IN MEMORY

Michael Dederer was as Pacific Northwest as they come, a man raised on the water and in the mountains of the region, who delved into its entrepreneurial spirit as one of the founders of the Rockey Group public-relations firm and of the Crystal Mountain ski resort.

Dederer, whom his son, Dave, described as “tall, dark, handsome and interested in you,” passed away March 7 at Kindred Healthcare in Seattle from complications resulting from a fall. He was 88.

“He had this intense love of the mountains, of books, of photography and his family,” said his daughter, the writer and author Claire Dederer, of Bainbridge Island. “The things you love and care about make you who you are.”

Dederer was born at Swedish Hospital in Seattle on April 30, 1932, to Michael and Clare Dederer. His father was the president of the Seattle Fur Exchange, the international fur auction house. His mother died of leukemia, and his father moved himself and his two sons in with his wife’s two sisters and her mother on Queen Anne Hill. (“It took those three women to take the place of his mother,” Claire Dederer said).

He attended Coe Elementary and Queen Anne High School, then the University of Washington, where he studied journalism, was the sports editor of The Daily and managed the varsity baseball team.

During service in the U.S. Army, Dederer joined the transportation corps as an officer and at one point was stationed in Germany, where, at 22, he was commanding officer of trains between East and West Berlin. It left him with a love of German culture and helped develop what his children both described as “laconic” grace under pressure.

Once back in the States, Dederer became a ski bum, living out of his car and bartering for lodging and lift tickets for the slopes of Aspen and Sun Valley.

Returning home to Seattle, he began what would be a long career in public relations, working as an account executive for Kraft, Smith. After working PR for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, he joined Jay Rockey to found The Rockey Company, which secured accounts with Boeing, Burlington Northern, Alyeska Pipeline and Sealaska, the Alaska Native Corporation, a relationship he treasured.

He married Donna Jordan in 1962 and had two children: Dave, now in business development at Amazon.com and a founding member of the Nineties rock trio The Presidents of the United States of America; and Claire, a writer, reviewer, teacher and author of two books, “Poser” and “Love and Trouble.” (The couple later divorced).

Claire Dederer remembered being roused from sleep on her father’s Lake Union houseboat by the sound of his electric razor, and arriving at Crystal Mountain just as the chairlifts started moving.

Dederer was one of a group of investors to found the resort in 1962, when it opened with two double chair lifts. He provided pro bono PR and marketing support, and helped found and run the resort’s ski school. He stayed involved until the end of his life.

Dederer was a founding member of the Pike Place Market Foundation, and served on the boards of Cornish College and The Bush School, but quietly.

“He didn’t need the attention,” Dave Dederer said. “If he had an all-wheel-drive car with snow tires on it and whatever ski gear he needed, he was happy.”

Dederer was also an avid backpacker and fly fisherman. Claire Dederer remembered her father taking her to the playfield at Montlake Park to teach her to cast. When she was ready, they headed to the north fork of the Stillaguamish River.

In the days after their father’s death, the siblings sorted through his book-lined houseboat. “Everything from Thomas Mann to the history of Formula One,” Dave Dederer said of his father’s library. “I could retire today and lay in bed reading for the next 10 years.”

They also found loose-leaf binders filled with logs detailing the lengths and highlights of Dederer’s hikes in the Cascades. (“You can see the inside of his brain, on display,” Claire Dederer said. “It’s almost like a little museum.”)

Dave also found a bamboo fly-fishing rod that was once his grandfather’s, and his father’s.

“That is the thing that I will want to hold close,” he said. “Because it connects back generationally and it is a token of how we spent time doing things outside. It’s a beautiful object, and my father loved well-designed things.”

Betty passed away peacefully on January 29 in Seattle, Washington after a brief illness. A long-time floating home resident, Betty served on the FHA Board and graciously let her Victorian style floating home be included on the floating homes tour. Betty particularly loved the nature and wildlife that surrounded her floating home and took some beautiful photographs for previous issues of the FHA newsletter. To read the full obituary and find out about Betty’s contribution to the Audubon Society and the League of Women Voters, as well as her lifelong life-long devotion to the outdoors, conservation and environmental issues, and keen sense of adventure click here.  Betty will be much missed by her Portage Bay neighbors, including an unusually large gang of various waterfowl who Courtney Cooper reports have been gathering around her house to salute her and say goodbye.

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Elizabeth “Betty” Working Swift 3 April 1930 – 29 January 2021 

Elizabeth “Betty” Swift passed away peacefully with her family around her on January 29 in Seattle, Washington after a brief illness. She was 90 years old. Betty was born Helen Elizabeth Working on April 3, 1930 in Palo Alto, California to Holbrook and Helen (Rider) Working. She grew up near Stanford University, where her father was a professor of agricultural economics and her mother was active in civic and university life. The family, including beloved siblings, hiked and vacationed in the Sierra Mountains and the California coast, starting a life-long devotion to the outdoors, conservation and environmental issues. She met Ward H. Swift (1929-1981) while on a ski trip in the Sierra. They married in 1950 at Stanford, where she was a student, and they honeymooned in Alaska. She transferred to UC Berkeley and received a BA in Art in 1951. The couple moved to Richland, Washington, where Ward started a career in chemical engineering. They had four children, born between 1952 and 1964: Barbara, Peter, Theodore, and Hally. While a full-time mom, Betty continued to teach and be involved with art and politics. She was active in the Audubon Society and League of Women Voters, volunteered on archaeological digs on the Columbia River, was a lover of avant-garde theatre, music and the arts, sailed the San Juan and Canadian Gulf Islands, hiked and skied. Betty’s diverse interests filled the home with ideas and materials from many cultures, creating an environment of exploration. An adventurer whether hiking on a trail, kayaking, experimenting with art, or cooking new recipes to share, she was always ready for a new experience or to deepen an interest. With a rigorous and infectious curiosity, her interests were broad and emblematic of her approach to the world. In 1975 Betty moved to Seattle, where she received a BFA in 1977 and MFA in Metal Design from the University of Washington in 1980. She worked in graphical production for Pacific Search Press, and later for the City of Seattle as a technical illustrator. She traveled the world, from Nepal to Alaska and West Africa to Indonesia and Antarctica. She visited every continent except Australia. Though she planned to leave Europe for when she was in a wheelchair, she explored parts of Europe on several trips. Closer to home, she lead Mountaineers Club trips and volunteered for rare plant monitoring and seed collecting across Washington State, and collected “citizen science” water quality measurements in Portage Bay.   One of Betty’s great loves was playing the recorder in the Seattle Recorder Society where she was described as a treasured member and a constant beam of light for the recorder music community not only in Seattle, but around the country as well. She would eagerly sign up for any ensemble, workshop, or musical activity that could feed her insatiable enthusiasm for learning and fuel her advancement on the recorder. Always willing to travel however far to participate in workshops around the country and in Europe, always welcoming of new experiences and meeting other players. She never shied away from the difficult, loved the challenges of embarking upon contemporary pieces as well as older works, and especially loved diving into the history and theory behind the scenes. The words that come to mind arecurious, humble, gracious, attentive, and enthusiastic. Betty was a fabulous friend. She loved people and engaging with strangers or good friends. She was an outgoing and collaborative neighbor, spending the last 25 years living on a houseboat on Portage Bay, close to the water she so loved. Listening was one of her qualities that made her friends feel important, comfortable, and validated. Although Betty was knowledgeable in many areas paired with many talents and interests, she was humble and the last one to toot her horn. Her eyes always sparkled with enthusiasm, life, learning, and sharing whenever she was with her friends. Her friends are richer in spirit knowing Betty and she will be missed but never forgotten. Betty was a loving presence in the lives of the next generation. She related to children so well, and could do something with nothing, teaching how to make one’s own entertainment and exploration. She would pick up a few pine needles, gave them names, and enact a story for her young granddaughters. Betty offered all a guide for how to tread the path of life, deal with its challenges, fight back when needed, and keep one’s head held high throughout, and all who knew her feel deeply grateful for the benefit of her spirit. Her impact has been great, with close or distant friends and relatives. Shared values, experiences, and thoughts travel across the dimensions of family to emerge unexpectedly but with import. Consistent with her commitment to the larger world, Betty would want donations made to organizations that she cared about. Given her life, the list could be long, but the family suggests that these represent her interests: Seattle Recorder Society (Music), Rare Care c/o University of Washington, and the Islands Trust Conservancy (Conservation and nature), and Emily's List (Women's rights and activism.). In the spirit of Betty and her love of people, a celebration will occur when gathering can occur. Betty is survived by her brother John Working, sister Barbara Milligan, daughters Barbara Swift and Hally Swift, sons-in-law Donald Ewing and Eric Strandberg, all of Seattle, son Ted Swift and daughterin-law Anne Hillman and granddaughters Eleanor and Grace Swift, all of Davis, California. Her husband Ward and son Peter preceded her in death. 

http://www.seattle-recorder.org/About_Us.html https://botanicgardens.uw.edu/science-conservation/rarecare/donate/ http://www.islandstrustconservancy.ca/donate/please-help-our-campaigns/ https://www.emilyslist.org/donate

Ruth passed away peacefully at her Lake Placid home in NY on January 13th, 2021 at the age of 90. Ruth loved houseboat living on Lake Union. She prided herself on planting flowers and plants native to the Northwest at her front door and on the expansive rooftop deck of her home. Ruth also spent many enjoyable hours tackling the plantings and maintenance of the gardens at the “Westlake Cove” dock entrance, Every week during the summer, Ruth would bring home Swanson’s boxes with new and exciting plants she had purchased. We are sure that Swanson’s will miss her! Ruth was always fascinated by the”critters” of the neighborhood. Whether it was raccoons running down the dock’ hummingbirds nesting or beavers chewing down her newly planted trees. In 2010, Ruth graciously let her home be included on the Floating Homes Tour. Houseboat preservation and community bonding were important to Ruth.  Ruth enjoyed good conversation and entertaining. Many evenings were spent with neighbors sitting on our decks and visiting for hours. Ruth will be missed by her Westlake Cove neighbors. Please raise a glass and toast Ruth: “Many people walk in and out of your life, but only true friends leave footprints in your heart”. Sleep sweetly, Ruth. Thank you to Pam Wild for this obituary.

From the obituary:

Ruth Mace Prime passed away peacefully at her beloved home early in the morning of January 13, 2021. Her son, Jon, was by her side. She died from complications of congestive heart failure at age 90. Born in Brooklyn, NY, on June 28, 1930, to Romaine and Earl Mace, she spent her childhood in Morristown, NJ. Ruth graduated from The Kent Place School and later pursued music at Smith College. She then went on to teach kindergarten at The Peck School in Morristown. Her marriage to George Bramhall ended in divorce in 1955 and she moved to Keeseville, NY with her two small children, Peter and Darcy. Ruth married Ted Prime of Lake Placid, NY in 1957, giving birth to Jonathan Prime a year later. She loved spending summers at Ted's family camp on Connery Pond before the family moved to Mt. Whitney Road in 1968. Ruth was active in Girl Scouts and the Lake Placid Sinfonietta. She and Ted were divorced in 1974. It was while honeymooning with Ted in Aspen, CO that Ruth fell in love with skiing; a passion that led to her becoming a ski instructor at Dream Hill and Mt. Whitney. After buying Thayer's Ski Shop in 1968, she opened Ruthie's Run, named after her favorite trail in Aspen. The business became a popular hub for ski and sports enthusiasts from all over the North Country. Ruth sold the store in 1984. That fall, she purchased the Adirondack Store, founded in 1955, with her son, Jon, who operated the business. She spent the following year in London studying at Christie's School for Decorative Arts. Afterwards, she divided her time between her homes in Lake Placid and Seattle. The Adirondack Store was sold in 2015. Interests included entertaining at her cherished home on the Whitney Road where she warmly welcomed people of all ages. Ruth was a devoted grandmother, a world traveler, and an avid gardener. She took great delight in both feeding and individually naming the wildlife outside of her windows and never tired of the ever-changing views of Whiteface Mountain in the distance. Astute, adventurous and fun-loving, Ruth lived every day to the absolute fullest, quite literally until the morning she left us. She was a force of nature whose bright smile will be sorely missed. Ruth is survived by her three children, Peter Prime (Kathy) of Greenwich, CT, Darcy Prime of Menlo Park, CA and Jon Prime of Lake Placid; grandchildren, Heather Prime of San Francisco, Kevin Prime of Lake Placid and Emma Neville of San Francisco; a sister, Jean Burnell of Seattle; and twelve nieces and nephews. A celebration of Ruth Prime's life will be held later this summer. Arrangements are in the care of M.B. Clark Funeral Home in Lake Placid. The family wishes to extend their gratitude to the Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac Lake for their outstanding care.

Colleen Wagner, the co-founder of The Center for Wooden Boats, passed away on January 2, 2020. The wife of Dick Wagner, she was a long term floating home resident and continued to live on the Old Boathouse after Dick passed away in 2017.  It was Colleen who encouraged her husband Dick to start the wooden sailboat livery in The Old Boathouse. Colleen and her husband received a number of awards for their contributions to the preservation of wooden boats and heritage building skills.

Wagner Floating Home 2770 Westlake Avenue N – Unit 10 

https://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/Neighborhoods/HistoricPreservation/Landmarks/LandmarksPreservationBoard/MeetingDocuments/WagnerFloatingHome_NOM_presentation.pdf

Birthday remembrance:    LINK

Eastlake’s Willow Dock resident Tom Naylor died Nov 30, 2020, at home.  People have wondered where the man with the two sticks is, the man who walked down to the Fairview Bridge and back, or up the hill and around and back.  The two sticks were due to many body setbacks, after a history of intrepid rock climbing in the early days in Yosemite, inspiring ski patrol and back-country and telemark experience – plus stories to go with it all.  Tom could and did run like the wind for years until Polycystic Kidney Disease arrived.  We had not known this genetic disease was in Tom’s code.  His dear climbing and ski buddy Al in Calif was able to donate a kidney in 1998.  It was a gift of life but as anyone familiar with transplants knows, there is a price.  The thing is though, that intrepid athletic history had everything to do with the 23 years he forged on, despite so many challenges.  He worked hard to make the Willow dock and the Eastlake P-Patch expansion and re-build solid places for people to live and share the good life.  Tom had also always been a woodworker, and after retirement from Economic Development Administration where he shepherded grants for towns and cities and regions in the western region, he moved into this passion full-time.  Tom built boats, the beautiful trim and built-ins in our houseboat on Willow Dock where we have been for 27 years, many fun extras like breadboards, as he began baking “to die for bread”, and towards the end carving beautiful wooden spoons.  He simply never quit, until his heart quit on him.  Tom left me, Mike, and my daughters too, with big holes in our lives.  They say time heals, bring it on, I miss him more than I knew possible.  And if you ever are ready to give up, think of the man with the sticks – there are others here in Eastlake, men, and women, who just keep going. It is all humbling.  And inspiring. Submitted by Mikela Naylor – mikelanaylor@me.com

On Monday, November 11, 2019, Ellen Hansen, loving wife, mother, grandmother, sister, friend; dedicated, and difference-making citizen and quintessential Seattleite, passed away suddenly at the age of 73. She grew up on Long Island, New York listening together with her father to Vin Scully announce the trials and tribulations of their beloved Brooklyn Dodgers. An early politico, Ellen and identical twin sister Elizabeth recruited a group of their friends for a bicycle parade with signs and streamers to get out the vote for Adlai Stevenson. Her childhood passions would find a perfect new berth in Seattle. Ellen studied English Literature at Barnard College while falling in love with Steve Hansen, a Columbia University student hailing from the “hinterlands” of Vashon Island. Steve and Ellen married in 1966 (celebrating their 50th anniversary at Ray’s Boathouse in 2016). Together, they raised daughter Jennifer on their Eastlake houseboat as Ellen embarked on a prominent career in public and community service. Ellen took tremendous pride and joy in her family. On a spectacular Seattle afternoon in 1976, Ellen, Steve, and their then 5-year-old daughter Jenny sailed together down Lake Union on their small catamaran, espied the charming houseboat Ellen had seen advertised in the classifieds, and, inspired by the beauty and moment, impulsively decided to buy the floating home that would be their safe harbor for the rest of her life. And it was there that the Hansens would host legendary annual Fourth of July parties where partygoers would climb up to the houseboat roof to watch the fireworks.