Edward Oscar Engebretsen

Edward Engebretsen was born on April 7, 1916 in Chicago, IL, the older of two children. His father was working as a "railroad checker" in 1920, but later his parents owned a stationery/notions store on the first floor of the building where they lived. His mother, and all four of his grandparents, had been born in Norway.

His hobby was ham radio, and he'd become an operator in 1932, at the age of 16.

In April, 1940 he was working as a repairman in a radio shop. He registered for the draft that fall, on October 16, 1940. He enlisted on October 16, 1943 and his radio experience got him into the 3133 Signal Service Company; he saw service in Italy during the war.

He was demobilized on April 21, 1946 and went back to Chicago. Four years later, on July 4, 1950, he married Eleanor Keet; they would go on to have two children: Carole and David.

Edward went to work at Motorola in Chicago as a radio engineer, and in 1956 the family moved to West Monroe, NY where he worked as a test planner with General Electric. He also taught at the US Military Academy at West Point, possibly after he returned from Europe. His wife, Eleanor, was a licensed hairdresser for 29 years, a beauty queen, and a published poet. She was also a ham radio operator; in their Chicago years she was a member of the Young Ladies' Radio League there.

He died on Christmas Day, 2000 at the Pontiac Nursing Home in Oswego, NY and is buried at Pleasant Lawn Cemetery in Parish, NY. Both his and Eleanor's ham radio call signs are engraved on their headstone.

Sources:

1930 census

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/84457812:6224?tid=&pid=&queryId=9f4b06d24404f6f59fa24720ba2fa85e&_phsrc=QNj19&_phstart=successSource

1940 draft card

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/40287114:2238?tid=&pid=&queryId=5a4e308c6d21cbe7bf341da506936329&_phsrc=QNj10&_phstart=successSource

1940 census

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/146542219:2442?tid=&pid=&queryId=9f4b06d24404f6f59fa24720ba2fa85e&_phsrc=QNj17&_phstart=successSource

1950 marriage record

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/3586363:61381?tid=&pid=&queryId=9f4b06d24404f6f59fa24720ba2fa85e&_phsrc=QNj21&_phstart=successSource

1954 article in Chicago Tribune re his wife's ham radio activities

https://www.newspapers.com/image/370520191/?terms=engebretsen&match=1

1955 father's death notice in Chicago Tribune

https://www.newspapers.com/image/372610769/?terms=edward%20engebretsen&match=1

2000 VA death record

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/8092582:2441?tid=&pid=&queryId=5a4e308c6d21cbe7bf341da506936329&_phsrc=QNj11&_phstart=successSource

2000 Find a Grave record

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/144871363/edward-o-engebretsen

2000 death notice in Watertown Daily Times (NY)

https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A12A5AC0AEA465C7B%40GB3NEWS-1770FB1952453D6A%402451906-1770F955F6BC6ED9%4026-1770F955F6BC6ED9%40?h=1&fname=edward&lname=engebretsen&fullname=&rgfromDate=&rgtoDate=&formDate=&formDateFlex=exact&dateType=range&kwinc=&kwexc=&sid=whevohxmrlixpsjtklnwcdkhfqbocemj_wma-gateway009_1627660331154