Arthur F. (Bud) Anderson, Lt. Colonel USAF, retired, died early January 29, 2018. He was born in Traverse City on March 17, 1925 to Ruth E. (Nedow) and Frederick M. Anderson. He lived most of his life in Leelanau County, leaving the area only to serve in the Air Force and brief employment with Western Electric. He returned to the place he loved to establish Anderson Builders with his father, Fred. Together they built homes with fanatic attention to quality. He later became a partner in Leland Realty.
Bud was extremely proud of his military service. He was drafted directly out of high school and entered into service in the Army Air Corps. Bud served as flight engineer during World War II. He then returned home only to be recalled into service during the Korean War. After active duty, he joined the Air Force reserve retiring after 26 years of service as a Lt. Colonel.
As a child of the Depression, Bud was always concerned about supporting his family and sometimes worked multiple jobs at one time. He gave and lent to those who needed it, within the family and without. He was ambitious, generous, solid, painfully frank, and not always easy, expecting the best of his children. Bud was proud of the fact that his daughters and grandchildren were all educated and able to earn a living. At the end of his life, on a daily basis, he told his kids that he loved them and that he appreciated everything they did for him.
In September 1951, he married Betty Lou Reynolds. He was the father of three daughters; Lynn Anderson (Mir Sadri) of Calumet, Janice (Ron) Howard of Traverse City and Terri Bastow of South Haven. He was the grandfather to Kyle (Becky) Howard, Ian (Amanda) Howard, Emily (Pat) Alpers, and Adam, Bryan and Christian Bastow. He was the great grandpa to seven.
He was preceded in death by his wife Betty in 2004. His sisters, Jean Bruyette and Arlyne Vance also predeceased him.
He was able to live on his own until the last six months of his life, when his health began to fail.
Bud was a faithful Christian. He read his Bible every evening, being proud of the fact that he had read the entire Bible several times. Bud spent most of his life as a Methodist, and in the past few years attended West Bay Covenant Church in Greilickville. Memorials may be directed to his church.
Please visit www.reynolds-jonkhoff.com to share your condolences and memories with Bud's family on his tribute page.
A visitation will take place Thursday February 8, 2018 from 6-8pm at the Reynolds-Jonkhoff Funeral Home. A celebration of Bud's life will take place at 1:00pm on Friday February 9, 2018 also at the Reynolds-Jonkhoff Funeral Home. Bud's final resting place will be at the Grand Traverse Memorial Gardens next to his wife.
The family is being cared for and served by the Reynolds-Jonkhoff Funeral Home.