Ingrid Marie Erickson

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Ingrid Marie Erickson of Malibu died Sept. 21 at an Alzheimer’s care home in Cheyenne, Wyo. of complications from the disease. She was 76.

Erickson was born in Azusa, Calif. and grew up on her parents’ dairy farm. She graduated from Valparaiso University in Indiana and taught elementary school in Illinois before returning to California to raise her two children with her husband Allen. She and Allen later divorced.

Enthusiasm characterized Erickson’s many interests, including hiking, tennis, skiing and especially deep sea scuba diving. She also loved the arts and became an accomplished sculptor and studied with sculptor Robert Cunningham. In 1982 she received a Master of Fine Arts from California State University, Los Angeles.

Aside from teaching, Erickson also worked in the aerospace industry and as a buyer for the Los Angeles City Library system until her retirement in 1995. That same year she married longtime Malibu political activist Ralph Erickson and the two pursued another of her passions, travel. The pair traveled to Scandinavia, Germany, Italy, Peru, Thailand, the Galapagos Islands and Costa Rica. Erickson’s last major trip was to South Africa, where she was thrilled to see animals she had dreamed of seeing for years. Her niece, Lisa Schlange, accompanied her on the 2008 trip.

Erickson is survived by her husband of 17 years, Ralph; daughter Lisa Depasqual and her husband, Ed, of Chandler, Ariz.; son Mark Conrad and his wife, Chris, of Hillsdale, Wyo.; brother Gunter Schlange and his wife, Sue, of Farmington, Calif.; grandchildren Kate and Kellen Williams of Chandler, Ariz. and Abby and Sarah Conrad of Hillsdale, Wyo. She was preceded in death by her parents Hermina and William Schlange and her brother Wilfred.

Memorial service plans are pending.

Donations may be made in Erickson’s honor to the Alzheimer’s Association.