Anchorage 1910 - 1940 Legends & Legacies

Andresen, Clark D.

1904-1992 | Salesman and Amateur Baseball Player

Clark Dennis Andresen was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on October 23, 1904, the son of Norwegian parents Carl Ingvald Andresen and Dagmar Finneman Andresen.[1] When he was two years old when his family moved to Seattle, Washington.

At the age of eighteen, Andresen left to join his brother, Moritz, who had already settled in Anchorage. He arrived in Alaska aboard the steamship Alameda in 1922. He played on the territorial champion Seward basketball team. Clark Andresen finished high school in Anchorage and graduated with the class of 1925. While in high school, he obtained a part-time job with Brown and Hawkins mercantile company, and, when the Anchorage store closed in 1927, he was transferred to Seward. He managed the hardware department in the Seward store for the next seven years[2] 

Andresen was hired as a traveling salesman for the Hunt & Mottet hardware wholesaler in Tacoma, Washington. The Hunt and Mottet people recognized Andresen's sales ability and wanted him on their team as the Alaska representative. They were not wrong in their judgment, as he proved to be a real go-getter and literally put Hunt and Mottet on the map in Alaska. He traveled throughout Alaska for the next forty-two years and took on other lines, including Zellerbach Paper Company, Brown and Bigelow, and Seattle Hardware. He was especially proud of his affiliation with the Masons, and served as the Worshipful Master of the Seward Masonic Lodge in 1931.[3]

In 1939, Andresen married Marjorie ("Midge") Reeve. She was born on July 14, 1913 in Roseburg, Oregon. She arrived in Alaska in 1933 on the Alaska steamship Aleutian with her father and mother, Clarence and Nellie Reeve, and her brother, Calvin, whom she called "Buddy." Clark Andresen married Marjorie Reeve in Fairbanks in 1939. They settled in Anchorage for thirty-seven years, where they raised their family. Clark was an avid baseball fan and was known throughout Alaska as "Mr. Baseball" due to his prowess as a player in his younger days.[4]

The union of Clark and Midge Andresen produced three daughters: Scarlett Kay DuBois (born in 1942); Judy LaVerne Rosenberg (born in 1944); and Candice Reeve Jennings (born in 1950).

The Andresens retired to Woodinville, Washington in 1976, where Clark spent his spare time watching baseball games. He died in Seattle on November 12, 1992, whereupon his widow, Midge, returned to Anchorage. On November 8, 2008, Marjorie Reeve Andresen died at the Anchorage Pioneer Home.

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Scarlett Kay Andresen DuBois, born 1942.

Courtesy of the Andresen family.

Clark Dennis Andresen (1904-1994) and Marjorie "Midge" Reeve Andresen (1913-2008).

Courtesy of the Andresen family.

Clark and Marjorie "Midge" Andresen's final home in Anchorage, 1006 G Street.

Courtesy of the Andresen family.

The Andresens' first home at 9th Avenue and I Street, Anchorage, 1948.

Courtesy of the Andresen family.

Clark and Marjorie "Midge" Andresen, ca. 1936.

Courtesy of the Andresen family.

Judy Andresen Rosenberg, born 1944.

Courtesy of the Andresen family.

Candice Andresen Jennings, born 1950.

Courtesy of the Andresen family.

Clark and Marjorie "Midge" Andresen, ca. 1936.

Courtesy of the Andresen family.

Clark Andresen with brothers Moritz, Rich, and John.

Courtesy of the Andresen family.

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