Anthony Frank “Junior” Kundelius Jr.

December 31, 1941 – October 21, 2021

Antony F. Kundelius, known as Junior, a resident of Cornelius, Oregon, passed away from cancer on October 21, 2021.  Junior was born on December 31, 1941, in Forest Grove, Oregon, the son of Anthony Frank Kundelius and Esther Louise Thompson Kundelius.  He grew up on the family farm in Gaston, Oregon, where he learned to love farming.

Junior started school at Hill School through the third grade and then completed his education in the Gaston School District.  Upon graduation from high school in 1959, he attended Clark College in Vancouver where he received his Associates Degree in Applied Science.

He started working for the News Times in Forest Grove running one of the presses and worked there for seven years.  He worked for Melvin Phelps Construction in Forest Grove for four years.  He started logging and worked for Von Logging, Earl Nordgren Logging, and Jimmy Olsen Logging for 15 years.  At that time he started working for Baker Rock and stayed with them for four years.  He then worked for Benge Construction doing highway construction for 10 years and worked for them in Wyoming, Utah, and Montana.  He finally worked part-time for Kerr Construction for three years doing highway construction.  Throughout his life he continued to farm, purchasing an 80-acre filbert farm in Gales Creek.  He also did custom work and farmed 250 acres of filberts for over 40 years.  With the help of Roberto Zurita and his crew, he also farmed Christmas trees for many years for himself and others and harvested 20,000 trees a year.  He said farming was the most important job he had.  While working construction, he would come home on weekends and spend the entire time caring for his own farm.  Over many years he also picked and pushed corn, ran combine, and drove corn/grain trucks for many other farmers in the area.

Junior loved animals and was active in 4-H showing dairy cows.  He passed his love of animals to his children and he helped them raise and show animals through 4-H.  Junior was a charter member of the Forest Grove Elks for several years and a member of the Knights of Pythias in Gaston for 20 years.  He was active in working on the annual Wapato Showdown car show held annually in Gaston sponsored by the Knights of Pythias.

Junior joined the National Guard in Forest Grove and served for seven years.

Junior married Doreen Johnson on November 2, 1968, in Gaston.  They lived in the home he built himself on Patton Valley Road for several years.  He personally built a home on the filbert farm he purchased in Gales Creek where they lived until their children were grown.  He purchased land in Arizona where he would spend several weeks a year building a home.  In 1995 they sold the farm in Gales Creek and moved to Forest Grove.  They had three children.

Junior was preceded in death by his mother and father and his brother, Robert.  Junior is survived by his wife, Doreen; his daughter Annette who lives in Windsor, Colorado, with his two granddogs Morrie and Kevin; his daughter Sara and her husband Eric Bartle who live in Forest Grove; and his son, David and his wife Tina Chen, who live in Dongguan, China; his sister, Sally Simmons of Sultan, Washington; and several nieces and nephews, and many, many friends.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Scholarship Fund, Knight of Pythias Lodge #104, P. O. Box 507, Gaston, Oregon 97119.  Arrangements have been handled by Omega Funeral & Cremation Service.  The family wishes to thank Washington County Hospice, the Gaston Knights of Pythias, Omega Funeral & Cremation Service, Silver Cloud Adult Foster Home, and Junior’s many friends and neighbors for all of their help and support.