Svein Gilje

 born April 17, 1934, in Stavanger, Norway, died November 13, 2009 in Seattle, Washington

Svein Gilje was a longtime Puget Sound area journalist and founding president of the Nordic Heritage Museum in Seattle. In recent years Mr. Gilje had suffered from a neurological disorder, cortical  basal ganglionic degeneration (CBGD) also known as “Parkinson’s Plus.”  He was born and educated in Stavanger, Norway, and employed by newspapers there, Stavangeren and Stavanger Aftenblad.

In the spring of 1954, Gilje immigrated to the USA with the intention of becoming a citizen.  He joined a sister, Solveig Gilje Mahler, in the Pacific Northwest. On the advice of Arthur Mahler, his brother-in-law, Gilje volunteered for the U.S. military draft. Gilje’s brother-in-law told him that if he served in the U.S. Army he could become an American citizen and receive assistance with college tuition through the GI Bill for veterans.

Hearing about those offers for citizenship and education, Gilje’s father, Magnus, wrote him: “Better check that information again. I have never heard of anyone earning four years in college for serving in the military.” Gilje served two years in the U.S. Army, mostly overseas, and became a U.S. citizen in Paris, France. After his military service he returned to the Pacific Northwest and enrolled at the University of Washington.

While attending the UW School of Communications, he worked part time for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. In his spare time he painted houses and pumped gas at Chevron stations to earn extra money.

On August 2, 1958, he and a fellow journalist, Shelby Collard, were married in a bilingual ceremony at St. John Lutheran Church in Seattle. Gilje earned a bachelor’s degree in communications in 1959, and a master’s degree in public administration in 1970, both at the UW.

In 1959, Gilje was hired as a reporter at The Bremerton Sun, now The Kitsap Sun.
In 1964, he joined The Seattle Times, where he was employed as a reporter and columnist until 1989, when he took early retirement to open a consulting business focused on Norwegian and American interests.

He counted as one of his most interesting assignments for The Seattle Times a trip to the South Pole with a group of scientists in 1967.

 For the Antarctica trip, Gilje borrowed some gear from famed Seattle-area mountaineer, the late Pete Schoening. An accomplished downhill and cross country skier, Gilje packed  his skis along for the South Pole assignment.
 
His friendship with Schoening  and other mountaineers later led to hikes and climbs on Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams and Mt. St. Helens, before it erupted in 1980.
His assignments for The Times also included travel to Europe, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, New Zealand and Israel. Luminaries whom he met and interviewed included President Jimmy Carter, Henry Kissinger, Golda Meir, Ben Gurion and Sir Edmund Hillary.
From 1969 to 1974 he covered issues related to families of prisoners of war and those missing in action in Vietnam. He always was willing to speak with families on his own time, if he could help them resolve problems. 

One of his most disappointing assignments was an interview with Danish-born comedian Victor Borge for a Scandinavian music program Gilje hosted on a Kirkland radio station in the late 1950s. But it wasn’t Borge’s fault: Gilje’s tape recorder malfunctioned and the hour-long interview was lost.

Gilje was active in numerous Norwegian organizations including Nordmanns Forbundet and the Norwegian American Chamber of Commerce in Seattle. In addition he was the  founding president of the Nordic Heritage Museum in Seattle.

In 1975, he chaired N/A 150 for the Pacific Northwest and was national vice-president for the Norwegian American Sesquicentennial, groups that marked 150 years of Norwegian immigration to the USA.
Gilje said he was inspired to work on plans for the Nordic Heritage Museum in 1975, after he escorted visiting King Olav V of Norway through an exhibition on Norwegian immigration at the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI) in Seattle.

Impressed with the MOHAI exhibit, King Olav asked if the exhibit had a permanent home.  Gilje replied:  "Unfortunately not."

"Perhaps you should work on that," the king responded.
 
Gilje said the comment was like "receiving a royal command."
 
 That experience led him to conclude that it would be a great idea if those who traced their heritage to all five Nordic countries – Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden – could collaborate on building a museum.  Gilje worked at it with a coalition of many others. In April 1980 the Nordic Heritage Museum opened in the former Daniel Webster Elementary School in Ballard.  It was the first museum of its kind in the United States to honor the culture and traditions of immigrants from all five Nordic countries.

In appreciation for his efforts to keep Norwegian culture alive here, Gilje received the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav, Knight First Class, from King Olav V, and later the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit, Commander, from King Harald V.

Survivors include:

His wife, Shelby;  daughter, Kari Gilje (Mike Chiu); son Kurt Gilje (Jennifer Hlaudy); four granddaughters, Analise, Kristina, Chloe and Olivia; brother-in-law, Art Mahler; mother-in-law, Ruth Collard, all of the Northwest; a brother, Ivar Gilje, Stavanger, Norway, and numerous other relatives here and in Norway and Sweden.

A memorial celebration for Svein Gilje will be at 12:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 14, at the Nordic Heritage Museum, 3014 N.W. 67th St., Seattle, WA 98117.
 
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations in remembrance to the Nordic Heritage Museum, www.nordicmuseum.org