John A. "Jack" Sansom

John Alfred Sansom was born February 13, 1930 to John W. and Anna Belle (Mussor) Sansom in Sedro Woolley, Washington. He passed away at the age of 83 on December 4, 2013 after battling cancer for over a year.

John and his parents moved to West Seattle in the 1940’s where he graduated from West Seattle High School in 1949. After working as an office clerk for a year at Boeing, John enlisted in the United States Army in 1951and served for 2 years in Germany during the Korean War.

John attended Edison Technical School and eventually went to work for Boeing as an Electrical Technician where he worked for 30 years, retiring in 1988. John made many friends while working at Boeing and enjoyed getting together with them, even after retirement. He and several of his co-workers formed a “Lunch Group”, meeting weekly at different restaurants. John always looked forward to those Tuesdays until he was no longer able to attend due to the chemotherapy treatments.

John was always there for his parents, always helping them with projects around their home and helped build a vacation cabin on Haven Lake, located above Belfair State Park on Hood Canal. He enjoyed watching football, photography, coin collecting, fishing and numerous other activities. He always kept busy doing small projects around the house.

In 1970, John married Judith E. Duran and had a readymade family of 4 sons, Bruce, Gary, Dan and Tom. He was a caring husband and a good dad to the boys. It didn’t take long to earn their respect and gratitude for his involvement in their lives.

In 1988, John and Judy bought a new house in Auburn, Washington, where they have lived for the past 25 years and became great friends with their neighbors.

John also enjoyed trivia and facts about various topics, especially movies. He always had movie trivia books next to his recliner so that he could quickly look up some tidbit of information. He kept files, journals and scrapbooks regarding an assortment of issues. He would keep detailed records of everything he did, including all work performed on his automobiles, even the air pressure in the tires whenever he checked it. He had notebooks that he would record birthdays, marriages, anniversaries and deaths of relatives and close friends. He could recall someone’s age or when an individual had passed away.

John is survived by his wife, Judy, of 43 years; Stepsons Bruce Duran, Dan Duran, Tom Duran and their wives Janet, Chris and Tina respectively; 5 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren.

A celebration of John’s life will be held on Monday, December 16, 2013 at 1:00PM at Yarington’s/White Center Funeral Home with a reception following.

The family requests that remembrances be made to the Franciscan Foundation. Please mark you gifts for “Cancer Care” and mail them to:

The Franciscan Foundation

PO Box 1502

Tacoma WA 98401-1502