Bert Nystrom was born in a small town south of Stockholm, Sweden in, 1929. He often skied or biked to school, graduating the 8th grade, and going to work in a sawmill, and working as a farmhand.
In 1949, when he was 20 years old and his sister Ingrid was just 14, the family emigrated to the US and settled in Chicago. They lived very near Wrigley Field, in two small apartments, one for the men and one for the women. The neighborhood was known as Andersonville due to all the Swedish immigrants who settled there.
Bert began working on a dairy farm in Wisconsin and then went to school to become a bricklayer. On an apprenticeship in Chicago, the older workers kept telling him to “slow down!” He couldn’t understand why they only wanted to lay 600 bricks a day.
In 1952, Bert was drafted into the Army. At 6’7″, he thought he was too tall and would be able to avoid the draft. The Marines took him and wrote him up at 6″5″ on his induction papers. He was never able to fully stretch out in bed the entire tour of duty. He served on the USS Manchester as an anti-aircraft gunner but never set foot in Korea, staying shipboard the entire time.
Bert met and married Betty Jane Turner in Long Beach, CA, in 1954, just as he was being discharged from the Marine Corps. That year, after living in the US for 5 years and serving in the Korean War, he became a US citizen.
After Brian was born in December of 1954, they left Chicago and moved to Iowa. They owned and operated B and B Cottage on the shores of West Okoboji in the spot where the Dry Dock condos are currently being built. For ten years, Betty ran the cottages while Bert laid brick 6 days a week. There wasn’t any rest on the 7th.
Bert continued to lay brick until he was 60 years old. He then went to work for Bruce at Metal Works, where he worked until he and Betty retired, in 1996. They moved first to Phoenix, AZ, before settling in Las Vegas, where Bert quickly discovered he wasn’t quite ready for retirement. He first worked as a security guard for the Fashion Show mall and eventually as security for The Venetian Casino. He had some great stories to share from both those jobs.
In December 2007 they returned to Iowa, as Betty’s health began to decline, and they felt the desire to be closer to family. In 2008, after her death, he went back to work, for a short time at Tecton Industries, and then back at Metal Works. Bert had NO EGO! You could not offend him. If MWI had a particularly cantankerous customer, Bert would volunteer to deliver their product, because he wasn’t bothered by other people’s moods at all. Just one of many reasons he was so well loved wherever he worked. When he finally retired, for the third time, at the age of 90, he left big shoes to fill and a big hole among the workers who had become friends.
Bert and Betty were married for 54 years. They raised three boys. They loved going to their kids’ sporting events, band concerts, and loading up the family into the Plymouth wagon for the annual Christmas trip to Chicago to visit Grandpa and Grandma Nystrom.
In 1980 they made the first trip back to Sweden to visit Bert’s home country. They would visit Sweden and the rest of Europe many more times, especially Germany, after Brad settled there in 1984.
Bert was very proud of his sons, and was always amazed by their differing career paths. Brian, a contractor who became an Episcopal Priest, Bruce a contractor who became a manufacturer, and Brad, a trombone player/ opera singer turned orchestra conductor.
Bert loved Betty very much and was her caregiver for many years. When he was near the end of his life, he told Bruce that Betty only had one flaw. Bruce was ready to ask if that was Blackjack or the Slots, but Bert had dozed off for a nap.
We’d all be better off if we could be a little bit more like Bert Nystrom.
Memorials will be divided between the Tunnels to Towers and the Honor Flight.
