George William Durham

1923 - 2014

BORN

1923

DIED

2014

George Durham Obituary

George William

(aka 'Bill') Durham

January 10, 1923 ~ October 27, 2014

Age 91 ~ Our dad was a kind, independent, generous, witty, intelligent Renaissance man. He grew up in Bountiful Utah where he had many happy memories of walks in the hills with his family.

Dad met our mother, Tayeko, at Whittier College in Los Angeles. They just celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary in September. Our mother has always been a very patient person.

After high school he made a solo bicycle trip around Southern California and into Mexico. He also traveled to Puerto Rico where he studied Spanish and discovered a love of islands.

He was a Merchant Marine in WWII, a librarian at Seattle and Kirkland Public Libraries and an oiler on the Washington State Ferries. He traveled a lot, read a lot, made us laugh a lot, exasperated us at times and created a home that always welcomed anyone who chose to stay -- and there were many of those who stayed and stayed.

He was an author and had a printing press in the basement that was put to good use. If he wasn't in the basement we would spend our time trying to stump him on his geography skills. "Dad, what is the name of the town at the northern end of the Gulf of Bothnia?" He would calmly and correctly answer every time.

He was a Steamboat enthusiast, maritime historian, boat builder, an expert in Native American canoes, books in general, obscure subjects, the English language and the world's worst landlord ("Hey, want a TV?" "How about if I don't charge you rent this month?"). We learned to never say we really liked that camera or microwave or van, because 'voila', it would suddenly appear on our porch or in front of our house.

He is survived by Tayeko, his three daughters; Yuki Durham, Zoe Durham, Rebecca Durham, four grandchildren; Kimiko and Noah Goldberg, Teru and Asa McDonald, sons-in-law, friends and relatives scattered around the globe.

No memorial per his request.

In lieu of flowers please go out and buy yourself a book at a local bookstore. We believe our dad supported the University of Washington Bookstore single-handedly for the last few years. Also, subscribe to the print form of The Seattle Times - he'd get a kick out of that.

We will miss him every single day.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by The Seattle Times on Nov. 2, 2014.

Memories and Condolences
for George Durham

Sponsored by The Family.

5 Entries

Atsushi "Ats" Kiuchi

October 27, 2019

As I reach my 90th birthday, I will always remember the warm friendship of George and Tayeko in Port Angeles, 1953-1957

November 13, 2014

As a marine artist and merchant mariner, I so appreciated Bill's deep knowledge of all things maritime! I have specialized in painting the steamships of the era on which Bill had first-hand experience. Years ago he generously gave me his copy of "Know your Lakers of WW I" by Father Edward Dowling. The book and Bill's shared information have been a mainstay of my research to do my paintings. Attached is an example of my painting of one of the "Laker" class freighters that he knew so much about.
I will miss his warm generousity. Good sailing Bill. --Steve Mayo

November 8, 2014

Tay and girls: After all these years, sorry to hear of his passing. Please contact me at 425-502-8998, Bellevue or [email protected]

Kathy Mittge

November 5, 2014

I fondly remember Mr. Durham as the Kirkland librarian. He was the first librarian I ever encountered who didn't "shush" patrons, instead encouraging conversation. Though I left Kirkland nearly 40 years ago, I will never forget Mr. Durham and the help he provided me in finding my way around the library.

Dawn Francisco

November 3, 2014

My best memory is from the mid 80s. I kind of felt like a connoisseur of popcorn back then. He made a batch of popcorn that was incredibly delicious. Light and fluffy. Perfectly cooked. I asked how he did it and he showed me style of popper that I had never seen before. I commented on it and he took me down to the basement because he had another one. That was my first trip to the basement. It was jam packed with interesting things. Not like a hoarder holds on to EVERYthing, but like he'd knew that he'd have a use for it again some day. And sure enough, he found a popper just like the one he'd just used, and gave it to me! Wow! That was when I first realized why Becky is as generous as she is...her dad was a great inspiration in generosity. That popper lasted years and when it broke, he showed me how to fix it and it lasted for even more years. I am going to miss him. Not just for his generous nature, but because of his intelligence, the glint of humor that was never far from his eyes, and because I could feel calmer just because he walked into the room.

Showing 1 - 5 of 5 results