Nils Christer Andersson

     Surrounded by his family, Nils Christer Andersson, age 57, passed away peacefully on November 22 after a long battle with cancer. Christer was born in southern Sweden, the youngest of four, and raised on a farm. He initially trained as a furniture carpenter and spent several years working at the shipyards in Malmoe, Sweden. While he returned to school to earn a Masters degree in Engineering Physics, he always loved carpentry and continued to build his entire life from gates and furniture to buildings. While a student at Lund University, he met his future wife Carolyn who was an exchange student from the US. They were married in 1995 and eventually settled in California where Christer spent many years working as an antenna engineer in the space industry.
     Blessed with four children, the family split their time between the US and Sweden. Christer loved the traditions, foods and landscape of his native southern Sweden and guaranteed that his family stayed connected with this heritage. He also loved living in America, particularly Idaho, and always felt at home in his adopted country.
     Upon retiring from his engineering career, Christer and his family spent more time in Sweden living close to his parents. He started a successful landscape design and maintenance company with his wife, and found great satisfaction and love for this work. He had many skills and talents and enjoyed learning new things and teaching his family what he had learned. He loved tools, especially his chainsaw, and was an artist at taking down enormous trees in tight spaces. He was always fixing, repairing and improving things, always with creative solutions. One of his favorite past times was spending time with family and friends in nature or our garden. Enjoying a good cup of coffee and something home baked outdoors gave him great pleasure.
     In more recent years, the family relocated to the Coeur d’Alene area, drawn by fond memories of a camping honeymoon spent in the region many years earlier. Christer re-found his relationship with Jesus and was baptized in February 2023. His rekindled faith was an inspiration to his family and those who knew him and a comfort to him in his fight against cancer.
     His passing leaves a huge hole in his family tapestry. We have lost the captain of our ship, and will forever miss his silly sense of humor, his wisdom on world issues, his tremendous skill set around tools, and his love for all of us. Christer is survived by his wife Carolyn, his four children Linnea, Sven, Niels and Torsten, his sisters Gun and Kerstin with their families, his brother Lars with his family, and his mother Clara. He was a truly wonderful husband, father, friend, son, brother and person and lived his life with honor and truth. His absence is deeply felt, but we know we will be reunited one day.

Då skall Guds frid, som är mera värd än allt vi tänker, ge era hjärtan och era tankar skydd i Kristus Jesus.
Filipperbrevet 4:7