OBITUARIES
Local obituaries for Seattle, Washington, King County and Surrounding Areas
Virginia Lim Tan
Feb 1, 2020
Virginia Lim Tan, 83, of Syracuse, NY, lately of Bellevue, WA, passed away on Saturday, February 1, 2020, with her loving family at her side. Beloved wife of the late Su Eng Tan. Virginia was hardworking and devoted to her family and her faith. She retired from Van Duyn Home and Hospital after 29 years of dedicated service to...
Shirley Starowski
Jan 23, 2020
Shirley ‘Blakesley’ Starowski passed away peacefully in her home on January 23rd, 2020 at the age of 91. She was preceded by Richard, her husband of 66 years. They had four children, Robert, Steven, Donna and Alan. She worked for Sears for 2 years until her first baby was due, at which time she retired and loved being a...
Ida M. Curtis
Jan 21, 2020
Born April 16, 1935, in New Haven CT, Ida passed away January 21, 2020, in Seattle WA. Ida grew up in Newington CT, contracted polio in 1953 and was cared for in a hospital in her hometown for almost two years until she regained the use of her upper body muscles and was able to use a wheelchair. She...
Joy (Ash) Kiefner
Jan 12, 2020
It is with great sadness that Joy Kiefner has passed away after a long battle with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). She experienced complications from her long term illness and after a short stint on hospice, died in her home in Brier WA on January 12, 2020 with her husband and daughter by her side.
Joy was born...
Niina Rebassoo
Jan 11, 2020
(1922-2020)
Niina Rebassoo passed away peacefully on Saturday morning, January 11.
She was born as Niina Juhanson in Tallinn in 1922. Her parents Aadu and Elisabeth had met and married in St. Petersburg and her older sister died there from malnutrition during the hard times in the wake of the revolution.
She grew up in...
Kathleen (Kay) Beatrice Thode
Jan 11, 2020
Kay passed away at home on January 11, 2020 at the age of 94. She was born December 11, 1925 in Kimberly, British Columbia. She moved to Seattle, Washington to attend the University of Washington, where she met fellowship student and lifetime partner, Robert C. Thode. Kay is survived by daughters Karen Morse (Mike) and Lorraine Paull (Mike), sons...
Sigrid Christine Brorson
Jan 8, 2020
Sigrid Christine Brorson (Thompson/Zylstra), aged 74, passed away on January 8th, 2020 in Seattle. Born on August 8, 1945 in Monroe, WA, to Bror and Edna (Berlin) Thompson, she grew up there with her three older brothers Roger, Ronald, and Robert, and extended Berlin family. She had fond memories and many stories of the pack of cousins playing in...
John Everett Carleton
Jan 7, 2020
August 15, 1945 - January 7, 2020
John Carleton was born August 15, 1945, in West Seattle, where he lived the majority of his life. John was the only child of Everett and Jean (Dickinson) Carleton. He attended Jefferson Elementary School and graduated from West Seattle High School in 1963.
John served in the U.S....
Dorothy Clegg
Jan 7, 2020
Dorothy Eleanor Anderson Clegg passed peacefully at home on January 7, 2020. She was born on April fool’s Day 1926 to a pioneer family from Sweden, who immigrated to the Skagit Valley when Washington was still a territory. She grew up on a farm in the Skagit River Delta and graduated from La Conner high school on D-Day.
...Ann Masuko Inouye
Jan 1, 2020
Ann Masuko Inouye (nee Yamazaki) was born on May 20, 1926 in Tokyo, Japan. She went home to the Lord on January 1, 2020 at the age of 93. She joins her husband of 64 years, Paul, who predeceased her in 2015.
She was the eldest daughter of Masuyoshi and Kimie Yamazaki and grew up in the...
Anna Mae Staley
2020
1939-2020
Born the fourth of five children in Hutchinson, KS to Leonard Thomas Stout and Mellie Mae (Staley) Stout, Ann was raised in Falls City, NE, but found her heart’s home in the Pacific NW, loving both the forests and the seas.
Married in 1955 to Jack Kelley, Ann lived in Falls City, NE, San Diego, CA,...

Kristi Bjarnason
2020
1955 - 2020
Kristi grew up in a Seattle family of professional musicians. When her parents, Dorothy and Leon, introduced her to the cello there was no stopping her. She followed in the footsteps of her teachers: Eva Heinitz, Gabor Rejto, and Pierre Fournier.
Kristi first concertized in Seattle in her early teens. As her...

Ben Ball
2020
With great sadness we announce the death of Ben Ball, son of long-time UUC members Kathleen Holm and the late Jim Ball.
Ben was 33 years old. Ben is survived by his mother and his sister, Katy Ball, along with extended family. He was predeceased by his father, Jim Ball, who died in 2020. Our hearts go...
Jeffrey A. Nystuen
2020
"Rain is a very good producer of underwater sound. It's louder than a high wind, louder than a hurricane, and so it's very easy to listen for and hear the sound of rain underwater."
(1957 - 2020)The acoustics and oceanography communities lost an admired colleague Jeffrey Nystuen in September. Jeff had been a research professor at...
Beverly Irene (Bryant) Paillette
Dec 31, 2019
Bev passed away in the early morning of December 31, 2019, with her daughter Gwen and son-in-law Aaron at her side. She had lived with Alzheimer's for several years, and had been living in a Seattle memory-care facility for the past four.
The middle child of Irene and Edward Bryant, Bev was born in Fountain, Colorado on...
Julian Christopher Leuba
Dec 31, 2019
September 28, 1929—December 31, 2019
Chris Leuba, 90, former music faculty of horn at University of Washington and Western Washington University, passed away peacefully on December 31, 2019. He had lately been a three year resident of the Norse Home, after moving from his home in the Seattle neighborhood of View Ridge where he had resided for...
Marion Jane (Hendrickson) Guyer
Dec 29, 2019
March 7, 1933 – December 29, 2019
Marion was born to David and Ruth Hendrickson on March 7th, 1933, in Chicago, Illinois. The family moved to Duluth, Minnesota, where Marion started school, before the family made their final move to Seattle, Washington. When Marion was ten years old, she became the big sister to the “Best Brother...

Dr. Ruth Peles Rubinstein
Dec 27, 2019
Dr Ruth Peles Rubinstein passed away at age ~90 from complications of Alzheimer’s disease on 12/27/19. She is survived by her children, Jon (Vero Beach, FL), Jay (Seattle, WA) and Sari (New York, NY) Rubinstein, grandchildren, Luca (Reno, NV) and David (Seattle, WA) Rubinstein and Clementine Thomas (New York, NY), as well as her sisters Miri Kesten (New York,...
Sunako (Sunkie) Oye
Dec 23, 2019
5/25/23 – 12/23/19
Sunako (Sunkie) Oye, 96, passed away on Dec. 23, 2019 in Seattle, WA. She lived a very full and active life. She was born in Salinas, CA, the third child and only daughter of five children. Due to the US government’s war policy during WWII, she, along with her family, were relocated to an internment camp...
Elizabeth “Betty” Irene Potter (Nee Edwards)
Dec 18, 2019
Birth: December 5, 1924
Death: December 18, 2019
Betty passed away peacefully in her sleep in the early morning of December 18, 2019. Preceded in death by her parents, Kathryn (Keenan) and Chelcie Edwards, and her brother, John Edwards. Born December 5, 1924 in Chicago, Illinois. Survived by her husband of 70 years, Bill and...