John Arthur Klasell

Husband, father, uncle, brother, friend, engineer, sailor. Born in Port Townsend, WA to Harvey and Phanoy Klasell, John was raised all around Puget Sound and the Olympic Peninsula. His Swedish grandparents, Nils A. and Johanna Klasell were early residents of Port Townsend. His Uncles and Aunt (Oscar, Alvin, George, and Esther Klasell) made sure he enjoyed an interesting and varied childhood as the son of their youngest brother. His maternal uncle, Herbert Crisler – photographer, cinematographer, and “mountain man of the Olympics” – added to his distinctly Northwest upbringing.

He graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Transportation & Civil Engineering and worked for the Washington State Department of Transportation – WSDOT – for thirty-two years before retiring. Before he finished college, during the Korean Conflict years, he was in the army and posted to Fort Devins in Shirley, Massachusetts. Before leaving for the east coast, John married his wife, Bonnie C. Klasell (Gainer) whose parents, Bonnie and Whitey Gainer, were early residents of Mats Mats Bay. They celebrated their sixty-fourth wedding anniversary on May 15, 2018. John is survived by his wife, children John C. (Bonnie), Shannon, and Peter (Ruby), four granddaughters, two great grandchildren, four nieces, five nephews, his sister Joanne Silvernale, and sister-in-law Ellie Gainer.

Post WSDOT retirement he worked as Consulting Engineer for the Tulalip Tribes, which was work he greatly enjoyed. He had a great love of boats and sailing, rowed crew for the University of Washington, was a Sea Scout as a boy, a member and past Commadore of Shilshole Bay Yacht club, and built, rowed, sailed, and generally loved “simply messing about in boats” his entire life.

John was an active member of St. John United Lutheran Church in the Greenwood area, and at St. Paul’s Lutheran in Fremont before the two congregations joined together. Many kids grew up remembering his interesting projects and lessons, like teaching and leading ten little kids to play “Jesus Loves Me” on the Ukelele, and making pinecone Advent Wreaths.

His Celebration of Life will be held at St. John United Lutheran Church 5515 Phinney Ave. N. Seattle, WA 98103, on Saturday, June 16th at 1:30pm.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his name to St. John United Lutheran Church to help fund their feeding program, which he whole-heartedly supported.

To make a donations to the Hot Meal Program at St. John United Lutheran Church in John's honor: Go to www.stjohnunited.org, click on Donate, and indicate what the donation is for you (you may need to start at General fund) OR you can mail a check to their address.

OR

Go online directly to the Phinney Neighborhood Center, where the program is coordinated at this link:

https://www.phineycenter.org/hotmeal/ and click on the link to donate funds.

You can also go directly to the donate form for the hotmeal program at:

https://pna.secure.nonprofitsoapbox.com/annualfund

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at https://www.dignitymemorial.com/butterworth-funeral-home for the KLASELL family.