Orville Edward Engelby

Orville Edward Engelby, husband, father, explorer and wanderer, has departed from his earthly travels. He was born to Cliften Otar Engelby and Vanetta Dee Adams Engelby on February 14,1931 in Ledyard, Iowa. His journey ended at home, in his own bed, in his daughter’s arms, on May 17, Syttende mai, 2025. Surviving Orv are his wife, Anette, his four children Bruce, Dianne, Eric and Jon, two grandchildren, and three and one-half great grandchildren.

He was raised on a small farm in southern Minnesota and attended a one-room country schoolhouse from first through eighth grade. He attended Austin High School and graduated high school in 1948.

At the age of 19, he was drafted into the Army and served his country during the Korean War. He served in a tank company and was stationed in Germany during the occupation. After being honorably discharged he attended college on the GI Bill. He credited his time in the Army and his subsequent college education with changing his life. It was during his college days that he and Anette began dating. They had known each other in high school and had grown up within just a few miles of each other, but they didn’t date until college. They were married July 2, 1955. They were in their 70th year of marriage when he passed.

They spent one summer together on a backcountry fire lookout in Montana during their college career. It was a summer that they reminisced about fondly. After graduation from the School of Forestry at the University of Minnesota in 1957, he was hired by the US Forest Service and moved west to Idaho in the spring of 1958. They spent the rest of their lives in the west. He spent many years working in our national forests as a forest ranger, a forester, and a silviculturist, and finished his career working at the regional office in Ogden, Utah. Because of the experience he gained fighting forest fires early in his career, he spent a good part of his career in fire control.

He was an avid outdoorsman and family man who enjoyed hunting, fishing, and boating and traveling with his wife and family. He taught all his kids to love the outdoors. After retirement they bought a boat which was a replica of a tugboat called a Nordic Tug. They named this craft Y-KNOT. Orv taught himself navigation by dead reckoning before the days of GPS and they made several trips to Alaska up the Inside Passage. These were summer long adventures on a 26-foot diesel powered craft with a cruising speed of 8-9 knots. They fished, crabbed and shrimped and ate lots of seafood on these trips. They loved Alaska, and they also took several trips to Alaska in their motorhome where they took a month to drive up the Alaska Highway, spent the summer fishing and traveling around, and then returned south in the fall. They began to spend winters in Yuma, AZ around that time. Their travels took them from the southern tip of Baja to well north of the Arctic Circle.

In his downtime Orv was an avid reader and student of history. He also enjoyed woodworking and wood carving, and their home is decorated with many of his carvings and hand-built furniture.

He was a longtime member of Ascension Lutheran Church, the Elks Lodge and The Sons of Norway. He taught his family the value of hard work and honesty, both in his words and his actions. He was a role model for us all and he will be sorely missed.

Cremation will be performed by Myers Mortuary. A Celebration of Life service will be held on Saturday, May 31 at 1:00 PM at Ascension Lutheran Church, 1105 N Washington Blvd, Harrisville, UT. Light refreshments will be served after.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Family Promise of Ogden or Ascension Lutheran Church.

Condolences may be shared at: www.myers-mortuary.com.