Nester William Tan

Nester William Tan, 95, of Keizer, Oregon passed away July 22, 2022 of natural causes.
He was born at home in Cloquet, Minnesota on July 8, 1927 to Daniel and Jennie Tan, the 9th of 13 children. His grandparents came from Pudasjarvi, Finland about 1880. He was the last one of his siblings to pass away.
Nester grew up on his family farm during the Great Depression and had to work many various jobs as he was able. Some included milking up to 44 cows, cutting wood for neighbors, and clearing roads with 10 feet of snow using just a shovel in the winter. He joined 4H like his brothers and sisters and raised calves for the county fair and won various ribbons. He was also given the highest FFA award “The State Farmer Degree”.
He graduated from Lincoln High School in 1945. He then enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He went to basic training at Naval Training Center at Great Lakes, Illinois. As a Seaman First Class he was transferred to Sumar Island in the Philippines on a Mine Sweeper, and was then transferred to the USS Birmingham (CL62) until his discharge in 1946.
He then returned home to Cloquet until 1947 when his father asked him to drive his sister, Helen, out to Portland, Oregon.
He began a job at Alpenrose Dairy where he learned all about the world of dairy products and loved it. At this time he met his wife, Moira and they were married May 13th, 1949 on her birthday! He went to college at Oregon State for a year during this time also. His wife would make a pot of Spanish rice that they would eat for a week so he could have gas to travel to school from their house in Camp Adair.
He then moved his family with three children to the Cedar Hills area where he went to work at Mayflower Milk until 1956. He continued his dairy work at Fred Meyers until he bought his own ice cream store in 1964 in the city of Hillsdale, close to Wilson High School. He named it Flavor’s Unlimited by Nester and we ran it as a family owned business from 1964-1968.
After selling the ice cream store he went to work for the USDA as a Milk Sampler and Tester. He traveled to all the Oregon dairies and took milk samples and brought them back to the Tigard office where they were tested for milk standards that the government had in place. He retired in 1985 when his office moved to Seattle.
He moved down to Yachats where they had built a lovely house with a gorgeous view of the Pacific Ocean. He was always outside tending to the flowers and shrubs and stacking wood.
He and his wife began traveling the world seeing Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and his homeland of Finland and other Scandinavian countries. Also, they traveled many islands like Fiji, and Hawaii and The Bahamas.
His interests included square dancing, fishing, rock tumbling, and taking care of his rose bushes and other plants around his house.
He was a charter member of the St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Cedar Hills.
He was a member of the Hillsboro and Florence Elks for over 50 years where he actively participated and served on work projects such as establishing and cleaning the campsites in Waldport. He participated in the fund raisers and received many accolades on the National level for his efforts.
He supported and participated in the local Yachats Music Festival where musicians from all over the United States came and performed during the summer months.
He sold the house in Yachats to reside in the Portland area but decided the coast was their place so they returned to it. His wife passed away in August of 2017. He stayed for another year before coming up to Keizer area. First he lived at Willamette Lutheran Home before moving to Bonaventure Residential Living at Keizer Station where he resided until his passing.
We were blessed to celebrate Nester’s 95th birthday this month. Some of his nephews, nieces, and grandchildren from Minnesota, Idaho, California and Oregon came and had a wonderful few days of fun and fellowship filled with laughter and stories of his wonderful life. He was loved by many and will be missed.
Survivors include his sister in law, Cleo Reed, 95 yrs old, of North Carolina; his 3 children; Bruce(CJ)Gan of Murrieta, California; Heather(John) Tsugawa of Oregon City, Oregon; and Melinda(Andrew) Culwell of Keizer, Oregon; 7 grandchildren; and 14 great grandchildren.
A private family service will be held at Willamette National Cemetery, Thursday, July 28th at 9:30am. Instead of sending flowers, please make a contribution to a charity of your choice in Nester’s name.
Keizer Funeral Chapel and Cremation Services are caring for the family. 4365 River Rd. N. Salem, Oregon 97303 For memories and condolences, please visit Nester’s memorial website at www.keizerchapel.com