Colombia RPCV Edith Carlson dies in Washington State
Carver Edith Carlson dies of cancer
03/29/2004
Associated Press
Edith "Edee" Carlson, who became a nationally acclaimed woodcarver while living on the western shore of Flathead Lake near Rollins, has died of cancer at her Washington state home.
Carlson, 60, died Saturday in Bellingham, Wash.
Galleries throughout the United States sold Carlson's carvings of animals and Santa Claus, work she did in the 10 years after she moved to the Flathead Valley in 1992. She did business as "Loose Moose Carving."
Carlson was born in Choteau and lived in Idaho and Washington before moving to Helena with her family in 1946. She graduated from Montana State University at Bozeman in 1965.
She worked in the Montana pavilion at the 1964 World's Fair in New York, served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Colombia in 1966-67 and lived in Michigan before returning to Montana in 1976. She lived in Billings and the Red Lodge area before taking up residence in the Flathead Valley. Carlson moved to Bellingham in 2002.
Survivors include her husband, Samuel Nakamura, daughter Christine Kern of Pryor and two granddaughters.
Plans for a memorial service were pending.
