Our dad joined the love of his life in whatever comes next after failing health and after dementia stole him away first. He passed mid-day April 30, 2026.
He was the giver of inappropriate nicknames, the sayer of nonsensical greetings, an awkward flirt, and the hardest-working man that you will ever meet.
He leaves behind his two sons, their wives/his “daughters” ; his granddaughter and husband and their child; Grandson and wife and their children. He was beyond proud to welcome his great-grandson and namesake in 2016.
He also leaves behind his brother and sister and many, many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his parents, a newborn son, nieces, two sisters and one brother and many siblings-in-law and their spouses.
He was born and grew up in NW WA. After the fourth grade; knowing he wasn’t wired for school, he quit and began to work odd jobs to help his family. As legend has it, he began to drive truck hauling hay and was driving hay truck over the pass at fifteen years old. He said that he took that particular hay truck to his driver’s license test and that there was no driving test. Because when they asked what he drove to the appointment, he pointed at the hay truck and they told him he didn’t need to complete the test, obviously.
He married Mom on December 21st 1957 at the Knox Community Church. They celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary in December 2022, quietly with visits and calls from family and friends. Mom passed shortly after their 66th anniversary. They were inseparable and he gladly spent his retirement caring for her.
They bought their first house when the boys were small. Later, they spent two years east of the mountains then returned home. They lived in the Moody House for years with Aunt & Uncle then sold it after Uncle’s death and retired to the Family Compound in 2005. They purchased their little dream house to sit between the boys properties, completing the compound.
Upon moving with the family, he became the caretaker of the entire compound: mowing, building, fixing, helping in any way that he could; even when we didn’t want him to. There is not an inch of the compound that he hadn’t worked on. He was happy and proud to be living with his sons and would tell everyone when he got the chance.
He was a career truck driver, hauling everything from hay to equipment to gravel. He achieved One Million Miles Driven while working at (redacted) Trucking. He was awarded Best Driver at (redacted) for making the most runs driving dump truck. There’s not a vehicle he couldn’t drive and that love took him on many adventures. When asked, he thought he’d been in all of the 48 states behind the wheel of a truck. There wasn’t a harder worker than Dad and all it often took was to say “I don’t think you can…” and he would.
He was a jack of all trades and a master at few. He could work on cars, build just about anything, make a garden, work with wiring and electricity, buck hay or truck tires, work on semi trucks and help his sons with their racecars.
His proudest moments were hauling each of his son’s racecars down to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and watching them race their cars. He spent those two weekends telling anyone who would listen how his sons were racing that weekend, all about their cars, and how proud he was of them.
There were few things he loved more than a project. He would often ponder an idea then say “I was thinking…” which meant something was about to be built, repaired, or improved. Every family member probably has something that he has built; a deck or a bread box or cabinet or a whole shop.
He sold his one and only boat to buy Kevin a car when he was a teenager. He built toy guns out of plywood for his boys when he and Mom couldn’t afford to buy them for Christmas. He gave money he didn’t have to those who needed it. He brought the girls in his life flowers for their birthdays, anniversaries, and Mother’s Days.
One of the last coherent things he said to us was “Is there anything I can do for you?”
He will be terribly missed. We know that he is with Mom again and probably telling stories and fishing.
A memorial gathering will be held at a later date. He will be interred with Mom, near their newborn son, his parents and hers. In honor of his life, go fishing, work in the yard, or build something in his memory.
We would like to thank the social worker at Life Care Center-Mt Vernon for her tireless work and taking care of him like he was her dad; the Advocate from DSHS, and Hospice for caring for him in his last days.
