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Boydston, Lola Friday, 11 Feb 2005
Longtime Bainbridge Island resident Lola Boydston died peacefully Feb. 11 at Harrison Hospital in Bremerton, surrounded by her family. She was 83.
Born Feb. 18, 1921, to parents Alvin and Ovina Burk near Fertile, Minn., she grew up and attended school there with her younger brother Vern.
In 1941, she married
Harold S. Helm, from nearby Angus, Minn. Married life soon resulted in the birth of son, Douglas, but was interrupted by the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7 of that year.
Harold joined the U.S. Army and served for the next four years as a combat infantryman in the South Pacific.
Like many other Midwesterners, she and her parents traveled west to contribute to the war effort by working in the shipyards and war factories. They settled on Bainbridge Island in 1942.
Taking only one break for the birth of her second son, Larry, she was the personification of the fabled “Rosie the Riveter, ” working long hours, mostly seven-day weeks, as a welder at Hall Brothers shipyards in Winslow until the war ended and her husband safely returned home.
After the war, the family returned to farming near Barnesville, Minn., but after a few years the Bainbridge lifestyle called them back.
In 1948, after the birth of her third son, Stephen, Lola returned to her welding career, this time at the Bremerton Naval Shipyard, where she worked for 15 years until injuries sustained in an automobile accident prevented her from continuing.
Her life during the turbulent late ‘60s was unsettled and her marriage to Harold ended in divorce. In 1976, she married
Keith Bies, an executive with Union Pacific Railroad. They resided in Driftwood Keys, Wash., but their marriage ended with his illness and death in 1981.
After a few years as a widow, she was reacquainted with old friend Bruce Boydston, longtime Winslow businessman and island resident who also had been widowed following a long marriage.
Their friendship eventually blossomed into a 14-year marriage. Lola and Bruce lived near Poulsbo and enjoyed their time together traveling to see their children and grandchildren, hanging out with friends at the Sons of Norway and enjoying the lutefisk feasts at First Lutheran Church.
Bruce Boydston died in March, 1997 and just a few months later, Lola suffered a major debilitating stroke. With her severe physical limitations, she resided at the Island Health and Rehabilitation Center in Winslow, but made sure she never missed Sunday services at Port Madison Lutheran Church.
She is survived by her three sons, Douglas H. Helm of San Mateo, Calif., Larry A. Helm of Bainbridge Island, and Stephen L. Helm of Bellevue and four grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Feb. 17 at Port Madison Lutheran Church.
She will be interred with her late husband, Bruce Boydston, at Kane cemetery, Port Madison, where her parents, her first husband, Harold, and his parents are also interred. Her three sons spend much of their childhoods tending to Kane cemetery as part of their community service responsibilities as members of the island chapter of DeMolay.
Arrangements are under the direction of Kass Funeral Home.
Gilmore, Edna “Edi” Nygard Horton Sunday, 06 Feb 2005
Longtime Bainbridge Island resident Edna “Edi” Nygard Horton Gilmore, age 83, died Feb. 6 at Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle.
She was born Sept. 13, 1921, on Bainbridge Island to Ekoff and Charlotte (Petersen) Nygard.
She was married
to Byron Horton for 25 years. She later married
a high school classmate, Bill Gilmore.
She was involved with music throughout her life. For 35 years, she played in the “Intensely Vigorous Revolutionary Dixieland Jazz Band” during the annual Fourth of July Parade. She also composed and, with her son, John, played a Jazz Mass at St. Michaels Episcopal Church in Portland during Pentecost.
She participated in the Bainbridge-Row-Across-The-Sound with her daughter, Lisa, and best friend Betty Laes. They were last to finish but proud of their accomplishment. She was a stained-glass artist, musician, dancer and lover of life.
She is survived by her daughter, Lisa Horton of Seattle, and son John Horton of Bainbridge Island.
No services will be held. Remembrances can be made to the Bainbridge Island Fire Department.
Arrangements are under the direction of Kass Funeral Home.
Kline, Lambert B. Thursday, 03 Feb 2005
Lambert B. Kline, age 81, died Feb. 3 at his home on Bainbridge Island.
He was involved in commercial aviation from the 1940s, and retired from United Airlines in the 1980s. He then left his long-time home of San Jose, Calif., to move to Washington.
He was a lover of all animals, never forgetting his farming roots. He and his collie Pete were well known around Bainbridge Island, often taking walks around Winslow and visiting downtown stores and shops, where Pete was given treats.
He is survived by sons Randy, Steve and Paul.
Cremation is planned, with his ashes to be scattered by airplane over Allyn, Wash.
Arrangements are by Kass Funeral Home.
Knutsen, Betty Tuesday, 08 Feb 2005
Former Bainbridge Island resident Betty Knutsen, 73, of Port Ludlow, died Feb. 8.
She was born April 17, 1931, in Seattle, to Jack and Evelyn (Gundersen) Stotler.
She married
Henry Knutsen on June 17, 1955. She enjoyed painting, gardening, quilting and swimming.
She is survived by her husband, Henry, and son Tom, both of Port Ludlow; daughters Susanna (Mark) Baker of Ferndale, Calif., and Evelyn (Bob) Eveleth of Portland, Ore.; brother John (Kelly) Stotler and sister Nancy (Bill) Keller, of California; and two grandchildren.
Services will be at 1 p.m. Feb. 16 at the Beach Club in Port Ludlow. Arrangements are by the Stone Chapel, Poulsbo.
Hamro, Frances C. E. Wednesday, 02 Feb 2005
Former Bainbridge Island resident Frances C. E. Hamro of Poulsbo died Feb. 2. She was 98.
She was born to Frederick W. and Johanna C. (Albrecht) Gehm in DeSmet, S.D. on March 16, 1906.
She graduated from DeSmet High School in DeSmet, S.D. in 1925 and from Northern State Teachers’ College in Aberdeen, S.D. in 1927 and earned a teaching certificate that same year.
She married
Alfred Lee Hamro on June 6, 1932 in Bancroft, S.D.
She taught for six years in rural South Dakota. She moved to Seattle in 1936 and then to Bainbridge Island in 1938, where she lived for 58 years before moving to Poulsbo in 1996.
She taught in Suquamish, Poulsbo and on Bainbridge Island for Kitsap County School District No. 303.
She enjoyed handwork, Bible study, homemaking and spending time with her family.
She is survived by her son Alfred Wayne (Marie) Hamro of Bellingham; daughter LaVonne (Melvin) Harless of Poulsbo; five grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband Alfred Lee Hamro, three brothers, six sisters and an infant grandson.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Feb. 12 at Liberty Bay Presbyterian Church, 18560 State Route 305, Poulsbo. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of the Stone Chapel at Cherry Grove Memorial Park.
Memorial donations can be sent to Gideon’s International, Poulsbo Camp U 46124 P.O. Box 909, Poulsbo, WA 98370.
Branyord, Michael R. Tuesday, 04 Jan 2005
Former Poulsbo resident Michael Roy Branyord died Jan. 4 in Las Vegas, Nev. He was 44.
He was born to Gordon and Catherine S. (Doyle) Branyord in Seattle on Dec. 30, 1960.
He was raised in Poulsbo, attended Poulsbo Elementary and graduated from North Kitsap High School in 1979.
He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1979 and served for six years.
He worked for 14 years at Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church in Bremerton and then spent the past two years working in construction in Texas.
He is survived by his wife Loretta of Houston, Texas; son Steven of Lucasville, Ohio; brothers Randy of Poulsbo and foster brother Robert Wininger of Tacoma; sisters Elisabeth Amyx of Meridian, Idaho, Rita (Dan) Niessen of San Jose, Calif., Lisa (Kary Heuer) of Belfair, Marie Gage of Port Orchard, Theresa (Brad Martinson) of Spirit Lake, Idaho; and parents Catherine S. (Ted) Wright of Port Orchard.
He was preceded in death by his father Gordon Branyord and his grandparents.
A rosary gathering will take place at 10:30 a.m. Feb. 8 at Our Lady Star Of The Sea in Bremerton. A funeral and reception will follow at 11 a.m.
Inurnment will be at Mountain View cemetery in Poulsbo, following the reception.
Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Garden Memorial in Las Vegas, Nev. For more information, call (702) 455-3210. Memorial donations can be sent to the Lupus Foundation of America, 17962 Midvale Ave. N, Shoreline, WA 98133.
Gelman, Anna Cheskis Thursday, 03 Feb 2005
Anna Cheskis “Anchik” Gelman, 93, of Bainbridge Island, died Feb. 3 at Fir Acres Home.
She was born Aug. 30, 1911, in Boston, Mass., the only child of Bessie and Theodore Cheskis.
She was raised in the same house as her three cousins, Ben, Debby and Pearl Rubenstein. Her mother stayed home and looked after the children, while the other three adults went off to work.
She lived in Boston until she was about 10, then she and her parents moved to New York City. She went to Hunter College for her bachelor’s degree and to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a master’s degree in public health.
She had a short marriage to an artist named Fedya Kling that ended in divorce.
Her parents had been born in Russia, and in 1934 went back to the Soviet Union to support the revolution, and Anna went with them. They lived with two other families in a two-room apartment.
While in the Soviet Union, she worked for Herman J. Mueller, M.D., who was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1946 for work on hereditary effects of X-rays on genes.
In 1938 she was warned to get her mother and herself out of the Soviet Union. She also tried to get her father out, but he had never earned American citizenship so he could not emigrate once more.
Her father and her boyfriend, Tommy Sgovio, were arrested shortly after she and her mother left. Her father was killed and Sgovio spent 15 years in Siberia before being allowed to return to the United States.
Anna returned to the U.S. in 1938 and eventually moved back to New York, where she met and married
Murray Gelman and became a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.She spent 40 years there.
She enjoyed walks on beaches and collecting things, and she and her husband enjoyed going to garage sales. They owned thousands of books.
They traveled, but also had a summer house in Milford, Penn., until the government exercised eminent domain and bought it from them. Then they started going to a Yiddish/Socialist summer camp and ran the Workman’s Circle, called Circle Lodge, where she endowed a swimming pool and senior center.
She endowed a professorship at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and gave the school $1.5 million dollars for a laboratory.
She came to live on Bainbridge in February 2004.
She is survived by cousins Debby (David and Rory) O’Sullivan of Bainbridge Island, Boris Czeskis of Carmel, Ind., Ann Cherlow of Arlington, Va., Woody Lichtenstein of Belmont, Mass., and Karel Wolfson of Chicago, Ill., and the large Cheskis family spread around the United States.
A memorial service will be held in the spring in New York City.
Runchey, Oliver ‘Sonny’ Friday, 04 Feb 2005
Former Bainbridge Island resident Oliver A. “Sonny” Runchey, Jr., age 82, died Feb. 4 at Martha and Mary Care Center in Poulsbo.
He was born Oct. 29, 1922, on Bainbridge Island, and graduated from Bainbridge Island High School and the University of Washington. He served on a bomber in the European Theater during World War II.
Following his service years, he worked in the family business, Electracraft, which was the premier hi-fi and television store of its time. He later was a consultant to the original Magnolia Hi-Fi.
He also captained his own commercial salmon boat, “Lois D, ” off the coast of Washington. His most recent work was as an electrician.
He enjoyed racing sailboats, and still holds records at the Port Madison Yacht Club.
He is survived by Peter of Arlington; daughter Marianne Bettys of Everett; three sisters, Barbara Lavery, Edmonds, Betty Hall, Bainbridge Island, and Peg Treanor, Bainbridge Island; and three grandchildren, including Kerry Slater and her husband Tim Slater, Poulsbo.
At his request, no services will be held.
Arrangements are under the direction of Kass Funeral Home, Bainbridge Island.
Gerien, Patricia Ilanda Sunday, 16 Jan 2005
Patricia Ilanda Gerien of Bainbridge Island died Jan. 16 at 91 years of age.
During her youth, she and her five sisters performed in Vaudeville. Later, she was a millinery designer for Harry Camp Millinery and buyer for the Broadway department stores in Southern California for 38 years.
She retired to Palm Springs for 13 years; volunteering and helping family and friends were her primary interest.
She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Gael and Bob Shipstad of Orcas Island; her granddaughter and great-grandson, Kristen and Luke Shipstad of Bainbridge; grandsons Shawn Shipstad of Minnesota, Patrick and Brian Shipstad of Southern California; and her sister, Palma Arendt of Seattle.
Donations can be made to Washington State Chapter, American Parkinson Disease Association P.O. Box 75169 Seattle WA 98725-0169. Arrangements are by Kass Funeral Home.
