Florence Feste Florence Irene (Erickson) Feste died at age 92 on February 17, 2017 in Tacoma after a brief illness. She was born on October 28, 1924 in Fertile, Polk Co., MN, the youngest child of John William and Berthe Maria (Eid) Erickson. Her grandparents were immigrants from Sweden and Norway. She graduated from Fertile HS and Interstate Business College in Fargo, ND. During high school and in her early 20s, she sang in an on-air musical quartet at WDAY AM radio in Fargo, and helped at rallies in small towns that were broadcast live in the Upper Midwest to get citizens to buy war bonds. Her quartet went to Hollywood and joined the Chicago-based Frankie Masters Orchestra, making recordings and movie shorts. She knew Miss Peggy "Fever" Lee (another WDAY alum) and danced with Larry of the 3 Stooges at Slapsy Maxi's nightclub in Hollywood. She appeared on-air in 2012 at WDAY radio to remember the big band era. She said the Masters band played more Coca-Cola Spotlight shows at war plants and military bases to build national morale in WWII than even the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. She moved with her parents to Tacoma in 1948; her dad could not stand cold Midwest winters any longer. In 1950 she married Jon Feste, a bricklayer and recent immigrant from near Bergen, Norway, at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Tacoma. She worked for two years as an executive secretary for Weyerhaeuser Co. in downtown Tacoma before she and her husband co-founded a union-scale masonry contracting firm (she ran the books). They built every house they ever lived in and also developed land, built spec houses, and had apartments. She enjoyed her friends at the Gig Harbor Golf Club. She liked summer weekends at her beach place at Hood Canal, and spent winters in Surprise, AZ for about the past twenty years. As a widow, she traveled to Norway twice the last time in 2013. She stayed active and clear until the end, and always stayed at home with family. She saw a Seattle play about singer Woody Guthrie in late January. She moved back into her Old Town Tacoma view home six months ago, thrilled to be back in a city she loved. She is survived by her daughter Anne Feste (Joe Peterson) of Piedmont, CA (granddaughters Kelly and Erica), son Jonathan of Tacoma, and Sara and Bryan Feste, children of her son Eric, who predeceased her, plus many nieces and nephews. Marty Baxter of Santa Clarita, CA, her "Quartet Sister," also survives her. Her husband died in 2008. Her parents preceded her in death, as did her siblings Porter, Norman Edward, Albin, Norman Bernhard, and sister Myrtle Knutson. She loved Psalm 23 but did not want a funeral. Instead, join her daughter and son in her honor at the Sons of Norway Swedish Pancake Breakfast (licensed-kitchen) at Normanna Hall that Thea and Andrew Foss helped build (1106 S. 15th St., Tacoma) on March 12, 2017 from 9-1. She enjoyed it in December. Do not just eat but join that club to support cultural traditions that enriched our parents' lives for almost 60 years. Before they ever owned a TV her husband watched wrestling matches on TV in the storefront at nearby Paulson's Appliance on the Hilltop, their first Tacoma neighborhood as newlyweds. Honor the WWII generation. America will be a lesser place when they are gone. Thanks, as well, to the 2West RN staff at Allenmore Hospital for taking care of her and guiding her with comfort at the end.