LONG BEACH — Ted Magnuson was born Feb. 8, 1938 in Portland, Oregon. He and his mother moved to Kelso and Ted graduated from Kelso High School in 1956. He went to college at the University of Washington and earned his BA in business administration and graduated in 1960.

Ted joined the U.S. Navy Reserve in 1961 at the grade of ensign and graduated from officer candidate school in Newport, Rhode Island. He took a voluntary assignment to Taipei in 1966 and was a staff member of the U.S. Taiwan Defense Command. Somewhere in his military history he worked in Asia for Air America and lived in VietNam for some time. He was discharged from the Navy in 1973.

Ted’s mother lived on the peninsula, so Ted moved there after his discharge. At one time Ted and his girlfriend started a chimney cleaning service for the peninsula called the Mad Hatter’s Chimney Service. He also spent time as the bartender at the Sore thumb Tavern, which is now the Lost Roo. During this time he wrote and published a book titled “A Small Gust of Wind.” This book was a fictional (or maybe non-fictional) recall of drugs and smuggling from Asia to the United States. He also wrote manuscripts for at least two other books but didn’t publish them.

Sometime in the 1980s he began a career as a real estate salesman and worked at Long Beach Realty. He married Barbara Bennett in 1989 and they built a lovely home on the ocean. They divorced a few years later. In 2005, Ted married Kris Parker and they later divorced. He sold real estate on the peninsula for many years and had a reputation for honesty and responsibility to his clients.

Ted will be remembered by many as a loyal friend who enjoyed having a beer once in a while at the Lost Roo restaurant in Long Beach. He attended many Oregon Shakespearian festivals in Ashland, Oregon and was a proud member of the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria. He wrote for the Chinook Observer in the 1980s.

Ted passed away at his home Dec. 19, 2023 in Long Beach and was found in his easy chair with a book in his lap. Goodbye to a good friend.

A party in remembrance of Ted will be held on Feb. 8 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Lost Roo. Mark your calendars!