Carl Verdel Pierce of Federal Way, passed away of natural causes in the presence of his loved ones on Monday, September 2, 2013 at the age of 72.
Carl was born in Spokane, WA, on February 9, 1941. He attended Grand Coulee High School from 1956–1959 and his senior year he attended Coulee Dam High School, graduating in 1960. Prior to graduating high school, he met and married his first wife, Mary House and had Carl Jr., Cheryl, Steven, and Mark. During their marriage, they resided in Renton and he started working for The Boeing Company in 1960 for about 12 years.
In 1972, Carl, along with a good friend started Spectrum Industries making furniture in Renton. As business increased, they relocated in 1975 to Seattle and continued doing business until 1977 when he and his business partner decided to part ways. By then, he had already married his second wife, Barbara Johnson, in 1975 and had Alisha, Melissa, Andrea, and Scott. During their marriage, they resided in Renton. In March 1978, Carl decided to return to The Boeing Company a few years later after closing Spectrum Industries and continued working for Boeing until he retired as a Grade 11 Tooling Inspector in 2001. Through out Carl’s career with Boeing, he attended classes and had specialty training pertaining to his work. If you add all of the classes and training Carl took, it would have been equal to a earning a degree which he was very proud of.
His true passion was helping people and made friends very easily. He loved telling all kinds of stories about his childhood and past with anybody who was willing to listen. Being the President of a local Avon Collectors club for roughly 10 years, Carl conducted local meetings with Barbara being the Secretary and attended Avon Conventions in addition to having a pretty good size Avon collection of memorabilia’s and collectables. He was very involved with his church and attended weekly Sunday services at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Hobbies included collecting anything that had to do with pirates, going camping and fishing with his family, home remodeling, landscaping, and had a green thumb for gardening. He loved watching This Old House and Ed Hume, which gave him ideas and inspiration on what to do for his next project. Carl could never pass up a garage sale. At times when the family made plans for a Saturday afternoon, he would hit every yard sale, patio sale and garage sale on the way to where he was taking his family. Sometimes making them become late and end up clear across town from where he originally started all because Carl had an enormous love for garage sale hunting looking for treasures while meeting new people at every home he went to. He enjoyed lounging on his brown beanbag eating his all-time favorite snack of vanilla ice cream mixed with peanut butter. He loved watching the Seahawks and taking his family on long weekend road trips to Eastern WA during the summer to visit family around the Spokane and Grand Coulee area. He was always good with money and helped teach his children what the value of a dollar was real quick by making them earn their allowances whether it was pulling weeds, tearing shingles off roofs, or helping him work on cars.
During his retirement years, he found more time to do his hobby-wood carving and belonged to the Northwest Carvers Assn. He was very talented; carving blocks of wood into pirates treasure chests that he filled with tiny little jewels, animals and miniature Santa’s to give them away as gifts to his children among other things he carved. Carl remained active by doing water aerobics several times a week at the Federal Way Community Center and attended church dances multiple times per month with his daughter, Alisha, accompanying him at times turning them into their daddy/daughter dates. He also enjoyed having lunch at the Federal Way Senior Center.
For the last 7 years of his life, he lived with his daughter, Melissa, which gave him what he always strived for- to be surrounded by his family. Because he had more free time, Carl was able to devote himself even more to his loved ones then ever before such as caring for his grandkids, Sascha and Hayden, so his daughter could work and made sure he attended every birthday, holiday, and any other special occasion the family was celebrating even when he was feeling under the weather. Always having a hard time saying no, because that was the type of man, Carl Pierce was. He would give you the last dollar out of his wallet and would rather suffer himself knowing the person he helped got the support they needed. He always made sure the people he cared for was being taken care of, even if he was not taking the greatest care of himself. Everything he did, he did with good intentions and a pure heart. A person like Carl was a good man to have around; he was smart, creative, and had an excellent eye for detail. All of his grandchildren- Nicole, David, Sarah, Elizabeth, Jennifer, Bobby, Amber, Ashley, Mikayla, Mackenzie, Damian, Hayden, Sascha, Avery, Keldon, and Devany as well as his great-grandchildren Damien and Sophia had a very special place in his heart. Whenever they would come around their grandpa, you could see his eyes light up with happiness. He loved spoiling them when no one was looking, playing with them which helped bring the kid out in him, and enjoyed letting the young ones hop on his electric scooter or sit in the front basket to go on rides.
Family was the most important thing in Carl’s life. He never would forget to tell you he loved you, was the go-to person to get current contact info, and was the glue that held his family together. Carl gave everyone the benefit of the doubt and supported so many people when no one else would give them a chance. Carl was the greatest father, brother, grandpa, uncle, cousin and most of all a true friend anybody could ever ask for. He will be greatly missed and will remain in our hearts forever.
Carl is predeceased by his parents, Clyde “Zelma” Robinson and Clarence Pierce, his brothers Clyde Pierce and Identical Twin Brother, Charles Pierce, and Kenneth Pierce. First wife, Mary House, and their first child Carl Jr.; and granddaughter, Jessica Woodard.
Carl is survived by his brother Dennis Pierce of Bellevue; sisters Jeanine Ellis of Spokane and Ronda Le Shawver of Colbert; daughters Cheryl Pierce of Bremerton, Alisha Heyer of Issaquah, Melissa Pierce of Federal Way and Andrea Pierce of Renton; sons, Steven Pierce and Mark Pierce of Port Hadlock, and Scott Pierce of Renton. He has 16 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren, Second wife, Barbara Johnson, and loving nieces, nephews, and cousins.
Viewing will be held at Greenwood Memorial Park Funeral Home, 350 Monroe Ave NE, Renton, WA 98056 on Friday, September 13, 2013 from 12–5 pm.
Funeral services will begin at 10:30 am on Saturday, September 14, 2013 at The Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints, 31816 47th Ave SW Federal Way, WA 98023.
Prior to the service, there will be a brief viewing from 9:30-10:30 am.
Immediately following the services, Carl’s children would like to invite everyone to stay for refreshments.
After refreshments have been served, there will be a Graveside service at the Greenwood Memorial Park Funeral Home starting at 2:30 pm.
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