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To 'Traff' Hubert, jazz was incredible
Friday, June 01, 2001
He was a musician, a man consumed by the smooth and swinging rhythms of jazz, who was in heaven whenever his hands thumped his bass, be it at New York's Birdland or the Southcenter Nordstrom foyer.
F. Trafford "Traff" Hubert was a tall, lanky, soft-spoken kid from Puyallup who fell hard for jazz back in the days when such records were sheathed in brown paper and stashed behind music-store counters.
"I was obsessed with jazz, " Mr. Hubert told Paul de Barros, who chronicled the Seattle jazz scene in his 1993 book "Jackson Street After Hours."
"I had about 3, 000 78s. When Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker first came out, I almost went crazy. I thought that was the greatest thing I had ever heard."
Mr. Hubert was in his late teens when some friends from Tacoma needed a bass player. So he rented a bass, bought a bass book and taught himself to play.
Suddenly, he was jamming with locals - then in after-hours clubs, road tours, gigs at Fort Lewis and eventually gigs in Seattle, according to de Barros' book. In 1950, Mr. Hubert became the fourth man in the Cecil Young Quartet, a bebop band that played so very fast. Audiences dug it.
The quartet released two records, played the legendary Birdland, the Blue Note in Chicago and Hi-Hat in Boston.
Mr. Hubert was the last living member of the quartet until his death on May 24 from cancer. He was 74.
"Everything in his life fit around playing music, " said his daughter Lynn Chapman of Bainbridge Island, about a man who continued to play jobs even after he fell ill two years ago. Playing jazz was ecstasy. And Mr. Hubert never disclosed his illness, out of fear that if people knew he was sick, he wouldn't get work, his daughter said.
"That's what he was. He was a player and he always wanted to play, " said Seattle musician and longtime friend Ken Olendorf.
Performers aren't necessarily the flashiest of folks, which was the case with Mr. Hubert, friends recalled.
As a musician, he was a conscientious and kind man, always on time, always accommodating to those around him. For a short while, after the quartet dissolved, Mr. Hubert earned a living as a record salesman. And in the 1980s, he was the popular host of "Traff's Trip, " a jazz show on local radio stations KRAB and KXA.
But always, there were gigs: the Seattle Roots festival, private, dot-com affairs, a Kingdome implosion party. As a white man touring with black musicians a half-century ago, Mr. Hubert had entry to a world that many never saw.
"I learned to eat hot soul food and learned about the illegal black cabs called `jitneys, ' who would act as our personal taxicab, " Mr. Hubert said in the jazz book. "It was an education. Some black people asked me, sincerely, if I was crazy. I said, `I'm here because I like the music.' "
Mr. Hubert's living room in the Ravenna neighborhood of Seattle never held a couch but instead was flush with record albums, music and recording equipment.
Others found Mr. Hubert inspiring for reasons besides music.
He was a recovering alcoholic in his 18th year of being clean and sober, a fact that he was proud of and that he wanted included in his obituary. Many folks knew Mr. Hubert as a counselor at the Lakeside-Milam Recovery Center and as a regular speaker at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, folks who have been calling his daughter Lynn and telling her what a difference he made.
Mr. Hubert was preceded in death by his son, Tad, and former wife, Julie Nickelson. Survivors include his daughter Lisa Rowland of Poulsbo, Kitsap County, five granddaughters, one great-granddaughter and his former wife Rita Hubert of Seattle.
A memorial jam session is scheduled for 1 to 4 p.m. June 10 at the Seattle Labor Temple, 2800 First Ave.
Remembrances may be made in Mr. Hubert's name to radio stations KPLU or KUOW.
John Slusarchuk, proud of his roots
Sunday, June 03, 2001
John Slusarchuk lived in the United States for 41 years, but the Saskatchewan native never forgot his Canadian roots.
He was active in the Canadian Legion and was one of many Canadian members of a Seattle club dedicated to curling, a sport popular in Canada.
Mr. Slusarchuk died Monday (May 28) at Meydenbauer Medical and Rehabilitation Center in Bellevue. He was 84.
Before entering the nursing home, he had lived in Bellevue with his wife, Mary, since 1965.
He started curling before he emigrated from Canada in 1960, but didn't join a club until he arrived in Washington, his wife said.
Mr. Slusarchuk curled every Tuesday with other senior citizens at the Granite Curling Club's rink in the Haller Lake neighborhood of North Seattle, said Walter Russell, a fellow curler.
"John was a good player, " Russell said. "He loved the game."
In curling, played on ice, two teams of four players compete with corn brooms to try to sweep round stones as close as possible to a target circle.
When Mr. Slusarchuk was younger, he sometimes traveled with teams to Vancouver, B.C., and other cities for tournaments. In recent years, he and the other seniors "curled mainly for fun, " Russell said.
Mr. Slusarchuk served for five years in the Canadian army during World War II; he was stationed in the Netherlands, Britain, Germany and Italy.
He was one of about 75 Seattle-area members of the Canadian Legion and served for 15 years as finance director, said Ralph Meyers, another legion member.
Mr. Slusarchuk regularly attended legion meetings, parties, dinners, and Veterans Day and Memorial Day processions.
In 1951, Mr. Slusarchuk received a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, his wife said. He worked as an engineer in Toronto until his company went out of business in 1960.
Mr. Slusarchuk wanted to continue living in Canada, but could not find work there. After a short time in Philadelphia, he moved to Seattle in 1960 to work at Boeing. He retired from the aerospace company in 1982.
Mr. Slusarchuk's parents immigrated to Canada from Ukraine, and he maintained links to his ethnic background. Every month, he and his wife went to Seattle to attend Mass celebrated in Ukrainian and English by a Ukrainian priest at the chapel at St. James Cathedral.
Mr. Slusarchuk was well-liked and well-read, his brother William Slusarchuk said.
"He was a bookworm, " his brother said. "He loved reading all kinds of different books. Sometimes you'd talk to him and he wouldn't hear you - he'd concentrate on his reading so much."
Mr. Slusarchuk is also survived by his brother Peter of Canada; sisters, Mary Meleshko and Anne Kis, both of Canada; three stepsisters, Barbara, Mary and Helen, all of Canada; and many nieces and nephews.
No services were held.
Clarence Svendsen, 62-year employee
Tuesday, June 26, 2001
In an age when it's said people will change careers about every seven years and company loyalty is a thing of the past, Clarence Svendsen stood out as a reminder of how the world once functioned.
Before his death Wednesday (June 20) at 93, after a two-month battle with cancer, Mr. Svendsen had worked for the Fisheries Supply Co. for 62 years.
When Mr. Svendsen retired at age 88 in 1996, Carl Sutter, Fisheries Supply owner, was asked to make a speech.
To prepare for the event, Sutter said he thought about how long 62 years is and began calculating how many days an employee would have come to work in that time, how many invoices he would have written and how many customers he would have served.
"We had some fun with it, " Sutter said. "It was in the millions. It just goes on and on."
That work was only part of a life that could not be paralleled today, said Mr. Svendsen's daughter, Julie Schmidt.
Mr. Svendsen was born in Seattle in 1908 and moved to Norway with his parents for a few years but returned to the United States after his parents decided living in America was better.
He would later tell stories about helping build a highway to Mount Baker in Whatcom County, living in West Seattle, where the family kept a cow, and living in a hunting lodge in Bellevue when it was a remote destination - so far away that city dwellers from Seattle went there to hunt.
In the summer of 1934, Mr. Svendsen took part in Alaska's last commercial whale hunt from a whaling station, and years later he was interviewed by researchers from the University of Washington about his memories of that now-vanished occupation, recalled his daughter.
The next year, Mr. Svendsen married
and began looking for a more stable job, starting then with Fisheries Supply. He and his wife, Olive, bought their house in the Sunset Hill area in 1949, and Mr. Svendsen lived there up until a few weeks before his death. His wife died in 1993.
Fisheries Supply originated on Seattle's Pier 55 in 1928 and moved to the north edge of Lake Union some 20 years ago. Mr. Svendsen made that move and then ended his career in outside sales throughout the Puget Sound area.
Sutter, who's 61, remembers seeing Mr. Svendsen at the Pier 55 location when Sutter began helping in the family business there as a child.
"He was tough, strong, a tender-hearted guy, " Sutter said. "He knew part and parcel of everything about building a boat or repairing a boat. He was a great man. Absolutely amazing."
Mr. Svendsen also was an active member of the Norwegian community in Seattle. He was a member and past president of the Norwegian Commercial Club. He also was a past president of the Sons of Norway and the longest-serving member of that organization, having belonged for 76 years.
He sang in the Norwegian Male Chorus of Seattle for more than 50 years. He was widely noted for playing the harmonica and accordion.
Besides Schmidt, Mr. Svendsen is survived by another daughter, Christine Schwald, of Whidbey Island, and a son, Robert Svendsen, of Seattle. A second son, Mark, died of leukemia in 1956.
A celebration of Mr. Svendsen's life will be at 2 p.m. Friday at the Leif Erickson Lodge, 2245 N.W. 57th St.
Remembrances are suggested to the Norse Home, 5311 Phinney Ave. N., Seattle, WA 98103.
Herb Rosen, who founded Skipper's, had Midas touch
Monday, June 25, 2001
An entrepreneurial spirit and a Midas touch followed Herb Rosen everywhere he went.
The son of Russian immigrants and a child of the Depression, Mr. Rosen learned early the value of hard work. The Bellevue resident parlayed his business sense into a record-distribution company and later founded the Skipper's Seafood 'n' Chowder House chain.
He died Tuesday (June 19) of heart failure. He was 79.
Mr. Rosen's father came to Seattle in 1905 and immediately formed his own business picking up other immigrants at the railway station and taking them to their destinations - sort of an early taxi service. He noticed their luggage and thought he could build a better suitcase. He started Durabuilt Luggage, which became a national company.
During World War II, Mr. Rosen, a lieutenant in the Army, was stationed in France, where he acquired a love of French language and culture.
After the war, he worked for the family business for a few years. He also married
a woman he had met before he went off to war. The couple, who met on a blind date, were married
54 years. Rita Rosen survives.
Along with several partners, Mr. Rosen co-founded Consolidated Distributors, a company that distributed records throughout the Northwest.
"They met all the artists, " said his son, Stan, of Seattle. "People like Nat King Cole and a bunch of others."
Mr. Rosen sold the company to ABC Records in 1965.
The next big thing for Mr. Rosen came out of his love for fish and chips. "It was one of his favorite foods, " his son said.
He started Skipper's Fish and Chips Chowder House (which later became Skipper's Seafood 'n' Chowder House) in Bellevue in 1969. It grew to become the fourth-largest seafood chain in the country, with more than 200 outlets in the Northwest and British Columbia. He sold the company in 1989 to National Pizza, the franchisee of Pizza Hut and Burger King.
After he suffered a heart attack at 42, Mr. Rosen started re-evaluating his place in the Jewish community, his son said.
"He gave his money to bricks-and-mortar and buildings, things that live on, " said Carol Starin of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle. "People went to him for advice because he thought like a businessman. He was always no-nonsense; you ask him a question and he asked you hard questions back."
The Jewish Day School of Metropolitan Seattle, the Stroum Jewish Community Center and the Jewish Education Council are among the organizations that Mr. Rosen lent his business acumen and financial support. He and his wife, Rita, were also instrumental in the growth of the Bellevue Art Museum.
Mr. Rosen is also survived by a daughter, Judy de Jonge of Seattle; and five grandchildren.
Donations in his memory may be made to the Jewish Day School of Metropolitan Seattle, 15749 N.E. Fourth St., Bellevue, WA 98008; or the Seattle Jewish Community School, 2632 N.E. 80th St., Seattle, WA 98115.
Physicist Douglas Jones aided cancer treatment
Wednesday, July 11, 2001
Douglas Jones was so important to providing cancer treatments at Virginia Mason Medical Center that the radiation-oncology section was closed yesterday in honor of the contributions he had made to patients.
Mr. Jones, 61, died July 5 after suffering a heart attack.
"He was just an amazing man, " said Mary Rouzer, who worked with Mr. Jones for 20 years at Lynnwood's Northwest Medical Physics Center, which he founded. "His brain never stopped. He was the kindest man you ever met."
A physicist, Mr. Jones was a person "who didn't want to make bombs" and instead turned his energies into improving the lives of patients throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Many of those contributions involved his work as the sole physicist at Virginia Mason.
Mr. Jones was born March 5, 1940, in Britain and in 1965 worked in Rochester, England, as a medical physicist. He supervised a research project involving thermo-luminescent dosimetry, a form of cancer treatment, and was invited to Boston to share his research.
That presentation was so successful that it led to his move to the United States, first for a brief time in California, and in 1969 to the Lake Stevens area of Snohomish County.
In 1980, he founded and directed the Northwest Medical Physics Center, which now employs 14 physicists and provides medical-physics consulting services to hospitals from Alaska to Oregon.
Mr. Jones was the author of countless publications in medical journals and was a fellow of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine and the American College of Radiology.
His work was crucial in determining and aiding in the proper treatment of cancer patients, said Rouzer, but Mr. Jones' research also took other forms. This year, his research was cited as being instrumental in allowing substantial improvements to be made in the design of the radiation shielding for the Cancer Care Alliance clinic at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.
Using normal techniques, shielding for a linear-accelerator vault there would have required walls 9 feet thick, but Mr. Jones was able to calculate a way to provide the shielding with walls of heavyweight concrete just 44 inches thick, with an additional 4 inches of normal concrete.
That allowed the clinic to gain 2, 000 square feet of valuable treatment space.
Mr. Jones is survived by his wife of 39 years, Ann; two children, Julie and Andrew; and four grandchildren. A memorial service was held yesterday at the Snohomish Presbyterian Church.
Virginia Dearborn loved literature and friends
Saturday, July 07, 2001
Her friendship was almost like a badge of honor.
"I met her in the '50s, " said John Voorhees of Seattle.
"I'm her almost-oldest friend, " said Joyce Hardy of Sea Ranch, Calif.
"I've known her for quite awhile - almost 50 years, " said Audrey Spady of Seattle.
Whether exchanging weekly letters, getting season tickets to the Seattle Repertory Theatre or making an annual pilgrimage to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, friends of Virginia Dearborn were friends for life.
Miss Dearborn died Wednesday (July 4) at the Care Center hospice at Kelsey Creek in Bellevue. She was 81.
Born in Seattle, Miss Dearborn graduated from Queen Anne High School and from the University of Washington.
She taught at Lake Washington and Sealth high schools and was head of the English department at Ballard High School. At Ballard, Miss Dearborn taught a creative-writing course that inspired many of her students.
"She loved literature, and she could convey that love, " said Roger Whitlock of Honolulu. After taking Miss Dearborn's class at Ballard, Whitlock went on to become a professor of English at the University of Hawaii.
"Passion is a word that really characterizes Virginia, " said Hardy, who was often a passenger in Miss Dearborn's midnight-blue Ford convertible while they were students at the UW. "If she was reading a book, it was the most marvelous book ever written, and you would hear all about it in great detail. And if she was reading a poem, it was the most fabulous poem she'd ever read."
After retiring from Sealth in 1971, Miss Dearborn continued to teach poetry and classic literature at the Women's University Club in Seattle.
"She had a whole aura about her that was very warm and kind of sunshiny, " said Judy Donnelly, the club's assistant manager. "There were a lot of people who would take classes here mainly because she was involved."
Miss Dearborn was known for her astute wit and for her ability to recite poetry and remember song lyrics.
While in her 70s, she held informal Shakespeare gatherings with a dozen friends.
"She taught me, after all these years, an appreciation of Shakespeare, " said Nita Dootson of Redmond, who went to high school with Miss Dearborn. "She did such a beautiful job of reading, interpreting and actually acting the parts. ... She did it in such a wonderfully amusing way."
Central to Miss Dearborn's identity were her numerous friends.
"She cultivated many, many friends from many, many walks, and it was important to her to keep those friends and share with them, " Hardy said.
"She'd been in the hospital since the first of the year, and I always asked, `Who came today?' Then she'd list off all the people who'd visited her, " recalled Voorhees, a former Seattle Times television critic. "She loved the fact that she was sort of holding court in her hospital room."
Miss Dearborn is survived by her brother, William Barbour Dearborn of Tacoma, and many friends.
A memorial service is scheduled Aug. 29 at the Women's University Club. Call 206-623-0402 for details.
Donations can be made in Miss Dearborn's name to the Women's University Club, 1105 Sixth Ave., Seattle, WA 98101.
