Karl Eide

Life Sketch of Karl Eide

October 23, 1923 – March 6, 2024

Karl Eide was born October 23, 1923 on a small farm overlooking a fjord in Kvammen, Norway, near Ostereidet, 30 miles north of Bergen, Norway. He was the fourth child of seven born to Nils and Andrina (Kvammen) Eide. It is interesting to note that 5 months after Karl was born his father left for the United States for 4 years to visit his 2 brothers in Boise, Idaho and travel the country. Nils had lived in North Dakota from the age of 15 to 23 with his older brother, Olav, and sister, Sevelina. After Sevelina died in 1913 both Olav and Nils returned to Norway and found wives. Both men were considered U.S. citizens with property claims in North Dakota but if they didn’t return in 20 months they would lose their claims and temporary citizenship status. Olav returned to North Dakota with his wife but Nils stayed in Norway – along with his wife came a small family farm and he no longer needed the land in the U.S. It would be 11 years and 4 children later before he would return for one last visit.

Karl grew up listening to stories from his father about the United States and his uncles who lived there. He would finally have the opportunity to move there in 1948. This was after he lived through the Nazi occupation of Norway, from 1940-1945. He was 16 and going to school in Bergen when the Nazis invaded. He enjoyed telling some stories of that time.

On June 2, 1948 Karl sailed on the Queen Mary from Southampton, England to New York City. His American uncle, Severt Ellingson, who had married Sevelina, sent him the money for the trip and sponsored him. Within a couple months Karl was registered for classes at Emmanual Missionary College, now Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan. It wasn’t easy taking classes in English but he found other Norwegian students that he became friends with and gradually learned the language.

In January 1949 he took a semester off and went to live with his uncle in Belvidere, Illinois and work as an orderly in the Swedish-American Hospital in Rockford, Illinois. It was here that he met Betty Mae Lyke, who was in the hospital’s nursing school. Betty’s mother’s parents were Norwegian immigrants and she was intrigued with this Norwegian young man. Soon they were dating and married August 12, 1950 in Niles, Michigan.

During the early 1950’s Karl completed his schooling (EMC, BA - Math, 1951; Univ. of Wisc., MA - Math, 1952; Univ. of Tenn., doctoral studies 1954-56) and worked several places. The summer of 1955 he went to Eglin Air Force Base in Florida to work with computers for Vitro Labs. Bitten with the computer bug, Karl decided to stop working on his doctorate in math and jump into the new and upcoming computer field. He investigated several jobs, including interviewing with IBM in Washington, DC, but decided to work in the Manitowoc Engineer and Ship Building in Manitowoc, Wisconsin in 1956. While there, Rose, Lars and Phillip were born, Norman had been born earlier in Benton Harbor, Michigan. In 1960 Karl’s expanding computer career brought him to Maryland, first to the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab and then to Vitro Laboratories, Wheaton, Maryland in 1961.

Karl’s work at Vitro was to lead the technical aspects of expanding the company into the emerging field of computer processing services. As a result, Vitro became the first government contracting company in the Washington, D. C. area with a computer data processing center thus enabling it to provide services to government agencies such as the Navy. Over the years the computing services operation expanded to over 200 people as Karl provided the vision and leadership necessary to adopt the emerging computer technologies of the day.

When Karl retired from Vitro Laboratories in 1983 he was looking forward to moving to Florida where he could walk outside year-round. He had always been interested in healthy living, particularly since learning the health message and becoming an Adventist in the 1950’s. Throughout his life he walked whenever possible, and once he made his own treadmill with the idea of possibly marketing them. Another time he and Betty ran a farmer’s market out of their garage, providing fresh produce year-round to regular customers and drive-by neighbors. Other activities that he pursued in his spare time included purchasing and rehabilitating homes for investment and landscaping/gardening. When he first moved into the family house on Briggs Chaney Road in the early 1960’s he planted fruit trees, grape vines and a garden that the family maintained. Later he built a patio and swimming pool which is still being used today. In Florida he turned the entire yard into a flower garden. He wasn’t into sports but having grown up using skis he occasionally enjoyed snow and water skiing. He was also known for fixing/eating healthy meals and spending hours in his office reading, mostly the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy.

After Betty died in 2003 Karl moved from New Port Richey, Florida back to Silver Spring, Maryland and lived in Riderwood until he started having difficulty walking. For the past 7 years he lived with his son, Lars, and his wife, Joyce, in the house where he raised his family. Lars, Joyce and several dedicated nursing aides provided loving care as his mobility declined. Karl is preceded in death by his wife, Betty Mae Lyke, foster daughter, Dovie Lee Manis Eide, his parents, Nils and Andrina Eide, and his siblings, Agnes, Olav, Elmer, Alf, Lilly and Norvald. He is survived by his natural children, Norman (Barbara Pippi), Rose (David Altman), Lars (Joyce Morgan) and Phillip (Trudy Martin); by four grandchildren, Kristen Jones (Teddy), Sara Orion (Trisha), Jacob Eide, Stephen Eide; by one great-grandchild, Gabriel Eide; and by a sister-in-law, Aud Eide (Norvald) in Norway.