Harry William Tindall

Harry William Tindall was born on a farm outside of Enid, Oklahoma, on January 12, 1919. He was the second of six children of Bill and Hazel Tindall.When he was four years old, his family packed up everything they owned into the familys Studebaker touring car, and moved to Washington. His family lived for awhile in Kalama, Washington. Then they moved to Seattle, living first in Alki, followed by homes in the Interlake, Ballard, and Wallingford neighborhoods. Harry attended B.F. Day Elementary School, Alexander Hamilton Junior High School, and graduated from Ballard High School in 1937.He was drafted June 16, 1941, at age 22, for one year military service. In 1941 Harry was stationed in Cheyenne, Wyoming. His service was subsequently extended, and he was sent overseas in November 1943, where he was stationed in Italy and north Africa. He was honorably discharged October 16, 1945.Harry and Cecelia Backster met the summer of 1947. At the time, Cec was working at Western Foods, a peanut-pickle-popcorn manufacturing company that they fondly referred to as the Nut House. One day Cecs boss inquired as to whether Cec would be interested in meeting a really nice man. Well, sure, she replied, and the next thing she knew, she was being introduced over the telephone to Harry.In February of 1948, Harry and Cec got engaged. They were married on August 6, 1948. At the time of the wedding, Cecelias home church, Seattle First Free Methodist Church, was being rebuilt. Church services were being held on the campus of Seattle Pacific College, in McKinley Auditorium. So, Harry and Cec chose, instead, to be married in Harrys sisters home, in the Laurelhurst neighborhood in Seattle.Harry and Cec lived for a few years in Ballard, where their four children were born, and moved to their home on lower Queen Anne Hill around 1958. There they attended Seattle First Free Methodist Church for most of the 61 years they were married. First Church, as those in the know always called it, was a driving force in the lives of Harry and Cec and their family. There, they were staunch members of the Homebuilders class. Homebuilders potlucks, socials, picnics, and parties were a happy combination of the two things that were most important to Harry: his church, and his family. It is true that Harry and Cec served sometimes as president of the Homebuilders class. But Harry and Cecs forte was being on the decorating committee for almost every single Homebuilders banquet. Over the years, Harry was probably in charge of the decorations for twenty-five or thirty different Homebuilders banquets. Harry was creative in many ways. Besides banquet decorations, he designed and silk-screened handmade Christmas cards for the Tindall family for years. He also derived satisfaction in coming up with creative solutions to practical problems. Whether it was jury-rigging together a piece of machinery, or creating clever and efficient solutions for problems ranging from storage to transporting camping gear to kitchen remodeling, Harry was in his element engineering the solutions.Harry also enjoyed the challenges and rewards of working with the Boy Scout troop that met at the church. For ten or more years Harry was actively involved in all the knot-tying, flag-folding, good deeds, and 40-mile hikes inherent in leading the program. All three of the boys, Mike, Steve, and Dave benefited from his participation in Boy Scouts, as did many other boys from the church and neighborhood.Harry worked hard all his life no matter what he was doing. His work life started as a sales representative with Pittsburgh Paints working in a retail store in Ballard and at Commercial Paint Company (sign painters) in Seattle. Harry worked for more than 15 years with Vitamilk Dairy near Greenlake, first as a promotional sales representative and then as an independent jobber (the home delivery milkman) and delivered routes in Ballard, Magnolia and north Seattle neighborhoods. He would get up at 5:00am in the morning with his truck loaded from the afternoon before, and carry milk and dairy products from house-to-house. He always interacted with his customers in a friendly and happy way and was fondly remembered with cards and well wishes on holidays and special occasions.Harry is survived by his wife of 61 years, Cecelia, and their four children: Mike (and Elaine) Tindall of Mill Creek, WA; Steve (and Donna) Tindall of Kirkland, WA; Dave (and Laurel) Tindall of Brier, WA; and Cheri (and Dave) Rash of Everett, WA. He has nine grandchildren: Chris (and Janene) Tindall, of Everett, WA; Jon (and Alia) Tindall, of Everett, WA; Andrea Tindall, of Seattle, WA; Jerry Tindall, of Seattle, WA; Jory Tindall, of Brier, WAKailee Tindall, of Brier, WA; Danny Rash, of Everett, WA; Janelle Rash, of Everett, WA; and Andrew Rash, of Everett, WA. He has one great-grandchild: Benjamin Tindall. Harry is also survived by his brother Bob Tindall, of Seattle, WA; his brother Ray Tindall, of Seattle, WA; and his sister Beulah (and Maury) Green, of Seattle, WA.The family requests in lieu of flowers, a donation in his name may be made to Seattle Pacific University (Sigma Rho Scholarship or Gymnastics), or Seattle First Free Methodist Church.