Visiting Daphne and Bob

Bob with Luscombe at Boeing Field April, 1947

Sunday, September 19, I drove to Seattle then arranged to visit Daphne and Bob Dempsey who live in Kenmore at the north end of Lake Washington.  My purpose was to return photos which they had loaned me for scanning into my computer.  These were photos of Bob and his brother Burt and their parents, Francis (Franziska Staeheli of Gubsenmoos) and LaVern Dempsey.  Most were photos taken during their gold mining days in Alaska before and after the Second World War.  Bob reviewed the photos with me describing the activity happening in each photo.

Daphne prepared dinner and we enjoyed this meal while talking about recent events.  Bob and Daphne are in generally good health having recovered from recent accidents or illness.  I learned that Bob had a business building cabinets in his parents garage in Wallingford then built a cabinet shop in 1958 in Kenmore.  He operated this shop until 1964 building cabinets for homes developed by Burt and also their sister, Eileen and her husband who were homebuilders.

After WWII Bob had flight training and earned a private pilot license.  His favorite plane was the Cessna 140.  He has considerable experience driving trucks and operating heavy machinery for the Washington Department of Transportation. 

Bob's sister, Eileen, who was born in Priest River, Idaho April 8, 1920(?) passed away June 26, 2010 in Arlington, Washington.  She left a son, Jerry, and a daughter, Sharon.

We talked about arranging a Staeheli family reunion in 2011 and the issue of travel for family living in Western Washington and Eastern Washington. 

I enjoy meeting with Bob and Daphne and look forward to my next opportunity.

Bob 1943/44