January 10, 2003
Karl Gustav Dahlstrom, 102, a carpenter who worked for Anderson Brothers Furniture in Chicago for 30 years and who spent almost every day of his adult life in a wood shop, died Wednesday, Jan. 8, in Windsor Park Manor in Carol Stream of natural causes.
Born in Sweden, Mr. Dahlstrom came to this country in 1924 with a group of young men who all had hopes of being carpenters. The group settled in Chicago and built an apartment building in Wrigleyville. In the Depression, the group lost its money and Mr. Dahlstrom went to work for Anderson Brothers Furniture, first as a salesman, then as the store’s manager.
He met and married his wife, Lisa, in 1931 and the couple lived in Chicago, where they were actively involved in the Lake View Evangelical Free Church as Sunday school teachers. “My father retired after 30 years, but he never really retired,” said his daughter Carla Stough. He went to work for hardware stores, his son’s business, Dahlstrom Display, and became the custodian of the church.
When he moved to Wheaton in the late ’70s, Mr. Dahlstrom worked for the Evangelical Alliance Mission as the caretaker and helped the missionaries ship their personal items and materials in the crates he built himself. “Those crates withstood the test of time,” his daughter said. “And the missionaries would use that wood to make their furniture or pulpits for churches or toys for their children. “He never stopped working. He worked in the woodshop almost every day. Working with wood was always important to him,” his daughter said. She added that it was his faith that sustained him. An active member of the Wheaton Evangelical Free Church, Mr. Dahlstrom attended every Sunday until he was physically unable. “Then he [attended] by radio,” his daughter said.
His wife died in 1998. Mr. Dahlstrom is survived by another daughter, Karen Festa; a son, Dick; six grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. Saturday until the noon service in Hultgren Funeral Home, 304 N. Main St., Wheaton.
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