The Anderson family
Vasa Park on the west side of Lake Sammamish played a big role in bringing together the Shedin and Anderson families, and establishing them in the Issaquah area.
Sometime after the turn of the century, four young Swedish immigrants made their way separately to the United States. Ernest Shedin came west with the railroad. The woman who would become his wife came over with the Nordstrom family, a connection that would keep her family in shoes for years. John Anderson was a fisherman from an island off the coast of Sweden. His wife-to-be arrived here to work as a maid.
Once married and settled in Seattle, Ernie and Sandra Shedin and John and Irene Anderson all joined in a project to establish a Swedish park and resort at Lake Sammamish. Vasa Park became a favorite summertime place for both families, even though it was a two-day trip in the early years.
Children Ben Anderson and Ruby Shedin knew each other from town, but their romance blossomed during those carefree summers by the lake. They married in 1940, and bought one of the family cabins as their permanent home in 1956. Remodeled, it turned into a great lakeside home for them and their children Mark, Steve and Arlene.
Today there are three generations of the family living by the lake, just a stone’s throw from where it all started at Vasa Park.
