Robert Nym Park III

1945 - 2015

Robert Nym Park, III

November 28, 1945 ~ June 23, 2015

Nym passed away on June 23 at Seattle's UW Medical Center in the company of his brother, Tym, cousin, Anita DeAragon, and her husband, Bruce.

Born in Seattle, Nym was the first child of Robert Nym Park, Jr. and Helen Purcell Park. Nym became an older brother when his brother Tym arrived in '48.

Along with many other early year baby boomers, Nym attended Seattle's Broadview Elementary, Shoreline's Ronald School, and Nicholas Murray Butler Junior High. As a young person Nym was interested in all things electrical and mechanical especially if they combined both interests on two or four wheels and could be worked on and shared with like-minded friends.

Nym attended Seattle's Lakeside School and was proud of his alumni status and was forever grateful for Lakeside's role in transforming him into a critical thinker. Nym attended Lakeside during the US/Soviet space race years when Lakeside emphasized its math and science curricula; a turn of events well suited to his interests. At Lakeside Nym found many other students who fueled one another's scientific interests both in and out of the classroom.

When Nym's parents divorced during his sophomore year at Lakeside, he took on the role of head of family; a responsibility he approached with diligence and a mostly light touch.

Nym started his college career at Union College in Schenectady, NY, but transferred to and graduated with honors from Colorado College in Colorado Springs, CO. At CC, and on into later life, Nym was an interesting combination of recluse and intensely social being who lived and studied in a downtown residential hotel room while cultivating lifelong friendships with classmates in the classroom and at on and off campus social events. Nym never tired of staying in contact with his CC classmates.

Post college Nym pursued a non-traditional career path. Nym was devoted to his mother and continued to manage her financial affairs. When Helen stopped driving, Nym helped her make her medical appointments and drove her to see her friends. In turn, Nym also helped his grandmother Clara Purcell, and great aunt Hawthorne McMicken, with their affairs.

Investing and speculation in the markets were a constant throughout his adult life, and Nym was involved in ventures with his brother and other friends over the years, choosing to stay mostly in the background rather than being involved in the day to day activities of these enterprises.

Nym also had a performance side to his personality which he satisfied by working the NW standup comedy circuit, and he could be found busking with his guitar on pleasant afternoons wherever he found himself. The arts in general attracted Nym's attention, and he devoted large amounts of his time and effort to photography and writing. Writing for Nym was a compulsion, and he was working on a manuscript for a play up to his last days, writing in his strong and clear longhand.

Nym never married and had no children of his own. However, guided by the example set by his uncle Hugh Purcell and great aunt Hawthorne McMicken, Nym relished his role as uncle which dovetailed nicely with his head of family status. If you were Nym's nephew, niece, or even just a younger first cousin or niece by marriage, you got the same treatment as Nym's friends-- your successes would be touted, your efforts would be encouraged and promoted, and, you would get a fair amount of unsolicited advice-- just with a larger helping of unsolicited advice.

Nym is sorely missed by all who were lucky enough to be a member of his family or had the pleasure of knowing him as a friend and unique character blessed with a great wit.

Nym's family suggest a remembrance given in Nym's name to the National Parkinson Foundation, the UW Medical Center Lung Transplant Pro-gram, or the Colorado College Ahlberg Leadership Institute.