the early 1960s, Bert was active in the ministry at St. Andrew’s by-the-Sea in Pacific Beach, San Diego. The original church burned down while he was rector, and Bert was instrumental in helping get a new church built. He played a major role in building a beautiful pipe organ.
After resigning from his post as an Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Los Angeles, he worked as a marriage and family counselor, taught co-counseling, and was a biofeedback teacher and practitioner.
After retirement, Bert and his wife, Nancy, relocated to Ashland, where he participated in writers’ workshops and began to write plays, including “Mr. Brightside and the Bonfire Nights” and “BONE: Dying Into Life.” He directed Atelier, a popular playwrights’ and actors’ workshop that provided a free venue for dramatic readings of new plays by local playwrights in Ashland. He worked with a number of OSF actors at the workshop, as well as other community members.
Bert was a man of many talents and skills. He was a woodworker, an excellent gardener, a handyman and a cook. He was the author of several books and poetry as well as the two plays.
At Trinity, he was active on the Celtic Committee and as a reader in Sunday services.
Bert and Nancy spent many happy hours in the High Sierra and many other beautiful mountainous areas in the West. They were fond of backpacking, hiking and camping. After leaving San Diego, Bert moved to Palo Alto with Nancy and her two teenage children, Ian and Wendy.
They lived in Bullhead City, Arizona; Running Springs, California; and Redlands, California; before their 20 years living on Chestnut Street in Ashland. Bert’s membership in ISARP, an international biofeedback organization, led the couple on many European trips for conferences during the years they lived in Ashland.
Bert and his first wife (deceased) had three boys. His second child, Michael, died during Christmas several years ago. Bert is survived by his wife, Nancy, son Bert (Diane) Anderson of San Diego, six grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.
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