Torrence Ewald Carlson

Torrence Ewald Carlson was born on May 22, 1918, in Felton, Clay County, Minnesota. He was the son of Alfred Carlson and Anna Olena Olson.

Two years later, the 1920 census found the family a few miles away in Morken.

While he was still young, the family moved east to Superior, Wisconsin, a port city on the westernmost tip of Lake Superior.

On June 6, 1935, he graduated from Central High School in Superior.

On June 10, 1940, Torry received his Bachelor of Arts from Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin, on the shore of Chequamegon Bay.

He took his first post as choir director for the school district in Drummond, Wisconsin, the beginning of a life spent leading singers.

On June 11, 1942, he enlisted in the United States Army at Superior. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant in the Coast Artillery and Anti-Aircraft.

He was stationed at Camp Davis, North Carolina, then El Paso, Texas, and finally the A&R office of the 14th Regiment in the Philippines. Luckily, he saw no action during World War II.

On May 7, 1944, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Superior, he married Ruth Elizabeth Aanestad, daughter of the Reverend Cornelius Walter Aanestad and Emma Bergina Nelson.

Two weeks earlier, a Western Union telegram had come from Camp Davis:

On May 27, 1945, Ruth gave birth to their first daughter, Patricia Ruth, in Superior. Torry and Ruth then moved to Canby, Minnesota, where two more daughters were born.

On August 22, 1952, he earned a Master of Science in music education from the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

In the summer of 1953 the family moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Torry directed the choir at Wilson High School, then at Jefferson High School, starting a year before the school officially opened.

He helped design the fine arts wing of Jefferson High School and its architectural mirror image at Washington High School. He wrote the melody of the “Jefferson Loyalty Song”; Ruth wrote the words, and together they wrote the harmonies.

He later served as Fine Arts Coordinator for the Cedar Rapids Board of Education.

Beyond the schools, Torry volunteered or was employed as choir director for the Collins Men’s Chorus, the Civic Chorus of Cedar Rapids, the adult choir of First Lutheran Church, the Cedar Rapids Rotary Club, and many others.

Torry was a lifelong shutterbug.

Torry died on November 25, 1997, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, from complications of prostate cancer. He is buried at Wayne Zion Cemetery in Jones County, Iowa.

Ruth, his wife of fifty-three years, lived until 2009.