John Eilman

John Eilman, at the age of ninety-three, died at home on Monday, March 14, 2011, in Sequim, where he had lived for thirty years.
John was born to Arnold and Anna Eilman in Detroit, Michigan on February 20, 1918.  His family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1920 where he lived and worked until his retirement.  In 1946 John married Jean Cerletty, his wife of sixty-four and a half years.
Mr. Eilman enlisted in the Army in 1943 and was assigned to the European Theatre of Operations.  Serving in the 354th Company of the Army Corp of Engineers, John took part in the Omaha Beach Landing, which was the beginning of the Allied Invasion of Europe in World War II.
Honorably discharged in 1945, John trained as an ironworker and walked the high-rise buildings in East Chicago, throwing and catching the hot rivets used in steel construction.
John was a lifetime member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, a member of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, and a charter member of SARC.
John is survived by his wife, Jean; son, Richard and fiancée Marie Rosemund; grandsons, Justin and Patrick Eilman and eighteen nephews and nieces whose lives he enriched.  A daughter, Susan Ann, preceded him in death in 1965.
Margie Finger, one of his nieces from Milwaukee, spent several weeks with John and his family providing appreciated support and care during his illness, as did the staff of Volunteer Hospice of Clallam County, 540 E. 8th St. Port Angeles, WA 98362, where memorial donations may be sent in John’s honor.
Burial will be at St. Catherine’s Catholic Cemetery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  A memorial service will be held at St Joseph’s Catholic Church, 121 E Maple St., Sequim, WA at 11:00AM on Saturday, March 26th.
John will be remembered by family and friends for his quick wit, sense of humor, his generosity, as well as his delicious baking projects.  John would also like it to be noted that after 4,326 card games of “Spite and Malice” with his wife, Jean, he was “three up” on her when he left early Monday morning.

 

Gordon ‘Mickey’ Stoddard

A service will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, March 24, at Faith Baptist Church, 7652 Old Olympic Highway, Sequim, for Port Angeles resident Gordon “Mickey” Stoddard. The Rev. Lonnie Jacobson officiates.
A reception follows in the fellowship hall.
Mr. Stoddard died March 13, 2011, at the age of 37.
He was born May 17, 1973, in Tucson, Ariz., to Richard and Sandra Snodgrass Stoddard.
He was an accountant and painter and worked in landscaping. He was working for the Eagle Men’s Club in Port Angeles. He was a former resident of Portland and Tillamook, Ore.
He is survived by his mother Sandra Stoddard of Sequim; sister Cheryl Stoddard Leo of Tucson; brother-in-law Nickolaus Leo of Tucson; many uncles and aunts and three nephews.

 

 

Carl Tormala
A memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. Thursday, March 24, at Sequim Bible Church, 847 N. Sequim Ave., for Carl Tormala.
A fellowship time directly follows the service.

 

 

Diana Lynn Jay
A celebration of life will be held for former Sequim resident Diana Lynn Jay at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 26, at the Rock of Ages Lutheran Brethren Church, 316 N. 70th St., Seattle. The Rev. Stan Olsen will officiate.  
She died March 15, 2011, at the age of 61.
She was born June 8, 1949, in Ottumwa, Iowa, to Darryl and Christine Boughman Short.
A full obituary will appear in an upcoming edition.
Stevens Funeral Chapel, Othello, was in charge of arrangements.

 

 

William J. Rowland
A celebration of life will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 27, at The Cedars at Dungeness, 1965 Woodcock Road, Sequim, for Sequim resident William J. Rowland.
Mr. Rowland died March 18, 2011, at the age of 72.
He was born Oct. 15, 1938, in Port Angeles.
A complete obituary will be published in an upcoming edition.  
Drennan & Ford Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.     

 

 

Richard Vanderburgh Thurrott
A celebration of life will be held at 1 p.m. April 8, 2011, at
Sequim Community Church, 950 N. Fifth Ave., for Sequim resident Richard Vanderburgh Thurrott.
Mr. Thurrott died March 8, 2011, at the age of 89.
He was born May 29, 1921, in Wallingford, Conn., to George Angus and Sally Vanderburgh Thurrott.
He served in the United States Army during World War II as a military policeman.
He achieved the rank of staff sergeant and was stationed in Italy.
He worked at Lyman Gunsight and Pratt & Whitney in Hartford, Conn., after his discharge in 1945, before moving to Clearwater, Fla.
He married Edna Rebecca Blanchard on Oct. 25, 1942, in Thomson, Ga.
An aerospace machinist, he owned and ran a drug/sundry store for two years with his wife. He worked at Lockheed Co. while living in Decatur, Ga., and the Boeing Airplane Co. for 22 years in Seattle.
He is survived by his wife, Edna Thurrott of Port Townsend; son Richard Thurrott II of Bainbridge Island; daughters Frankie Elder of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, and Trudy Kephart of Everett; seven grandchildren; and one great-grandson.

 

 

Catherine Armacost
A celebration of life will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 9, 2011, at Sequim Community Church, 950 N. Fifth Ave., for Sequim resident Catherine Armacost.
A reception follows the service.
Mrs. Armacost died March 6, 2011, at the age of 65 from complications of a long illness.
She was born Jan. 27, 1946, in Seattle to Robert Arthur and Frances Lillian Hight Nelson. She married William Armacost on April 5, 1984, in Sequim.
She was co-owner of Changes Salon and
@Home Appeal, a design and staging business.
She is survived by her husband, William Armacost; sons and daughter-in-law Jeff and Ann Granlee of Poulsbo and Will Armacost of Port Angeles; daughter and son-in-law Judy Granlee-Gates and Joe Gates of Poulsbo; brother Rob Nelson of Sequim; sisters and brothers-in-law Judy and Roy Lidstrom of San Diego, Calif. and Susan and Dick Murakami of Bellevue; two grandchildren, and seven nephews and nieces.
In lieu of flowers, her family requests registration as an organ donor.

 

 

Dr. C. Robert ‘Bob’ Starks Jr.
A memorial service was held for Sequim resident Dr. C. Robert “Bob” Starks Jr., who died March 16, 2011, at the age of 83.
He was born Dec. 21, 1927, in Denver, Colo., to Jeanette Bowles Starks and Charles Robert Starks Sr.
He married Patsy Hall in August 1950. They divorced in 1972. He remarried and his wife, Ellen Clayton, died in 2004.
He served briefly in the U.S. Army. He graduated from the University of Colorado with a bachelor’s degree, then enrolled in the Kirksville College of Osteopathy and Surgery in Kirksville, Mo.
As a youth, he was an Eagle Scout. Later he was active in Denver Kiwanis, the Masons and the Shriners.
He is survived by his son and daughter-in-law Robert Rex and Jodi Starks of Lupton, Colo.; daughters and sons-in-law Nancy and Michael Plute of Rochester, Minn.; and Julie Starks and John Martiss of Lupton, Colo.; and three grandchildren.
Sequim Valley Funeral Chapel was in charge of arrangements.

 

 

Jesse Gordon Burdick, M.D.
No service was reported for Sequim resident Jesse Gordon Burdick, who died March 15, 2011, at the age of 93.
He was born Aug. 6, 1917, in San Fernando, Calif., to Jesse G. and Marye B. Wagner Burdick.
He lived in North Carolina and Tennessee as a child, then attended Pacific Union College. He earned his medical physician’s degree in 1941 from Loma Linda University in California and served his internship at Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga, Tenn. While in medical school, he married Aural Mathiesen, a registered nurse at Loma Linda.
After a year as a health officer in Tennessee, Dr. Burdick practiced family medicine in Allegan County, Mich., for eight years. In 1950, he accepted the position of medical director for Ethyl Corporation, first in Baton Rouge, La., then in Houston, Texas. Retiring in 1979, he continued as a part-time consultant for Ethyl Corp. for several years, traveling around the world giving seminars on toxicology on every continent except Antarctica.
He was a member of the American Medical Association, the Occupational Medicine Association and the American College of Environmental and Occupational Health, and one of three medical directors who established the Texas Industrial Medical Association.
He served 16 years on the school board in La Porte, Texas, was a founder of San Jacinto College in Pasadena, Texas; and established three Unitarian fellowships in Baton Rouge and the Houston areas.
Since retirement, the Burdicks made their home in Marble Falls, Texas; Sonora, Calif., and Issaquah before they moved to Sequim in 2006.
He is survived by his wife, Aural Burdick; sons Dwight Burdick and Bruce Burdick; daughter Penny Burdick, M.D.; 11 grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandchild.
Memorial contributions may be sent to Volunteer Hospice of Clallam County, 540 E. Eighth St., Port Angeles, WA 98362.  

 

 

Emma Dougherty
No service was reported for Sequim resident Emma Dougherty, who died March 12, 2011, at the age of 89.
She was born Jan. 26, 1922, in Grand, Texas, to Earl and Ruth Robertson Brashears.
She married J.W. “Bud” Dougherty on March 7, 1947, in Bellevue. They moved to Sequim in 1968.
She is survived by her daughters Debbie Dosey and Karen Brockmeier of Sequim; brother Wayne Brashears of Las Vegas, Nev.; sister Geraldine Wright of Kent; five grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband J.W. “Bud” Dougherty.

 

 

Daniel L. Pearson
No service was reported for Sequim resident Daniel L. Pearson, who died March 17, 2011, at the age of 64 of cancer.
He was born April 2, 1946.

Drennan Ford Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.

 

Robert “Bob” Clayton Becker

Robert “Bob” Clayton Becker’s journey on earth ended Friday, March 11, 2011 at 9:15pm while he was sleeping; his family had been by his side all day. Bob was born in Port Townsend, on May 2, 1925 to Ethel Amelia and Edwin Arthur Becker Sr. In the late 1920’s the Becker family moved to the Dungeness area, later moving to Towne Road where the descendants of the Becker family continue to live. As a young man Bob worked on the farm with his father where he put in hay and worked a large garden that fed the entire family. He cut firewood with a cross cut saw to earn money to take his girlfriend Edith Sprague to the movies on either Wednesday or Thursday nights, it cost 21¢ a piece to get into the theater at that time. In 1943 Bob and Edith married. Two weeks later Bob was called upon by the Army to serve his country. While there he earned a medal for “marksmanship”. After he returned to Edith in 1944 they started their family and had four children; Mark, Tom, Neila, and Jeff. Bob always loved to fish; he would fish by himself, with friends and with his kids. Bob built many houses from Sequim to Lake Crescent over the years always making every detail count but allowing for changes to be made along the way. Bob worked as a paving truck and road sander driver for the Sequim County Barn sometimes going as far as Walker Mountain. He also worked at Fiberboard until it shut down and then for PenPly until it was sold.

He ended his career at Nestlé’s Carnation in Moses Lake, WA. When he retired he went into metal salvage for the next 20 years; no matter what it was he would recycle it! Bob was an Elder of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and a Life Member of the Naval Elks Lodge #353 in Port Angeles. He was preceded in death by his mother, father and his brothers; Joel, Archie & Matthew Ellis, and Edwin Becker Jr. He is survived by his wife of 67 years Edith, his sister Helen Jarvis, his brother Charles Becker, all four of his children, 10 grandchildren, several great-grandchildren and a few great great-grand children. The family wishes to thank Dr. Larri Ann Mishko of the Jamestown Medical Clinic for her loving care of our father and Hospice RN Betty Woods who cared for him with love, dignity and respect. Her presence was a comfort and blessing to the entire family. There will be a Celebration of Bob’s Life on May 7th. In lieu of flowers please make donations to the Volunteer Hospice of Clallam County at 540 East 8th Street, Port Angeles, WA. 98362-6222 for the wonderful service they provided to Bob in his last few months of life.