Gretchen Denton Surry Monteith

Early years were like a little Shirley Temple with a love of school, dance lessons and church. Went to John Hay grade school, Queen Anne High School and then the University of Washington. At the UW, she was active in the Alpha Omega Pi Sorority and completed a Bachelors in Home Economics. After graduation, she taught that subject at Sultan and Sumner High Schools until her marriage to Lee Monteith who she had met at the Westminster House gatherings while at the UW. With marriage, she was back in Seattle and worked at Seattle City Light demonstrating how to use electric appliances for cooking and home-making.

Lee’s work took them to California for several years where they started a family. Not to stay away from friends and family long, they took an opportunity to move back to Seattle. With children in school, she began a new career in market research conducting polls and product testing for numerous major agencies and companies. She leveraged her people network into being a Tupperware Sales Manager and closed out her working career.

She was a beloved mother of two sons who she supported in many activities including scouting, music, and sports, as well as encouraging them in school with both achieving doctoral degrees. She encouraged and supported her husband in his career in environmental chemistry, the army reserve and many other activities.

Her own activities including home life, sewing, knitting, TV, reading, pets and cheering the Husky teams. She loved to tell the history of her family in Seattle and Washington.

When retirement approached, she took to planning travel trips around the world for she and Lee, enjoying cruising the oceans and continents of the world. She had a wonderful attitude through the pandemic and the isolation, while her health and mobility waned, and she had limited options for travel.

Gretchen is survived by her husband of 68 years (Lee), sons David (Terri) and Dan (Cameron), three grandchildren, and one great grandchild.