Life Story: Todd Anderson put his family above everything

Todd Anderson was raised in a Christian family.

“He was conservative, he was JROTC, he was Republican Party precinct chairman for Clearview,” said Glenn Brauteset, his best friend. “He was analytical, linear and very logical. In college he excelled in math, chemistry, physics and sciences. He loathed English, art and literature.”

Total opposites, Brauteset and Anderson worked together as volunteer firefighters in District 7. Brauteset was the best man at Anderson’s wedding in New York.

His buddy died of a heart attack Nov. 25.

“He ignored his high blood pressure,” said Todd Anderson’s wife, Nancy. “He held himself to impossible standards.”

The nurse met her beau when she was doing post-graduate work at Yale University. She came to Seattle to take a cardiopulmonary resuscitation class and met her future husband.

They have three daughters: Jessamine, 10, Isabel, 7, and Elise, 6.

Todd Eric Anderson, 40, is survived by his family in Snohomish; parents, Eric and Nancy Anderson; siblings, Chad Anderson, Heather and Jason Lenihan and Sonja and Tycen Stafford.

In 1987, he graduated from Snohomish High School, where he was captain of the JROTC program. He worked as an electrical contractor.

The couple loved diving, hiking, bicycling and spending time with their children.

His daily wear was jeans and T-shirts, but Nancy Anderson said her husband loved to dress up and go out to dinner. He didn’t watch television, but rather did woodwork, gardening and played with the dog.

His friend, Connie Coyner, said Todd Anderson had a wonderful sense of humor. They often went hiking.

“I think that Todd got a kick out of my lack of athletic ability,” said Coyner. “Laughing while I stumbled along the trail, but also holding his hand out to help. That was Todd.”

She made it to the top of a mountain during one hike, and remembers her friend standing there, smiling.

“Todd left a precious legacy behind in this three daughters,” she said. “Their dad was a jokester, a playmate, a bath giver and the true measure of a man — a gentle, honest, hardworking family man who left the earth much too soon.”

He called his daughters his three little jewels.

Coyner said losing Anderson was a loss to his family and community. At midnight, he would go fix a residential power outage. If it was Sunday and there was a problem with a hot tub, he’d go over and fix it. He did a lot of work for free, his wife said.

“I couldn’t go anywhere without someone knowing him.”

Nancy Anderson said her husband left no life insurance. She plans to return to nursing. A fund to help the family has been established at Washington Mutual branches for the Todd Anderson Beneficiary Fund.

His wife begged and pleaded with her husband to see a doctor about his heart disease.

The morning he died, he told her he would go to see a physician — in one more day.

“That is what he always said,” Nancy Anderson said. “In one more day.”

She wants others to take their health seriously, she said.

“If this can be a lesson to others, then his death was not in vain.”

Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Everett mall renderings from Brixton Capital. (Photo provided by the City of Everett)
Topgolf at the Everett Mall? Mayor’s hint still unconfirmed

After Cassie Franklin’s annual address, rumors circled about what “top” entertainment tenant could be landing at Everett Mall.

Everett
Everett man sentenced to 3 years of probation for mutilating animals

In 2022, neighbors reported Blayne Perez, 35, was shooting and torturing wildlife in north Everett.

Dorothy Crossman rides up on her bike to turn in her ballot  on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett leaders plan to ask voters for property tax increase

City officials will spend weeks hammering out details of a ballot measure, as Everett faces a $12.6 million deficit.

Starbucks employee Zach Gabelein outside of the Mill Creek location where he works on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024 in Mill Creek, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mill Creek Starbucks votes 21-1 to form union

“We obviously are kind of on the high of that win,” store bargaining delegate Zach Gabelein said.

Lynnwood police respond to a collision on highway 99 at 176 street SW. (Photo provided by Lynnwood Police)
Police: Teen in stolen car flees cops, causes crash in Lynnwood

The crash blocked traffic for over an hour at 176th Street SW. The boy, 16, was arrested on felony warrants.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett to welcome new CEO

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.