Thomas Sudduth, 64
Vashon Island
Thomas Sudduth loved to tinker with mechanical things. He became Vashon Island's first COVID-19 death on Dec. 7, and his family wrote on Facebook: "We want everyone on Vashon to know about Tom's death because everyone needs to understand how dangerous this invisible enemy really is."
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Lilliantyne "Tyna" Fields, 89
Renton
Lilliantyne "Tyna" Fields was a biology researcher and educator, a "very hands-on mother" and a soprano who could light up a room with the church choir. She died of cardiac arrest after her pacemaker surgery was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Frank LaRiviere, 93
Seattle
Frank LaRiviere loved photography, classical music, fishing and canning fruit and pickles. But those who played for him say what he loved most was coaching. He mentored hundreds of athletes over a 44-year career in Seattle youth sports, and stayed close with many of them throughout his life.
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Earl Edwards, 63
Okanogan County
Earl Edwards was a Jamaican farmer who in the winter grew ginger, garlic an other crops on the tropical island he called home. For the past decade, he would head north each year for seasonal work at the Gebbers Farms in Washington's arid Okanogan County. He and his wife, Marcia, have two daughters.
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Colleen Stuber, 81
Redmond
A lifelong Seattle-area resident who exuded positivity, Colleen Stuber was an entrepreneur at heart. As a divorced young mother in the mid-'70s, she turned her love of cooking into a West Seattle restaurant, Hungry Man's Café, where she knew customers' names and served them enormous portions of comfort food. She later worked as a home health care aide, a food demonstrator at grocery stores and an assistant cook at a seniors community.
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Geraldine Gormley, 96
Edmonds
Geraldine Gormley left behind a trail of lifelong friends and memories of family adventures in Alaska, Germany and Washington state. Strong-willed, well-dressed and outgoing, Gormley was the first woman in her family to graduate from college, and she taught her three daughters "a spirit of risk-taking balanced by self-restraint."
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Daniel Rian, 80
Bothell
Daniel Rian worked at Boeing for almost four decades. He also was a volunteer firefighter and EMT, chauffeuring legendary Seattle clowns J.P. Patches and Gertrude via firetruck in local parades. "He was very gregarious and outgoing, and loved life, and giving back was a huge part of his personality," said son Mike Rian.
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Bennie Aranas, 73
Kirkland
Mr. Aranas was born and raised in the Philippines, served in the U.S. Navy for 20 years and then worked for the Snohomish County Public Utility District. He loved to cook, volunteer with his Kirkland church community and spend time with his large extended family. He and his wife had just finished building a house back in the Philippines, envisioning it as a family gathering spot.
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Oscar Anderson, 82
Renton
Mr. Anderson loved photography, the outdoors, spending time with his family and watching the Mariners. He lived with multiple sclerosis for more than 40 years, but through perseverance and a positive attitude, never let it stop him from enjoying life.
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Hilson Darkenwald, 92
Bellingham
Her parents considered naming her Linda in honor of Charles Lindbergh, whose famous 1927 flight took him over their home in Newfoundland, Canada a day before her birth. They didn't, but Ms. Darkenwald went on to live a full and adventurous life. As her daughter put it: "She was so well-rounded. She was everything: funny, athletic, educated, smart. She was everything good."
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Anita May “Anna” Wynalda, 66
Kennewick
Even though Ms. Wynalda was just 4-foot-11, “when she walked into a room, she stood 10 feet tall.” She always found time to help others, even with her busy schedule of working as a nurse during the day and as a Walmart cashier overnight. She fostered several children, helped connect immigrants with lawyers, and taught her children that “even if you don’t have a dollar, you can still offer a smile, or friendly or kind words.”
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Mike Winkler, 71
North King County
Mr. Winkler, who drove buses for 32 years, had a sheepish grin and chuckle. Known as "the godfather of North Base" or "the grandfather of North Base," he would show up at 3:45 a.m. to provide coffee and snacks for co-workers. Mr. Winkler has become the second known King County Metro Transit worker to lose his life to COVID-19. He was preparing to retire this year.
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Wade Hickam, 67
Milton
Mr. Hickam was a member of regional bands including Night Train, The Fabulous Mojo Kings, and most recently, the Moe Ribbs Blues Band. He was held in the highest esteem by fellow musicians and blues enthusiasts in the state.
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Querubin “Sonny” Dizon Quitlong, 70
Seattle
Mr. Quitlong immigrated to the United States after serving in the Philippine Army. For decades, he worked as a checker at a Safeway on Rainier Avenue, and as a mail handler in Tukwila. He was known as a generous man, a helper. Thanksgivings at his South Seattle home were the stuff of legend, with upwards of 100 people trickling in and out, a mix of family, friends and folks with nowhere else to go.
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Dr. Nola Mae Moore, 88
Shoreline
Dr. Moore practiced medicine for more than 35 years, including 30 with her husband in a family practice, and was the first woman president of the King County Medical Society. Service to others was always a part of her life, from volunteering for decades at the YMCA's Camp Orkila on Orcas Island to her daily 2-mile neighborhood walks when she would pick up trash.
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Gerald “Jerry” St. George, 81
Yakima Valley
Mr. St. George didn't like the spotlight. He preferred to lift up others, which he did as a youth sports coach and charity leader, and in his 55-year career as an educator. Described as fun, funny and quick-witted, Mr. St. George also enjoyed performing in community theater musicals and getting involved in the extracurricular activities of his daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
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Charlie Burrell, 78
Bremerton / Seattle
Mr. Burrell worked at KCTS for decades and was well-respected by co-workers, who regarded him as a mentor and a champion of equal opportunities. He had a lifelong love of sports — having coached youth football and worked two Olympics for KCTS — but he didn't support any particular teams; when he watched the Super Bowl, he rooted for the underdog. He also was an avid music collector and always had music playing in his house.
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Donn Weaver, 87
West Seattle
Mr. Weaver was a West Seattle legend. After retiring from a long career as a teacher who led regional school music programs and directed multiple ensembles, he continued to support students as director of the all-volunteer West Seattle Big Band, whose performances raise money for public school music education. Family members describe him as “wise, calm, steady” and said he “always had a smile.”
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William “Bill” Burr, 91
Stanwood
Mr. Burr enjoyed traveling and adventure, climbed every major mountain peak in Washington, and loved working on the Lunar Orbiter program in 1966-67. He was also a family man, raising three children with Ruth, his wife of 62 years, and became devoted to charitable work after retiring from a 37-year career at Boeing. After Ruth died, Mr. Burr married June Beckwith, a friend from college, and the pair traveled extensively.
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Dr. Joshua Yasuo Suzuki, 78
Shoreline / Edmonds
A quirky man with a jocular laugh, Dr. Suzuki was known to drive muscle cars, wear bow ties and suspenders, and practice Zen philosophy. He loved the mountains, where he would seek out mushrooms and wild flowers. As an OB/GYN at the Polyclinic, he delivered 5,000 babies and even befriended some of his patients.
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LaVelle McGuire, 94
Bothell
Mrs. McGuire was a mother of three children, but she was a mother figure for dozens more. While working as a secretary at a home for troubled kids, Mrs. McGuire was tasked with picking up runaways and bringing them back. While her own kids were growing up in Bothell, she made sure their friends had an open door and a freshly baked birthday cake. In her later years, she organized a senior outing group, even though most of the members were younger than she was.
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Mark Riordan, 69
Tacoma
Mr. Riordan, who had Down syndrome and needed full-time care, idolized Elvis Presley and loved family, ferries, pizza, baseball cards and everything about Christmas. He also had style, wearing a tie most of the time because he loved getting dressed up, and always wearing a watch — the bigger the better — even though he couldn't tell time.
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Leonard Sacharoff, 96
Bellevue
Mr. Sacharoff, who grew up in a New Jersey anarchist utopian community, fought in some of the most harrowing WWII battles with the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, including the Battle of the Bulge. He worked for 40 years as a quality control analyst in a Union Carbide plastics factory before moving to the Seattle area later in life and taking up marathon running. He was rarely seen without a smile on his face or a song in his heart.
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Guadalupe “Lupe” Olivera, 60
Pasco
Mr. Olivera did the physically demanding work of a butcher at the Tyson Fresh Meats beef packaging plant. Before immigrating to the U.S., he's earned a master's degree in business management and accounting in Mexico, where he'd worked as a college professor and for a large company. His joys in life were traveling with his wife and his two beloved Chihuahuas, sending pictures to his seven grown children.
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Edith "Edie" Irvine, 100
Seattle
Ms. Irvine had a sense of adventure and knack for making people feel special. She worked as a comptometer operator and bookkeeper for many Seattle businesses. She also won a battle for single women to be allowed to hold Seattle Yacht Club memberships. Ms. Irvine co-founded the Black Angus line of steakhouses with Stuart Anderson (the third of her five husbands, all of whom she outlived), but that was but one highlight in her long, colorful life.
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Harold “Lucky” Bourgoin, 97
Bellevue
Mr. Bourgoin never liked the name Harold, and “Lucky” just fit. After all, he lived for more than eight decades with a bullet lodged in the back of his head, was married for 73 years, was a world-class marksman, retired as a highly decorated lieutenant colonel in the Air Force after serving in three wars, and helped raise five successful sons.
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Helen Molina, 85
Seattle
Ms. Molina was small in stature but had a big heart when it came to her family and Washington Huskies athletics. She was known as a dedicated and dependable employee of the UW sports department, and after she retired, she volunteered for 25 years at Lynndale Elementary School. Ms. Molina was also passionate about long-distance running. As former UW basketball coach Lorenzo Romar put it: "Some people leave an impression, and she did."
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Douglas Roberts, 69
Vancouver
Mr. Roberts played college baseball, then coached his sons in soccer and Little League baseball. He was a high school teacher and coach before embarking in a long career in journalism and public relations. A serious and thoughtful man who was always striving to learn, he was a whiz at Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit.
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Hellyn Moore Pawula, 83
Des Moines
Ms. Moore Pawula was an acclaimed metal worker and jeweler who ran Highline Community College's jewelry program for nearly three decades. "She was happiest when she was teaching," said her daughter, whom Ms. Moore Pawula raised by herself while earning a master's degree at the University of Washington. She traveled abroad, giving lectures on her work and art history, and was a resident artist at a university in Greece. “I would like to instill an awareness that art is a total experience and not just an isolated incident,” she once said.
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Esther Bryant Kyles and Edwin Kyles Jr., 64 and 75
Renton
Pastor and Mrs. Kyles found joy in generosity, giving time and money to those in need. Together, they infused a mission of service into their small Renton ministry. Mrs. Kyles, who worked for Washington State Ferries, had a hearty laugh and a listening ear, providing friends and family a reliable source of comfort. Pastor Kyles served in Vietnam for the U.S. Army and worked for Boeing for more than 15 years before becoming a full-time pastor. He was known to have a gentle and thoughtful nature.
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Sandy Pratt, 92
Bellevue
Mr. Pratt was fascinated by the way the wind moved across the sail, pulling the craft through the water. He quickly learned to race sailboats, and was part of the racing fleet at the University of Washington, before putting his passion for aerodynamics to work in wing production as a manufacturing engineer at Boeing. He worked on a variety of wing designs, including the 747, for 38 years.
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Alan Lund, 81
Edmonds
Mr. Lund taught and directed music throughout the Seattle area for decades, nurturing a high level of performance from every player or singer and contributing a great deal to the region's music culture. When he and his wife became empty-nesters, they opened their home to a succession of people facing homelessness, cancer and marital breakup.
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Jerry Spring, 85
Kent
Enthralled by flight from an early age, Mr. Spring became a pilot during the golden age of aviation in the 1960s. His desire to see things from a different vantage point — along with his Christian faith — drove many aspects of his life, from traveling the world with his wife, Joan, to helping people experiencing homelessness. The Spring family's experience when Mr. Spring got sick encouraged his daughter to raise money to place tablets into COVID-19 isolation rooms so loved ones can have video calls with patients.
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Susie Chin Lee, Willa Lee and Regina Lim Lee, 82, 60 and 58
Everett
Regina worked in a call center for Costco Travel. Willa was a trainer at a biomedical company. They shared a home with their mother, Susie, who had been a housekeeper. The Lee family, including two surviving brothers, was last all together to celebrate the Chinese New Year, sharing favorite dishes such as steamed minced pork, black beans and spare ribs. "They were loving and they lived life to the fullest," says Raymond Lee, who recalls riding bikes with his sisters and brother when they were growing up on Seattle's Beacon Hill.
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Tom Delucchi, 69
Richland
Mr. Delucchi was a welding engineer at the Hanford Site who loved to tinker in the machine shop in his garage. He was always willing to help on projects large or small — once, he even helped his brother-in-law design a windmill system to power an off-the-grid home in Alaska. He also built clocks and two functional steam engines. He loved opera and boysenberry pie. Mr Delucchi and his wife of 47 years raised a daughter whose soccer games he rarely missed.
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Bobby Lee Barber, 84
Buckley
Mr. Barber loved people, his family and Seattle’s sports teams. Known to friends as Bugs or Bugsy, he became a Seahawks season-ticket holder during the team’s inaugural season, was a longtime Husky football season-ticket holder who went to a few Rose Bowls, and loved going to Mariners games. He and his wife, Grace, were married for 64 years.
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Clair "Toby" Dunlap, 89
Edmonds
Mr. Dunlap lived his dream and then some. An aviation enthusiast from age 5, he bought his first plane at 16 and later spent 36 years as a pilot, once flying John F. Kennedy on his presidential campaign. He was still teaching people how to fly at 88. A dedicated father to his four children, Mr. Dunlap kept scorecards from family baseball games for more than two decades.
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Cora Howard, 77
Seattle
Ms. Howard was known as someone who embodied selflessness and demanded excellence from everyone — even complete strangers. She taught elementary school for 23 years and raised seven children with her husband, Theodore. Her admirers said her greatest strength as an educator was the care she took with students who were struggling.
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David Beyl, 85
Mercer Island
A piece of land in Antarctica is named after Cmdr. Beyl, in recognition of his time on the continent during one of several tours abroad with the Navy. He and his wife of 61 years, Sandra, had three daughters, and he would write to them in perfect cursive when he was away. In his retirement, he found a second career as a woodworker.
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Cornelius “Moose” Lawyer, 84
Bellevue
Those who knew Mr. Lawyer best called him “Moose” or “Grandpa Moose.” He was the first in his family to go to college, earning a master's degree in chemistry and working as a research scientist and at a cancer research foundation before transitioning into technical sales, which led him to Brussels. He stayed there nearly two decades and coached several Little League teams to the European Championships. He also loved to sing and had a strong baritone.
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Rocco Ursino, 90
Bellevue
Mr. Ursino loved being Italian. Whenever he felt blue, he’d strap on an apron and make spaghetti sauce. He and his wife of 64 years dedicated their lives to raising their seven children. Mr. Ursino was social and outgoing to the extreme, adding close friends to his ever-expanding circle throughout his life. He was a regular at Borracchini's Bakery in Rainier Valley, and he kept a weekly tee time with three Italian American friends he'd known for more than half a century.
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James Simpson, 28
Burien
At 5-foot-9 and more than 300 pounds, Mr. Simpson was a gentle giant. He grew up in foster care and found a calling counseling youths. “He just wanted to be that voice for kids,” said his cousin Chezere Braley, “someone the kids could trust, confide in confidently without being judged.” He was exposed to the coronavirus while working at a Burien mental-health center where eight of the 15 residents tested positive. Before he got sick, he shared concerns with his sister about how his employer was handling the outbreak.
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Carole Rae Woodmansee, 81
Mount Vernon
Throughout her life, Ms. Woodmansee was known to always put others first. In her final days, speaking by telephone to her children from her Mount Vernon hospital bed, Ms. Woodmansee reassured them, telling them she wasn’t afraid and that she was praying for them all. She quoted her favorite hymn, “Blessed Assurance”: “This is my story, this is my song / Praising my Savior, all the day long.” “That so was my mom,” said her son, Joe Woodmansee. “That’s who she was.”
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Leo Sreebny, 98
Seattle
Dr. Sreebny was the son of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine. When medical school quotas for Jews kept him out, he became a dentist instead, and eventually established a dental research center at UW. Dr. Sreebny always tried to coax a smile out of those he met, and he kept the family home filled with music.
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Petra Karr, 60
Burien
Ms. Karr emphasized the “community” in community theater, going out of her way to invite people — especially young people she thought could use some help — into the group experience. She and her husband, Chris, founded ACT 1 Theatre Productions. She had been in the hospital for cancer treatments in March when she was diagnosed with COVID-19.
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Thomas Lopez, 44
Pacific
Mr. Lopez ran a fleet of Tacos El Tajin food trucks around Seattle. He made national headlines in 2017 for hawking tacos out of his food truck on Interstate 5 after a semi truck rolled over and brought traffic to a standstill.
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Steve Shulman, 67
Seattle
Steve was a longtime grocer and community figure at Leschi Market along Lake Washington. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said he “was the heartbeat of Leschi – he knew everyone, what wine they loved and how they were doing in their lives.”
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Delores "Dee" and Merle Tofte, 85 and 86
Vancouver
The Toftes met in a Portland music club called The Grove. They loved to sing together, and performed at local lodges and on cruises as “Dee and Mee,” with Ms. Tofte on keyboards and Mr. Tofte on his guitar. After 52 years of marriage, the Toftes died in separate rooms of the same hospital, within hours of each other. They were buried side by side in their matching pajamas.
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Hoang Dinh Nguyen, 72
Issaquah
Mr. Nguyen survived war in Vietnam, a harrowing escape by boat, two strokes and cancer. “No matter what adversity he faced, he always found a way to push through it,” son Viet — one of nine children — said of a father he described as quiet and kind. Mr. Nguyen worked the berry fields of South King and Pierce counties, and later manufacturing and construction. He loved growing bonsai trees and taking care of animals, and daughter Crystal said he could build anything.
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Douglas Lambrecht, 71
Kirkland
Mr. Lambrecht was a longtime emergency-room doctor at Valley Medical Center in Renton. He became one of the first people in the U.S. to die of COVID-19. A month later, his son Nathan wrote a letter to President Donald Trump about his family's loss, rebuking the administration for what he saw as inaction and carelessness.
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Kenneth Robert Hunt, 86
Seattle
Mr. Hunt was “a fixture” at Seattle-area sports events and loved to cheer for Seattle Prep, Villa Academy, Tottenham Hotspur, the Sounders and the Seahawks. While at Cornell University, where he was a member of the Chi Psi fraternity, Mr. Hunt was an NCAA wrestling champion and the only wrestler to beat Princeton’s Donald Rumsfeld, who would go on to twice serve as U.S. Secretary of Defense.
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Elizabeth and Robert Mar, 72 and 78
Seattle
Ms. Mar was the beloved matriarch of the local classic Hawaiian restaurant Kona Kitchen. She embodied the deeply kind and ever-welcoming spirit of aloha, daughter Angie Okumoto says. Ms. Mar went by Liz, but many patrons simply called her “Auntie” or “Grandma.” Mr. Mar died the day after his wife. They leave behind a family that includes seven grandchildren.
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Bill Chambers, 97
Kirkland
Mr. Chambers served in World War II, driving an armored bulldozer to build roads as the front advanced across Europe. After the war, he put his road-building skills to work for King County 30 years as the suburbs grew. He and his wife, Barbara Jean, raised five children in Carnation.
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Scott Ryan, 41
Snohomish County
Mr. Ryan had worked as a driver at Community Transit since 2015, after years driving an armored truck. As a shop steward, he fought for his co-workers; when the coronavirus began to spread, he and other drivers pushed Community Transit for more precautions to protect drivers from being exposed. Mr. Ryan leaves behind his wife, Heather, and three kids.
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Samina Hameed, 59
Lynnwood
Ms. Hameed is the first King County Metro driver who is known to have died of COVID-19. Her co-workers said she could always turn a bad day around with the warmth of her smile. Her husband is also a Metro operator; they have three children and a daughter-in-law.
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Stephen Schwartz, 78
Seattle
Dr. Schwartz was a well-known University of Washington pathologist and vocal participant in faculty discussions about university politics. He “is rightfully considered a giant amongst investigators of the biology of smooth muscle cells and the structure of blood vessels,” UW Medicine CEO Paul Ramsey wrote.
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Twilla Morin, 85
Kirkland
Ms. Morin had been a bookkeeper and day trader. She died at Life Care Center of Kirkland, where one-quarter of the residents died of COVID-19 within a month, becoming the nation's first known cluster of deaths from the virus. Her daughter sued the nursing home's parent company in April.
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The Rev. Dr. Andrea Bowman, 73
Ellensburg
Rev. Bowman was an educator, a school board member, a woman of God, a colleague and a friend. On Palm Sunday, she became the first Kittitas County resident to die from complications related to COVID-19.
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