John Holger Westerback
By Jane Smith
SOUTH PALM BEACH — John Holger Westerback, a founder of the Nordic Heritage Society of South Florida, died Jan. 19.
He was 86 and died from complications of Parkinson’s disease, his wife, Sonya, said.
Mr. Westerback was born in Worcester, Mass., to the late Anna and August Westerback. The family returned to Narpes, Finland, when he was 6. At age 22, he came back to Worcester after serving in the Finnish Army.
In 1952, he met Sonya Johnson at a dance in Worcester. “Something Swedish was playing,” she recalled. “He spoke the right language — Swedish.” Her parents were Swedes, and her soon-to-be husband came from the Swedish-speaking part of Finland. Plus, he was good-looking, she said.
Then he was drafted into the U.S. Army and served in Japan for two years, during and after the Korean War.
He attended New England Aircraft School (later to become Boston University School of Engineering) for two years. The Westerbacks spent their working years on Long Island, N.Y. He was employed at Kennedy Airport by SAS Airlines for 13 years, and then by Finnair (Finnish Airlines) for 20 years as an airline maintenance manager.
Sonya Westerback worked as a chemical engineer with Gruman Aerospace, Bethpage, N.Y. She attributes their long marriage to both working outside the home. “The years just rolled on,” she said.
The Westerbacks began spending winters in South Palm Beach in 1999 and returned to Brewster on Cape Cod, Mass., for the summers.
Mr. Westerback had one brother, Alf G. Westerback, who is deceased.
In addition to his wife of 60 years, Mr. Westerback is survived by a son, John Henrik Westerback (Britta), three grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren living in Korsholm, Finland.
He was a long-time member of Living Word Lutheran Church in Lantana, Nordic Heritage Society of South Florida, Vasa Order of America, and Sovittaja Finnish Club in Massachusetts.
Instead of flowers, donations in his memory may be made to Living Word Lutheran Church, 2116 W. Lantana Road, Lantana, FL 33462; Norden Newspaper, 335 East 51st St., 7B, New York, NY 10022, or a charity of your choice.
The funeral service will be held at 1 p.m. Feb. 2 at Living Word Lutheran Church. Cremation is private.
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