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
My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family, Natalie. Zach was always one of my mother's favorite cousins. She treasured your Christmas letters and Zach's photos. She often shared memories of Zach and his family in PA. She and I both appreciated his sharing the Price family history with us. Please know I am thinking of you all.
ReplyDeleteI am so sad to learn of Zach's passing. Natalie, you and he -- and Kirsten and Jon -- were extended family to me when I diredly needed it. I will long remember his stories, his book recommendations, our discussions about grammar and words, his love of music, and most especially, his love of birds...and all living things. I wish you peace in your grief. All the best - Marsha P
ReplyDeleteThe loss of a loved one is very difficult and confusing. I hope that all your friends and family give you the support that you will need in the difficult days that lie ahead. As you shed tears each day, I am sure that in addition to your loss, the good that came of you and Zachary being together, will come into your mind – let it in, and rejoice those good times… I have difficulty doing this at times, but I know that it helps.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could give you a huge hug in person, but instead, please feel the hug that I am sending you now.
Zach was adventurous and, whether it was music, art, furniture, wildlife or appreciating smallest meadow flower his fine mind found beauty and showed it to others who could appreciate it as though through his eyes. He loved his family and was an encouragement those around him. He will be dearly missed.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeletePosted by Natalie Price on behalf of Eckart W. Schmidt
My Fond Memories of Zach Price
I have always admired Zach for his all-round, versatile talent, regardless if it was math, music, painting, woodworking, photoshopping, birding and story telling, a true Renaissance man.
When it comes to ornithology and birding, today I still would not know the difference between a raptor and an accipiter if Zach had not explained it to me.
While out hiking in the Cascade mountains, before we got to know Zach and Natalie, we had often heard a bird sounding a two-tone call but we had never seen the bird and did not know its name. It took only one hike with Zach to clarify the mystery for us: The song bird is the Varied Thrush. Now, each time I hear this bird, I have to think of Zach.
Each year we received an artful greeting card from Zach, often with screen prints, for Christmas. I collected them all and for a while displayed the entire collection on the wall in my study. Now I have the collection in a ring binder. My favorite print is the one of two ptarmigans in winter plumage in front of a bush with red berries (1980).
When it came to discussing German grammar, Zach's favorite Pennsylvania Dutch quotation was "Throw the cow over the fence some hay" (the sequence of subject and object in a German sentence may be different from the one in English).
One time I cut down a big cherry tree in my backyard and knowing that cherry wood is a sought-after wood for furniture carpentry, I offered it to Zach. It turned out that properly aging the wood before it can be used for furniture is a lengthy process and instead it went into fire wood.
Zach was a co-founder of a Boeing spin-off, Rocket Research Company, when he and four others walked out of Boeing to go into business for themselves. This small start-up company was successful and became a major contributor to rocket propulsion in the U.S. and attracted engineers and scientists like myself to work with them. I worked for Rocket Research Company for 29 years and if it had not been for Zach and his co-founders, my career might have gone a totally different path.
Bellevue, April 8, 2013
Eckart W. Schmidt