Vernon Leroy Daeley

Vernon L. Daeley passed away on June 2, 2024, after a long battle with cancer and the loss of his beloved wife, Mary Lee.

Vern was born in Sherwood, North Dakota, on May 11, 1939 to Sam and Mafie Daeley. He attended Eden Valley Elementary School, riding through the snow on a horse to get there. He began working at the age of 10, shearing sheep and driving horses. He left home at the age of 15 and graduated from high school in Mohall, North Dakota, and attended North Dakota State University where he joined Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity, played basketball, and met the love of his life, Mary Lee. They came to Seattle in 1959 without a dime in their pockets and he ultimately began working for Smith Brothers Farms as a milkman. He and Mary Lee bought a house in Shoreline in 1962 where they raised their family and were part of the Shoreline community. Vern sponsored teams and coached for Richmond Little League and was the milkman for hundreds of families and the Shoreline School district-he remembered routes and orders with excruciating detail some 40 years later. He and Mary Lee retired to Lake Roosevelt in the early 1990's where Vern enjoyed fishing, hunting, carpentry, and starting a new business, Kettle River Bolt. Vern and Mary Lee moved to Shelton to be near their family. Vern did everything in life exactly the way he wanted to, all of the time. He is survived by his son Jim, his son Jon and his wife Mindy, his daughter Lisa and her husband Jim; grandchildren Jenna and her husband Alex, Kyle and his wife Autumn, Sami and her husband Nick, Mac, Nora and her husband Liam; and great-grandkids Kamdyn, Hazel Grace, and Lincoln, who he was proud to have met on his 85th birthday. Vern will be remembered for his unique perspective and often wildly inappropriate turns of phrase, and will be missed greatly by his family.