IN MEMORY

Elaine was born a twin with her brother, Larry, in Great Falls, Montana, April 23 in 1943 to Dorothy Eleanor (Dardis) and Robert Lawrence Eigeman. Elaine peacefully passed April 24, 2019 at home in Seattle due to complications of lobular breast cancer. Most floating home residents know Elaine Eigeman and Daniel Schalke, who for decades have been prominent real estate agents representing our community, and longtime supporters of the FHA. They participated in our fund raisers; they attended meetings; they were generous with advice. Twenty years ago, Elaine was diagnosed with a very serious breast cancer. In the ensuing years, Elaine has had a lot of problems with lymphedema — a problem with swelling due to the inability of lymph fluids to flow properly, because lymph nodes are taken out to diagnose the spread of cancer. One of the main treatments is to wear compression garments — but which are NOT covered by Medicare! Always the creative problem solver, Elaine fought hard in the ensuing years to get some bills through Congress to get this basic coverage. She and other advocates are close, but not quite there. Characteristically, she used her last energies to raise money to get the lymphedema bills finished and signed. You can contribute to the cause at https://www.crowdrise.com/o/en/campaign/march-madness-for-the-lta/elaineeigeman

Walter was born January 1, 1932 in Chewelah, WA and died May 5, 2019 in Spokane, WA. He is survived by his daughter and son-in-law, Allison Eva and Stan Wesson, his grandchildren, Max and Hank Wesson, and his sister, Sally Eva. He was preceded in death by his parents, Clyde and Florence, a brother, David, a sister, Carolyn Booton and his wife, June Eva. Walt grew up in Spokane, graduating from North Central High School and Gonzaga University. He served in the marines during the  Korean War. During his lifetime he owned and operated The Attic Tavern, Seattle, The Skyroom Restaurant, Boeing Field, The NorWester Restaurant, White Pass, WA, Audrey’s Diner, Newport, WA, The Dutch-American Bakery, Sedro Woolley, WA and Our Place at the Beach, Long Beach, WA.   1932 – 2019

Gertrude was born January 19, 1933 in Spokane, WA and died January 9, 2019, in Seattle, WA. She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Allison Eva and Stan Wesson, her grandchildren, Max and Hank Wesson, and her sister, Rosemary Balazs. She was preceded in death by her parents, Herman and Rose Schneider, and her partner, Frank Farrington. Gert grew up in Spokane and graduated from North Central High School. She was a long time owner of The Attic Tavern in Madison Park and lived in a houseboat on Wandesforde Dock, Lake Union for 56 years. She’d be mad if I paid for more than an inch in the obituaries!

George Thomas Johnston died Monday, March 25, 2019, aged 83, at home surrounded by his family following a long illness. He leaves his wife of 53 years, Marian “Rickie” (Gonzalez) Johnston; his sons, George Jr. “TJ”, Greg, his daughter’s Renee Baker and Rachel Blake; and his 5 grandchildren and many nieces and nephews. Born and raised in Newark, NJ, the son of George and Virginia (Sacco) Johnston, was raised in Rye, New York but spent most of his life in the greater Seattle area. In his early years, George and his brother Neil lost their parents and moved to Rye, New York to live with their Uncle and Aunt. After graduating High School in 1953, he attended Antioch University in Ohio, graduating in 1958 with a bachelor’s degree in Marine Biology. After graduation he moved to Seattle to continue his education at the  University of Washington. He worked for Boeing, where he met his wife, Rickie, in a carpool he had created and they were married in 1965 at St. Thomas’ Catholic Church. George worked at Boeing for ten years but left to create his own company, “Flotation Services”, his maintenance company that served the residents of the Lake Union Floating Homes for over 45 years. He had a passion for these homes and was a Founding Father of the Floating Homes Association. This organization would help safe guard this unique and special community for decades, because it was continually under threat of being torn down for development. To some the Seattle Floating Homes are considered to be as much of a City Landmark, as the Space Needle. He not only took pride in his business, but truly relished the friends he made during his time there. Over the years, his reputation led him to be named in several books about Lake Union.

Beverley J Mattson, aka Bev, Mum, and Lady of the Lake, born May 14, 1926 to Agnes and William MacKenzie, passed with grace on October 31, 2018 surrounded by her family.

Bev was a 1944 graduate of Roosevelt High School, and then attended University of Washington, where she joined the Delta Delta Delta (Tri-Delt) sorority. After college, Bev worked as a flight attendant for United Airlines.

Beverley and her husband, Glenn (architect), long-time residents of Kirkland, WA and Seattle's Lake Union, were married until his death in October of 1998. Children, Dana, Kregg, and Jami (John Surbert; Lesley Mattson; Ev Stern); brother, Pete MacKenzie; and many beloved cousins, nieces and nephews survive her.

During the 1960s, Bev and Glenn traveled extensively as dance instructors, golf enthusiasts, and avid bridge players aboard the Matson Line which set sail to: Bora Bora, Tahiti, Rarotonga, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, American Samoa, and the Hawaiian Islands. Whether abroad or at home, Bev and Glenn enjoyed an artful lifestyle and a vast circle of family and friends.

From the 1970s until the 1990s, Bev's wanderlust continued, leading her to a variety of tours, including much of Western Europe; and, later, to Jerusalem where, by virtue of fulfilling the Biblical injunction, she earned a certificate of title as 'Jerusalem Pilgrim'. Bev was baptized at the baptismal site on the Jordan River, soon after which a tree was planted in her honor at Israel's southwest church grove at the American Independence Park.

An artist by nature and nurture, Bev was a longtime member of the Kirkland Creative Arts League (now Kirkland Art Center), where she blossomed as a painter. She continued to hone her craft, and cherish her relationships with fellow artists, throughout her adult life. During her senior years, Bev's artistic expression encompassed everything from weekly Shakespeare readings to an occasional jazz gig, where she was known to sing, scat, and play drums. Her willingness to say "OK" to most any invitation was a testament to her spirit and sense of adventure.

Living aboard a floating home from 1985 until 2013, Bev's world revolved around community, where all were welcome in her home and all were encouraged to join her for a swim. From 2013 until her passing, the Lady of the Lake required full-time care, though her quick wit and good spirits continued to shine. Bev's optimism and laughter were contagious, and her vibrance, warmth, and uncanny ability to riff the blues will be remembered and treasured by all who knew and loved her.

Dick Wagner, Center for Wooden Boats founder, dies at 84

Originally published April 23, 2017 at 3:49 pm Updated April 28, 2017 at 10:33 amBy

Claudia Rowe

Seattle Times staff reporter

When it comes to teaching history, there are two schools of thought — respectful viewing from a distance, versus the hands-on approach. Dick Wagner, who founded the Center for Wooden Boats on Lake Union more than 40 years ago, spent his life devoted to the latter.

He died Thursday at home, after a brief illness. He was 84.

“Learning to sail is like learning to ride a bike or learning to drive,” Mr. Wagner once told a writer profiling him for a Columbia University alumni magazine. “It’s not an education by laptop or lectern. You learn naturally, by watching and doing.”

A native of East Rutherford, N.J., Mr. Wagner had been trained as an architect, with no experience sailing. But during the mid-1950s, en route to a summer job in San Francisco, he stopped in Seattle. That sudden change of plans would alter the trajectory of his life and affect thousands of others.

He fell in love with the city, found a floating home to live in on the shores of Lake Union and eventually married one of his neighbors, the former Colleen Luebke. Their hip-sounding setup was, in those days, distinctly unconventional. Lake Union was an industrial wasteland at the time, a place few could have imagined as the magnet for restaurants and tourism it is today.

The Wagners, however, saw it as a bastion of history embodied in the hulls of small watercraft, even as the repair shops around them were closing, the rowboats discarded and a heritage rotting away. So they began to collect.

Within a decade, the couple owned about two dozen small boats and realized that they could use these artifacts as a means to teach maritime history and craft through direct experience. That is, showing people — particularly children — how to build, repair and sail wooden boats.

“Nobody had ever done anything like it before. Zoos had petting, but we were much different from that,” Mr. Wagner recalled recently. “We want this to be a community where anybody can come to look, or play or work.”

Of particular interest to Mr. Wagner was access for the disabled, the homeless, high-school dropouts and others not typically involved with life on the water.

“He always said, ‘It’s great to preserve the boats, but the people are more important,’” recalled Judie Romeo, a longtime friend who became membership coordinator for the museum. “For far too long, boating was the recreation of the elite. Dick and Colleen wanted knowledge about boats to be available to everybody, and the way to do it was to get the people down here.”

Their first major event was a Wooden Boats Festival in 1977 — mainly to measure public interest. They hoped to see maybe 1,000 people. But 3,000 showed up.

From those homemade beginnings, the Center for Wooden Boats was born. And until he died, Mr. Wagner remained adamant about the importance of democratizing sailing, insisting that the museum’s Sunday Public Sails remain free of charge as a community service. He saw fostering experiences for individuals as more meaningful than packing in huge crowds, favored handwritten letters over email blasts — even as his museum grew in reputation.

Now in its 41st year, the Center for Wooden Boats hosts about 100,000 visitors annually, Romeo said, and will open its first land-based building — an education center — this fall.

“The goal was always to get a tool, an oar, a tiller or a mainsheet in someone’s hand,” wrote Caren Crandell, first assistant director at the center, who now teaches at the University of Washington, Bothell. “So they could feel the wood, the water or the wind as they discovered with amazement what they could do.”

Mr. Wagner is survived by his wife two sons and a grandchild.