Verland Swede Ohlson, died in 2003 at age 86.  He was of Center Conway, died at home on Dec. 7.  He was born in 1917 in Duhring, Pa., the fifth of six children of Fred Ohlson, a Swedish immigrant, and Anna Beckwith Ohlson. He grew up in logging camps and farms in western New York state. He was a WWII veteran serving in the elite First Special Service Forces. They were trained in snow warfare, mountaineering, amphibious assault and parachuting. He had a long and distinguished career with the U.S. Forest Service, working in Montana, Idaho, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maine and New Hampshire. He was Saco District Ranger for 23 years, starting in 1957, when the Kancamagus Highway was an incomplete dirt road. His love of forest and trees was evident in the thousands of trees he planted over his lifetime, in his yard, his childrens yards and just about any place he could put one.