Elinor "Sakrison" Bjorklund

Elinor Bjorklund A Celebration of Life for Elinor Bjorklund will be held Saturday, June 6, at 3 p.m. at the Vermont Hills United Methodist Church, 6053 SW 55th Drive in Portland, Oregon. The family asks that donations made in lieu of flowers be to the Portland Opera (www.portlandopera.org) or to the All Classical Portland radio station (www.allclassical.org), both sources of joy to Elinor. Elinor was born in Portland, Oregon, to a mother whose parents had immigrated from Germany and a father whose parents had immigrated from Sweden. Elinor attended Irvington Grade School, and graduated from Grant High School. She started playing piano at an early age, which would become a life-long pursuit. After high school, Elinor went to the University of Oregon and became a music major. During that time, she also pledged to the Alpha Omicron Pi sorority. She later became a very active member of the AOPi Alumnae Association, serving in a variety of officer positions, including chapter president and vice president, and took part in carrying out scores of alumni charitable and fund raising events. Her name was mentioned in The Oregonian newspaper dozens of times in connection with AOPi events over several decades. (There was also the occasional photo – including a memorable one with Elinor and two others in pioneer dresses to represent Oregon at an alumnae banquet in Canada.) During her college years, she met forester Norman Bjorklund at a family gathering. Norm was 6’ 4” to her 5’-11” – the perfect height combination. They got married when she was 20. Their honeymoon was a memorable trip to Los Angeles sponsored by the city’s tourism board, and the photogenic couple was featured in a multiple-page photo spread in the L.A. Times newspaper. The New York Times also picked up the story. She left college, they moved into an apartment near downtown Portland, and she got a secretarial job. Later expecting their first child, they got a house in suburban southwest Portland. Elinor became involved in the PTA of the local elementary school, playing music for their annual musical Hi Jinx fund-raising performances; and with Vermont Hills Methodist Church, where for many decades she volunteered for church fund raising events, sang in the choir, and played the piano or organ for the Sunday services. (Several articles in The Oregonian bear witness to her involvement in putting together charitable events for the church.) Practicing for the choir and services, playing Thursday nights for choir practice, and playing on Sundays and Christmas Eve, would be her routine for much of her adult life. Elinor was also a volunteer for Young Audiences, a program that brought music performances into the Portland schools. After their third child was middle-school age, Elinor took on the part time job of running the Young Audiences office in downtown Portland. This, too, was commemorated with a 1970 article and a photo in The Oregonian. Elinor had a passion for color and pattern, and it showed in the crafts she enjoyed. She especially liked sewing (she made many of her own clothes, using lots of print pattern fabric, inventing clothing that would work better for playing the organ, and making dresses for her daughter). She also liked making candles, growing and arranging flowers (which she often did for church services), and making ribbon roses (including the ribbon roses that adorned her daughter’s wedding dress). She also liked bridge, and regularly played with a bridge group. Elinor had a passion for all things chocolate, and shared husband Norm’s appreciation for wine. She was also well known for her lasagna, and often offered lasagna dinners as an auction item for church fund raisers. Besides playing music, she also loved to attend live music performances, particularly the opera, pops and symphony in Portland and other cities in the U.S. and Europe. And when none of those things were going on, she liked to listen to classical or opera music on All Classical radio station. She is survived by a daughter, two sons, and two grandchildren. Service Information