Dear Friends,
Zach passed away peacefully last
Tuesday of complications from Secondary Plasma Cell Leukemia—a very rare and
very aggressive form of end-stage Multiple Myeloma.
Zach was born in 1926 in Canadensis, Pennsylvania
to Willard (Witt) and Mary Price. From
day one, he loved anything that flew, particularly birds and airplanes. At age 17, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air
Corps hoping to go to flying school.
Zach did in fact qualify for pilot training, but VE Day and VJ Day
arrived before the assignment to flying school.
Courtesy of the GI Bill, Zach graduated from Penn State with a B.S. and
an M.S. in Physics, along with what we would today probably call a minor in
Aeronautical Engineering.
After graduation, Zach took the
opportunity to head west, first to San Diego, California and then to Cheyenne,
Wyoming. In 1955, he accepted a job with
Boeing and moved to Seattle where he spent the next 53 years. The Pacific Northwest suited Zach very
well. He loved skiing, camping and
hiking. Although he hunted as a kid and
then sporadically into adulthood, at some point he converted to hunting with a
camera instead of a rifle as evidenced by the thousands and thousands of slides
and now digital images.
In January 1963, Zach met Natalie
while skiing at Mt. Baker and in November, they were married. They continued to share the skiing, camping
and hiking with each other and with the three kids, Kirsten, Heather and
Falcon. Zach also loved music. He took up piano in his mid-forties, then
violin, then viola. Zach played for
nearly 25 years with Highline Symphony Orchestra (in the back of Second Violin,
he would point out, but he loved it).
Zach also acquired many other interests over the years: silk screen printing, woodworking, painting
(watercolor), and grammar (English, Spanish, German . . . ). The last may qualify as more obsession than
interest J
Zach had many, many friends, a number
of whom count the friendship as several decades. Throughout his life, Zach was a generous
man—particularly with his time, knowledge and experience. And he was never at a loss for a story to
tell, even to the very last as the hospice staff can attest. He is missed.
Zach is preceded in death by his
parents, Willard (Witt) and Mary Price, and his brother Maurice. He is survived by his wife Natalie; sister
Mary; daughter Kirsten and her husband Jon; daughter Heather and her husband
Rex; son Falcon and his wife Lori; and four grandchildren, Mackenzie, Trevor,
Rey and Erik.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donating
to the charity of your choice. We invite you to share your recollections.
Zach's Family
