David John Erickson of Haywood County, North Carolina, slipped quietly over the threshold into another dimension on June 29th, 2017. David was born in Portland, Oregon, on September 27, 1937.

First son of Raymond Rogner Erickson and Margaret Ann Cates, he grew up in St. Helens and Springfield, Oregon, and Longview, Washington. He graduated from R.A. Long High School in Longview, Washington, in 1955, and went on to attend the University of Chicago for one year, returning to Oregon to complete his BS in Psychology from Willamette University in 1959. He continued his studies at Michigan State, East Lansing, earning his MS in Industrial Psychology in 1961.

David’s work career as a Management Personnel Consultant, started in Cleveland, Ohio, and continued in New York City and Brussels, Belgium. He traveled extensively through Europe, The United Kingdom and South America while working for major international corporations. He continued with Personnel Consulting in Atlanta, Georgia, after returning stateside. In 1972 David decided to return to Oregon to reflect on his life goals and lived in Charleston, Oregon, and Castle Rock, Washington, before moving north to the Seattle/Tacoma area.

In 1975, he met Kaaren Stoner, a professional potter living in Port Orchard, Washington, and they were married the next summer, July of 1976. Kaaren and David established First Thought Pottery in Orient, Washington, in 1977, then relocated to Sandpoint, Idaho, in 1983 to open their first fine craft gallery, The Cottage Craftsman. After selling the gallery, David became the first Merchandise Manager for Coldwater Creek catalog. Several other catalog merchandising jobs brought Kaaren and David back east to Ohio to be closer to Kaaren’s parents in 1995. Eventually their desire to open another fine craft gallery led them on a search thru western North Carolina, culminating in the opening of Twigs and Leaves Gallery in downtown Waynesville, North Carolina, in 1998. David’s strong desire to return to a life on the land, led to the sale of Twigs and Leaves in 2007 and for the past ten years David has been pursuing his spiritual interests and gardening. Starting in 2011 he had a booth at Haywood’s Historic Farmers Market selling flowers, garlic and vegetables.

An online registry may be found at Asheville Mortuary Services, ashevillemortuaryservices.com. For a complete obituary please email ericksonquestions@hotmail.com.

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