Laura Marie Anderson 1956 - 2020

It is with great sadness that the family of Laura Marie Anderson (nee Taylor) announces her passing after a 2-1/2 year battle with esophageal cancer.  She passed away peacefully at home with her husband and daughters present.  She was a most positive, engaging, selfless and loving spirit.

Born to Robert and Jean Taylor in Eugene, Laura’s family spent her early years in California before returning to Oregon for good in 1968.  While she lived in several Oregon communities, most of her time was in Eugene until moving to McMinnville in 1998.

For Laura, work was only a vehicle to allow her to enjoy the rest of life, but she excelled in all her jobs, which were many and varied, including tree planter, food cart worker,  book binder, school secretary, and Administrative Assistant and HR rollout specialist for Frito-Lay. Once in McMinnville, she was office manager for Browne Ink and spent the last 15 years in accounting and customer service for Ultimate RB until 2018, when her illness took hold.

She loved life’s simple pleasures such as blowing bubbles (Make mine Pustefix please!) and flying kites.  She loved camping, hiking and fishing (which she learned at her grandfather’s knee) and shared these loves with her family.  Her knowledge of the outdoors and an uncanny ability to recognize various animal traces earned her the nickname "Nature Girl" among her entire family.  She was an enthusiastic birder and frequented Malheur Wildlife Refuge with close friend Kate Waldo for many years during migratory season.  Various business trips and vacations to other parts of the country, Hawaii and Costa Rica, allowed her to expand her count of birds identified. She was a water baby of the first order, and loved swimming, snorkeling and, for a number of years, scuba diving.

In addition to everything nature-related, Laura loved the arts, including live theater, dance, opera and many forms of music.  After seeing a local performance by McMinnville’s ukulele group, the Maculeles, she asked to join, learned to play and became an integral part of the fun-loving group.

She was a foodie, a terrific cook and appreciated a good wine, serving for a while on a wine tasting panel.

Her marriage to Dave Anderson on April 24, 1999, expanded her world of love and brought continuous fun, adventures and unexpected surprises. They loved Hawaii and all it has to offer.  It was clear that they were truly of one heart.

Her greatest joys in life were her daughters Opal and Brandon.  They want to share the following about their mother:

                “Our mother taught us the greatest joys in our own lives.  To LOVE. To be dedicated to family and to show kindness and compassion for others. Our mom was a free spirit with the most amazing universal connections to nature and people. She immersed herself in her community, spending 10 years as a reader for the SMART program and becoming a champion for McMinnville’s local Relay for Life as Mission and Advocacy Chair (where she overcame her fear of public speaking). By her example, she taught us strength through dedication. Her dedication to family never wavered, from being the eldest sibling, raising the two of us, loving her nieces and nephews and becoming her grandchildren’s #1 FAN. Despite always holding a full-time job, Mom never missed a performance, a game, a spelling bee or swimming lesson. She even became beloved by McMinnville High’s Grizz theater, in which her granddaughter Daphne is active.  Mom showed us all how to conquer life.  Her younger grandchild Colton recently said “She is the Roots to our TREE." Forever missed in the flesh, always with us in Spirit.”

Laura is survived by her husband, Dave; daughters, Opal Dennis (Tom) and Brandon Johns (Jeff Barton); grandchildren, Daphne Moses and Colton Moses; siblings, Dorothy Lundeen (Chuck), Nancy VanLaningham (Dennis) and Bob Taylor (Suze); nephews and nieces, Taylor VanLaningham (Brittany Horn), Lindsay Lundeen, Courtney Gonyea (Jake) and Charlie Lundeen (Taylor Vavra), Blaine Lundeen and Sabrina Lundeen; uncle, Kenny Boy Dalgleish (Donna Shugar); Ron Carlton (Opal’s father); and Craig Johns (Brandon’s father).  She was predeceased by her parents and one grandchild, Kelley Moses.

Due to COVID-19, no service is planned at this time, but we plan to gather for a celebration of life next summer.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Friends of Malheur, a support organization for the Malheur Wildlife Refuge.  Please visit https://malheurfriends.org/support/