Gene Amondson - Biography

Biography

Gene Amondson was born to Owen and Ruby Amondson in Morton, Washington near the city of Centralia. His mother was a German American homemaker, originally from Nebraska and his father, who was nicknamed "Red", was a Norwegian American logger, an industry which at the time was rampant with alcoholism. When he was a child, neither of his parents drank, but young Gene was exposed to drunken logger fights, attended school with children who were neglected by alcoholic parents, and witnessed the molestation of a five year old by a drunk logger. Gene was also exposed to politics. His uncle, Orville "Porky" Amondson was elected and served as sheriff in Lewis County, and his brother Neil later served in the Washington State Senate as a member of the Republican Party. Amondson attended Warner Pacific College in Portland, Oregon, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in zoology. In college, he occasionally drank wine. His anti-alcohol views did not take root until he attended Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky in 1966, and learned about temperance leader and preacher Billy Sunday. Amondson estimated that after divinity school, he drank beer about twice a year. In the 1970s, he moved to Vashon Island, Washington, a liberal community, and preached at Cove Road Church. He described himself as a "red-neck, Bible-thumbing preacher."

In the years that followed, he grew closer to the Prohibition movement, and went on tours throughout the nation reenacting the Billy Sunday sermons Get on the Water Wagon, Booze, and The Sermon Against Alcohol. In his later years, Amondson split his time between Vashon Island and Alaska, where he would hunt and find landscapes to paint. He cited painters John Singer Sargent and Joaquín Sorolla as influences on his painting, and his lifesized woodcarvings were found scattered throughout Vashon Island. Along with painting and woodcarving, Amondson was an avid pie baker and published a book that compiled his mother's pie recipes.

Amondson was known to drive around in a Honda Civic accessorized with a fake elk head on the front and a license plate that read "Vote Dry." The car was also decorated with homemade bumper stickers that read "Dumb People Drink" and "Your Kids Need You Sober." In 2008, the car was installed with a "hydrogen conversion kit" that allowed it to be fueled by gasoline and water using electrolysis, significantly improving gas mileage. Amondson's car was one of the first in the nation to be fitted with such a kit.

Amondson was married for 23 years and had four sons and one daughter, before divorcing. One of his sons died in infancy, and his remaining four children all became involved in the motion picture industry upon adulthood. In 1993, he appeared as a guest on Oprah after writing a letter to the show expressing his interest in the 40,000 single women who hoped to win a date with five widowers from Seattle. He wrote that he would take the women that the widowers passed on, and explained that he was lonely and wanted someone that was "willing to work to help pay the taxes...and my child support." The Oprah staffers who received the letter, commented that they were "quite interested" and "surprised" by Amondson's persona. On the show, he discussed his artwork, and was later invited for a second appearance. Counting repeats, Amondson appeared on the show four times. Afterwards, he received hundreds of letters from interested individuals.