Passing of our Beloved Second-Generation Brother, Andrew Carlson

Our beloved second-generation brother, Andrew Carlson of Edgewater, MD ascended to the Spirit World on Thursday, July 14. Andrew was a beautiful, lively and free-spirited child, and despite his struggles in later years, he remained loving and serving to his family and friends. He is survived by his parents Eric and Lois Carlson, and his siblings Anna and Stephen.

Let us come together in support of Andrew’s family during this important and special time and pray for his victorious transition to a glorious new life in the spiritual world.

Following is an obituary from his parents and the Seonghwa ceremony information.

Dr. Ki Hoon Kim Continental Director

Dr. Michael Balcomb President

The Victorious Life of Andrew Leland Carlson January 14, 1991 - July 14, 2016

Andrew was born in Washington, D.C to Eric and Lois Carlson. He has an older sister and brother, Anna and Stephen. Andrew lived his entire life in Edgewater, Maryland which is about 30 miles east of Washington on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay and the South River.

Andrew thoroughly enjoyed his early childhood. He was fortunate to experience a stable family, grandparents, uncles and aunts, cousins and friends. As a youth he went on all kinds of trips and adventures which he delighted in. Andrew had an amazing ability to excel at a sport he just learned, including basketball, ice-skating, skiing and skateboarding. During these years, he was a beautiful and lively free-spirited child. His difficulties began to emerge when entering middle school.

Andrew loved his family. He loved being part of our family activities, from camping every summer at Trap Pond State Park in Delaware to our yearly trips to his grandparents’ home in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Riding together on our many day trips in the family station wagon epitomizes our love for one another. This powerful love for each other carried us through the struggles brought on by the intense nature of Andrew’s character and his war with alcohol, drugs and depression as we traveled together as a family in those sorrows and hardships.

Andrew earned his GED, and then attended Anne Arundel Community College for a few semesters. Not finding his future in book learning, he quickly became interested in working with his hands doing yard care and tree removal, construction, and repairing anything mechanical around his home. He struggled

hard with finding his niche in this world.

As a teen, he had several friends that he thoroughly enjoyed being with: Jason Ennis, Brian Potter and Jonathan Carr. In his adult life, his last friendship, and perhaps deepest, was with Trevor Boothby who was his employer, teacher and friend. Andrew would spend many a day climbing and taking down huge trees and mowing lawns with the “Green Man Trees” company throughout the Metropolitan area. In addition to teaching a trade to Andrew, Trevor gave him the kind of friendship he always wanted. We want to honor these young men with words of deep gratitude for the joy they brought to our son, Andrew.

Throughout his short but fast-paced life, Andrew fought hard for fourteen years to win over the inner demons that plagued him. He never gave up. He ran on a hope that he could attain his dreams of marriage and to be able to support a family of his own one day. He wanted to attain the work skills necessary to do so. We believe that in his final days there was a diminishing flicker of this hope and that this was what drove him to seek to find some solace from those inner demons.

Though he passed on to his new life, we do not feel overly sad as he gave this life experience his all. Those who knew the “true” Andrew experienced his deeply loving and serving nature. He was our “Christmas” child. He had to have the yearly fresh-cut Christmas tree stay up through his January 14th birthday. He bounded (literally) with a vivacious energy that we wish we could have bottled and taken daily. He served his family in the ways that reflected his nature by cooking dinners for his family, mowing the lawn and trimming the trees, and vacuuming the house. This he all did spontaneously and willingly. In conclusion, he has an inner goodness this world could not corrupt.

Because of the urgent need for help for young people struggling with similar issues as Andrew, we ask that you consider donating to a local rehab facility like Hope House in Crownsville, MD.

Seonghwa Ceremony

The Seonghwa Service will take place on Thursday, July 28, at 1:00 p.m. at: Selby-on-the-Bay at the Clubhouse The clubhouse 3715 1st Avenue, Edgewater, MD. The website is: www.selbyonthebay.org