Sylvia Baker Alexander
March 23, 1915 to February 16, 2013
We celebrate the life of Sylvia
Baker Alexander, who passed on February 16. Sylvia was born in Skagway, Alaska on March 23, 1915 to Fannie and Elihu Adelbert Baker, who was a brakeman on the White Pass Railway. On September 1, 1939, Sylvia married Ken Alexander, who shared her love for Alaska. For the next 68 years, Ken's career with Pan American Airlines and their retirement travel took them around the world several times. In addition to a three year assignment in Thailand, their passports show stamps from: Kenya; Japan; France; England; Italy; Belgium, Switzerland, Australia; Peru, Colombia; Trinidad; Barbados; Pakistan; and Lebanon.
Sylvia and Ken were active members of the Alaska Yukon Pioneers, the Sequim Senior Center, and the Elks.
Sylvia was a devout Catholic and a member of St. Joseph's in Sequim where Ken and Sylvia retired, and attended Sacred Heart in Bellingham where she lived for the past five years. Sylvia was especially proud of her late brother Harley Baker, who was the first Alaska-born Catholic priest.
Sylvia is survived by nieces DeAnn Karlson, Ketchikan, Alaska; Debbi (Dan) Lawrence, Phoenix, Arizona; and by nephews Rodger (Barbara) Alexander, Bellingham; and Ross Graham, Seattle; as well as several great nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her husband in 2007, her parents, brothers Harley and Ben Baker, and cousin Howard Baker.
The family thanks the caring staffs at Highgate Senior Living, Orchard Park Assisted Living, and Whatcom Hospice in Bellingham for their dedication to enriching the senior years.   



Rita Johnson
A funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, 121 E. Maple St., Sequim, for Sequim resident Rita Johnson, who died Feb. 17, 2013, at the age of 96.
She was born April 30, 1916, in Minneapolis, Minn.
She married Jennings Johnson in 1940 in Minneapolis, Minn. The couple lived in Duluth, moving to Sequim in 1981.
She was preceded in death by her husband in 2000.
She is survived by a daughter, Mary Erickson, of Covington; son and daughter-in-law J. Frank and Sue Johnson, of Swanton, Ohio; son Millard Johnson, of Montrose, Colo.; two grandchildren and one great-grandchild.


William Spencer Stenerson Craven
There will be an open house Saturday, March 2, at Sequim Community Church, 950 N. Fifth Ave., Sequim, for Sequim resident William Spencer Stenerson Craven, who died Feb. 15, 2013, at the age of 71.
He was born April 20, 1935, in Bonner Ferry, Idaho, to Patrick and June Stenerson.
He lived on a Washington dairy farm and an Idaho stock ranch until attending college at Multnomah School of the Bible, the University of Idaho, New Mexico State University, University of California-Los Angeles and the University of Michigan.
He married Erna Siemens in 1961. The couple lived in New Mexico, California, Michigan and Washington.
He retired to Sequim in 2001.

He is survived by his wife, Erna, of Sequim; daughter and son-in-law Michele and Andy Nicholas, of Bellevue; daughters Lisa Craven, of Lansing, Mich., and Lois Craven, of Grand Rapids, Mich.; and two grandchildren.

 

Thelma “Tim” (Bingham) Wheeler Hirst
passed away February 14, 2013.

Thelma was born in Mount Union, PA December 13, 1919 to John D. and Anna Faye (Kelly) Bingham. After graduation from high school in 1938, she completed business school in Washington, DC and was employed in the payroll department of the Washington Gas Company. She and Lt. Gervin Wheeler married in 1942, and after WWII settled in Kennewick, WA. Mr. Wheeler passed away in 1956. In 1968, Tim married Gordon Hirst and lived in Richland until 1980 when they retired in Yakima. In 2005, after Mr. Hirst’s death, she moved to Sequim.

She enjoyed knitting and crocheting for the RSVP Project Warm Up, and Stitches from the Heart senior volunteer programs in Yakima and Sequim, and was honored for her years of significant service.

She is survived by her children, Dona (Wheeler) McLean, Trudy (Wheeler) Simonson, Dennis G. Wheeler, and Jodi (Wheeler) Walker, nine grandchildren, and eight great grandchildren.

At her request there will be no service.

 

Winona Dean
(Livingston) Breithaupt
August 27, 1922 – February 13, 2013

Winona was born at home near Iberia, Mo., to Wesley and Mildred (Waite) Livingston on August 27, 1922. She passed away at her home near Forks on February 13, 2013. She married Richard Breithaupt, the love of her life, on November 22, 1941 in Port Angeles. He preceded her in death in 2011, shortly before their 70th wedding anniversary.
No longer able to make a living on the home farm in Missouri, Winona’s family moved west to Moclips, Wa., when she was eleven. Between her sophomore and junior school years, the family moved to Sequim where her dad built a house on River Road. She graduated from Sequim High School in 1941.
Richard, Winona and their first five children lived in various places in Sequim before moving to the “West End” in 1954, where three more children joined the family. They remained on the home place the rest of their lives.
Winona was raised going to church, had a spiritual hunger to know God personally, but little emphasis was placed on teaching children about following Jesus. She was saved in Moclips during a school English class when the Easter Story was read and she suddenly realized that she believed Jesus was God the Son, that He had died and risen again for her sins, and that all she had to do was believe and accept that He’d done this for her. She read and studied her Bible until she knew it well and was a source of truth and wisdom for family and friends. She served with Richard many years at the Sunday School at Lake Pleasant, supported missionaries, was a member of Joyce Bible Church, and served her husband and family faithfully.
In addition to her husband Richard, Winona was preceded in death by siblings Earl, Karl and John Livingston, and daughter-in-law Bobbi Breithaupt. She is survived by Rachel (Jack DuMars), Richard, Jr. (Donna), Dan (Mari), Charles (Janice), Jennifer (Dan Lynn), Philip (Dee), June, and Stephen; 25 grandchildren and 45 great grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to The Gideons International, a mission or missionary of choice, or Volunteer Hospice of Clallam County, 540 East Eighth Street, Port Angeles, WA 98362.

 

Edith Marie Sadler
Sequim resident Edith Marie Sadler passed away quietly in her home on February 13, 2013 due to complications from strokes. Edith was a former elementary school teacher teaching primarily second grade students in Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada. Edith was born to Lenta Trone and Hi Glover at the ranch house in Bayfield, Colorado, the youngest of seven children.
She married Leslie Holland in May of 1944, divorced in 1961. She then met and married William Sadler in September 1963 at Montrose, Colorado. The couple retired to Sequim in 1985.
Edith’s husband, William, passed in 2005. Edith had no children of her own, but is survived by numerous nieces and nephews. No memorial services will be held per Edith’s request. Any memorial contributions may be made to Soroptimist International of Sequim, PO Box 126, Sequim, WA 98382.

 

Melvin S. Kupferschmid
Former resident, Melvin S. Kupferschmid, passed away at age 84 of complications from Alzheimer's and. lung cancer.
Mel was born in Oakville, Iowa, on April 4, 1928, to Samuel, a sharecropper, and Lydia (Viellieber) Kupferschmid. Mel was the youngest of 7 children and the last survivor. A sister-in-law, Virginia Kupferschmid, Mediapolis, Iowa, is the last survivor by marriage.
Educational degrees eamed by Mr. Kupferschmid were a B.A. Degree from Iowa State Teachers College (now UNI), an M.A. From Western Illinois University with a major in school administration, and a post-masters degree from Drake University as a Specialist in School Administration.
Mel's professional career began as a teacher and coach which was then interrupted by a draft during the Korean. War. Most ofhis military time was spent at Ft. Benning, Georgia, working as a court reporter in the legal department ofthe Combat Training Command.
After serving 2 years in the military, Mel applied for a teaching job at Fayette, Iowa, for the positions of girls' basketball coach and also coach of boys' basketball and football. He coached at that school for two years.
Next came an application for the position of principal at Maynard, Iowa, West Central School District, followed by the superintendence of that school district.
In 1960 he retired from his educational career to pursue a career as an investment broker. Financial markets had been a long time interest to him since his early college years. After entering the brokerage business in 1960 as an A.C. Allyn representative in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1961 he transferred to Waterloo, Iowa. After the transfer, he remained in the same office for 34 years even when the brokerage firm went through a number of name changes such as Francis I. DuPont and DuPont Glore Forgan~ with the female officer name of A. G. Edwards.
Most Iowans, however, remember Mr. Kupferschmid as a championship girl's basketball coach.
Over his 28-year coaching career, Mel's teams won 551 games and lost 125 games. This was an 81.5% winning record. His teams played in 13 state tournaments.
Even more spectacular was the fact that his teams, both 6 on 6 and 5 on 5 girls, won 3 state championships, finished 2nd three times, and won the consolation third place game 3 times. More amazing was the fact that the 6 on 6 games were in one class statewide competition much like in the movie HOOSIERS.
He was the first coach in Iowa to win state tournaments under the original two-court 6 player games, and the later five on five player game currently used.
During one 4 year period, 1956-1959, his Maynard, Iowa, teams played in the championship game, winning in 1956 and in 1958 and becoming a runner-up in 1957. His 1959 team had won 58 consecutive games before losing in that championship game.
Mr. Kupferschmid started a girls' softball team at Maynard in 1956, and his team participated in 4-team state championship tournaments on 3 occasions, winning the girls' softball state title in 1958. This marked the end of his softball coaching career.
Mr. Kupferschmid retired from coaching for 16 years before being asked to become the coach ofthe Waterloo Columbus High School girls' basketball team for another 20 years, at the same time continuing in the brokerage business.
At Columbus, the team went to the state tournament 8 of 9 years from 1982-1990, finally culminating in a 25-0 season with a 1990 state championship.
Mel's great satisfaction was having some 20 players go on to play college basketball, with several becoming coaches.
Mr. Kupferschmid retired to Sequim, Washington, and continued his interest in 3 areas - sports, financial markets, and gardening.
Mel always had the perfect combination of jobs - working with stock market customers during the day, and then practicing with his teams in the late afternoons or coaching in the evenings.
Mel Kupferschmid and his girls' basketball teams are mentioned in 3 girls' basketball books: ONLY IN IOWA: Where the high school girl athlete is queen, Jim Enright; THE ONLY DANCE IN IOWA, Max McElwain; and FROM SlX ON SIX TO FULL COURT PRESS, Janice A. Beran - all available from Amazon.
Mel married Grace Ann Gaffey on May 26, 1956, in Waterloo, Iowa. They were married for 57 years. Survivors include his wife and children: Andrea (Scott) Baker, Lexington, South Carolina; Lynn Angermeier, Simpsonville, South Carolina; John, Bridgeport, CT; and Carolyn Kupferschmid, Burlington, Kentucky. All children earned college degrees and some, advanced degrees. 3 grandchildren survive: Peter (Rebecca) Ralston, Ames, Iowa; and Samantha Angermeier, and Clayton Angermeier, both of Clemson, South Carolina.
A great-granddaughter, Grace Ann, was born on September 11, 2011, to Peter and Rebecca Ralston.
There were no services. Expressions of sympathy for the Kupferschmid family may be left online at www.southcarolinacremation.com