OBITUARIES

May 13, 2022

Athalie “Lee” McMillen Long, Born May 24th, 1939, in Fort Wayne, IN; Died Friday, May 13th, 2022, in Seattle, WA. Lee was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to Elizabeth F. and Dale W. McMillen, Jr.  She lived most of her young life in Fort Wayne and attended DePauw University for two years.  She married in 1959 and raised three...

May 8, 2022

Mary Ida was born to Birdie Thelma and Finnell Simons on March 25, 1924 in San Francisco, California, where she spent her childhood and her young adult life.  She had many fond memories of living in “The City”, one of which was a day in 1937 when the Golden Gate Bridge opened.  It was fiesta day and she wore...

May 6, 2022

John Wasko, as he would have described it, has gone home. He died on May 6th, 2022 surrounded by love. He was 71 years old, rich with wisdom and a deeply caring and playful heart. According to him, his greatest accomplishment and source of pride was being a great dad to his daughter, Rachel, and his son, Paul. He...

Apr 2, 2022

Meta “Marveen” Potter was born 6/14/1940 in Seattle, Washington to Marvin Leroy and Ruby “Lois” Fitch.  She was the first born of 5 children to Marvin and Lois.  She grew up in Burien and attended Schools in the Highline School District. At 9 years old she contracted Rheumatic fever. At the time, they did not give penicillin to children.  ...

Mar 26, 2022

July 18, 1937- March 26, 2022

Wayne grew up on a farm in Wisconsin near Lake Michigan where his grandparents and parents, taught him and his siblings to work hard and help others.  He learned quickly, to use and repair the farm’s machinery, raise and sell the fruit, vegetable and grain crops, and helped mowing on neighbors’ properties.  Any...

Mar 23, 2022

1962-2022

Richard Buchheim departed this world on March 23, 2022 following an extended illness.  His life ended at the same place he was born, Overlake Hospital.  A kind, gentle and loving soul, he was the youngest of five children of Betty and Aaron Buchheim.  He was a lifelong resident of Kirkland’s Rose Hill neighborhood, graduating from Lake Washington High...

Mar 17, 2022

Adele Suzanne Thompson McCoy Meredith was born February 11, 1943 to Vivian Willing and Monte Thompson in Freeport, Texas, where Monte worked for the Dow Chemical Company. When Dow’s plant there closed after World War II, the family moved to the Pacific Northwest where Monte took a position with the General Electric Company, first in Portland and then in...

Mar 11, 2022

11/17/1930-3/11/2022

Born into a leading pioneer family, Mary Lee Eden attended Alki Grade School, James Madison Jr. High, graduating from West Seattle High School in 1948. She continued her education at extensions of William & Mary in Norfolk, Virginia and later at the University of Washington. In 1951, she married Donald “Lefty” Eden. Family and tennis became one of...

Mar 9, 2022

1947 - 2022

Lester “Les” G. Gruner, of Seattle, Washington, died March 9 at the age of 74 after a brief illness. We celebrate the life of Les Gruner with gratitude for the light and joy he brought to so many of us.

Les was born July 22, 1947 in St. Louis, Missouri and grew up in...

Mar 8, 2022

Dolores (Dee Dee) Schwartz passed away at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle on March 8, 2022. She was 85. Dee Dee was born in Hartford, Kentucky  in 1936, graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1958 and worked in Bandung, Java, Indonesia as an administrator for a team of US professors at a technology institute from...

Mar 7, 2022

4/16/1930 – 3/7/2022

Born in Topeka, Kansas on April 16th, 1930, to Charles and Marie Tietgen. She married Paul Cook in 1949 and they raised two children in Lawrence, KS, Reedley, Ca and Seattle, Wa. Mary Ann earned her Masters in Early Childhood Education after studies at the University of California at Berkley and Seattle University. She would joke...

Mar 6, 2022

O. Sven Kalve was born to Sofie and Olaf Kalve, the sixth of 8 children, on the family island of Smeholmen on the west coast of Norway on January 8, 1938 and died peacefully in Seattle on March 6, 2022. Sven immigrated to the United States with his father and younger brother on the SS Stavanger, after a family...

Mar 1, 2022

7-27-1930 – 3-1-2022 Age 91

A true Rentonite Don was born, lived and died in Renton. After graduating from Renton High School, Don served our country in the United States Navy from 1950 to 1953.

He lived an active life, fully enjoying bowling, cruising, ballroom dancing, skiing, and vacationing in Maui.

He was a long-standing...

Feb 25, 2022

October 16, 1915 - February 25, 2022

Victor “Vic” Abdo died peacefully in his home on February 25, 2022 surrounded by family.  Born in Seattle to Samuel Abdo and Selma Zind, immigrants from Kfarshima, Lebanon, he was the oldest of six children. Vic lived 106 years, enjoying a wonderful and prosperous life.  An alumni of Queen Anne...

Feb 21, 2022

Feb 7, 1935 - Feb 21, 2022

Barbara passed away peacefully in Bellevue, WA while recuperating from an unplanned surgery at the age of 87.

Barbara was born at the home of her grandparents in Market Harborough, England to Cecil and Muriel Tilley, joining her older sister Betty. She attended Market Harborough Grammar...

Feb 20, 2022

Wanda Lee Ball, 94, of Edmonds/Seattle, Washington, passed peacefully at home, after suffering a fall, resulting in a broken hip. She was surrounded and supported by family, passing from this earthly realm to the next portion of her journey, Sunday February 20th, 2022. Wanda was born in Spokane, Washington, in May of 1927 to Oliver and Winifred Messinger, the...

Feb 17, 2022

Aug. 13, 1925 – Feb. 17, 2022

Jeanne Hecker, a prominent figure in the Sioux City, Iowa, arts community in the 1950s and 60s and later, in the 1980s and 90s, a “secret weapon” for Briar Cliff College’s highly successful basketball teams, died Feb. 17, 2022, at the Kline Galland Home in Seattle. She was 96 and had congestive...

Feb 14, 2022

Chuck was born in Seattle on March 13th, 1945 and died February 14th, 2022 at the age of 76 after an extended illness. Chuck lived in the Seattle/Renton area his entire life. Chuck was married to Kristi (Rasmussen), although later divorced and they remained incredible friends. He was an avid outdoorsman and enjoyed hunting and fishing. This lead to...

Feb 14, 2022

Farewell Kevin—we wish you fair winds and following seas!

Dr. Kevin R. Wood, husband, father, scholar, scientist, adventurer, and maker died at home in Seattle, WA on February 14, 2022 at the age of 59 from metastatic lung cancer. Kevin was a seeker of the sublime in nature, a sailor, gifted writer, artist, storyteller, cyclist, book and curiosity collector,...

Feb 7, 2022

1938-2022

Claudine, 83, of Shoreline, WA died peacefully on February 7, 2022. Born in Paris, she immigrated to the United States to marry Jack Erlandson in 1958 and they were married for 56 years. She eventually became a US citizen and was very proud to be a UW graduate with a degree in English. She worked for many years...