Carl Nels Backstrom

Carl Backstrom was born in Portland, Oregon, the son of Christine Radabaugh and Nels Backstrom. Carl was so full of life! The life of the party per se. He always wanted to make you laugh, he was a jokester and loved pulling pranks and stuff! Carl loved sports as well as the outdoors. Camping, kayaking, skiing, biking, just being out in nature was where he was happiest. He only had one child, Tatiana Hen. They were so very close and shared lots of fun memories skiing, tennis, camping, exploring and random scenic drives that he loved to do with her.

He was an adaptive sports athlete, advocate, mentor, and inspiration for other people with disabilities. His basketball team would go to middle and high schools for assemblies to demonstrate the fact that if someone was in a wheelchair it didn't mean they couldn’t play sports and play them well. A valuable lesson for youth. The team would get able bodied basketball players from the schools to play against them and every time his team would win. It brought joy while teaching a valuable lesson. He was very active in Tennis as well. Winning almost every time. He was so good that he played against and with the world champion for wheelchair tennis.

In 2000, he participated in the annual Hood to Coast Relay. It required team effort and showed how much of a team player Carl was not just in sports, but life as well. He also accomplished the annual Beach Ride, a 100-mile bike ride on his adaptive bike against able bodied people. He didn't let his disability stop him. If anything, he would push himself harder. He hiked up Bagby Hot Springs with his daughter, Tia when she was 5, pushing himself up the hill. While there, he carved her name into one of the hot tubs and planted a tree with her to demonstrate to her the importance of nature. One year he and his sister, Loriann, went to Multnomah Falls, Carl made his way up to the bridge in his wheelchair and would have gone farther had the terrain allowed it. His determination was unparalleled.

He was the "Rock" of the family, as his mother put it. He was a momma’s boy and very devoted to his mother and father. Carl kept in touch on a regular basis not only with immediate family, but with ALL of his aunts, uncles, and cousins; like Grand Central Station, he was the information booth. He touched so many lives and was a person to go to for advice, such a wise soul!

Carl is survived by his daughter, Tatiana Hen; mother, Christine Radabaugh; brother, Eric Backstrom; sister, Loriann Rinato; and grandchildren, Elizabeth Pankonin, Liam Pankonin and Meilani Raney. He was preceded in death by his father, Nels Backstrom and sister, Lana Brechbiel

He was a humble, kind and caring man!