Resolutions Passed of the Bible Presbyterian Church
← BACK TO INDEX

Resolution 71:5

Memorial Resolution for Elder Alden Syvertsen

Alden Syvertsen was born, raised and schooled in Tacoma, WA. Upon graduating from high school he entered the Navy and ever afterward carried himself with that erect, military bearing. In 1942, he married Helen Gough and they raised two sons and a daughter.

After his time in the Navy, Alden worked in the Bremerton, WA, naval yards. Eventually, he was employed in the civil service at McChord Air Force Base as supervisor of the sheet metal fabrication and machine shops. He was a hard worker, liked things to be done right and was impatient with sloppy work and sloth. On church work days, he nor- mally gave a hand on whatever tasks were to be done.

Alden and his wife were always present when the church doors were open for worship and fellowship. They were also hospitable at home. Though careful in expenditures upon himself, he was generous in supporting the Lord’s work and had a special interest in missions, both home and foreign. He was cheerful, trusting and uncomplaining when tragedy visited his life. Alden was of a serious turn of mind, but when the moment was ripe for laughter, he freely participated. He made a good friend.

For many years, he served as an elder in the Tacoma Bible Presbyterian Church. Not always find- ing it easy to express his thoughts, he tended to be reserved in session meetings; but as a man of firm and settled convictions, he would speak his mind.

Elder Syvertsen belonged to a generation with strength of character and dedication, which is very much passing from our midst. While, like all men, his sojourn among us was comparatively brief, we know, as the Psalm says, “...the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance” (Psalm 112:6b).

Adopted by the 71th General Synod of the Bible Presbyterian Church,
meeting in Cape Canaveral, FL, August 2-7, 2007.