1919 – 2014
William (Bill) Forrest Tuff of Bellevue Washington went to be with our Lord on December 21st, 2014. He died with family at his side. He was 95 years of age.
Born in Manitou Manitoba, May 1, 1919, Bill was raised with his four sisters Margaret, Betty, Marion and Anne and his brother Stewart by their parents, Henry (Harry) Airth and Marion Smith (Forrest) Tuff. In 1927 the family moved to Pincher Creek Alberta where Bill’s father, Henry, worked as a mechanic and later owned a garage. Bill enjoyed the local swimming hole where he and his friends could swim in the summer and play hockey in the winter. He was interested in math and helped his father at the garage. After high school he held several jobs including work on the Canadian railroad and at a mining operation in eastern British Columbia.
During World War II Bill served in the Royal Canadian Army from 1941 through 1946 where he rose to the rank of lieutenant in the mobile artillery’s 19th Field Regiment. He served as an artillery training officer in England until soon after D-Day when he was able to join his unit in Holland and Belgium where he saw action in the famous Battle of the Bulge and in defending the Remagen Bridge over the Rhine River.
After his discharge in 1946 Bill’s interest in mechanics, engineering and math led him to enroll at the University of British Columbia from which he graduated in 1949 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Metallurgical Engineering. During this time he married Edna Sparks, whom he had met during his military training in eastern Canada. Michael Stephen was born to them in May of 1949 and soon after they moved to Ontario Canada and later to the San Francisco area where Edna bore a second son, Lawrence Richard. Tragically, Edna died unexpectedly in late 1953. Bill’s sisters Marion and Anne helped with the boys during this difficult time until Bill was able to arrange to live with his parents, Henry and Marion who had relocated to the Seattle area during the war. Bill began work as a West Coast sales engineer with Haynes Stellite Company of Kokomo Indiana. It was during this time that Bill became a naturalized US citizen.
During his travels through the San Francisco area on business Bill met Luceda (Lucy) Adams, a flight attendant for TWA Airlines. They were married in 1957 and in 1958 had a daughter, Lisa Lorraine and then a son, William Brian in 1961. They moved to Bellevue Washington in 1962 where they became very active with the newly established Newport Presbyterian Church.
In 1967 Bill’s work led the family to move to Anaheim California. In 1969 their oldest son, Michael, joined the US Army and was killed in combat operations in Laos in May of 1970. He is buried at Point Loma National Cemetery in San Diego California.
In 1973 the family moved back to the Seattle area to be near Bill’s aging mother, Marion, after his father, Henry passed in 1971. They relocated back to their old neighborhood in the Newport Hills area of Bellevue, re-joining the Presbyterian Church and rekindling their many friendships.
Bill retired from Haynes Stellite Company in 1984 after 30 years of service. In the succeeding years he planned and built a family vacation cottage on Whidbey Island, crafted fine wood furniture, joined a senior’s hiking club to continue his lifelong love of walking and remained very active in the lives of his sons and daughter, grandchildren, great grandchildren and their many friends in the area. His greatest joy was spending time with his grandchildren and great grandchildren who were always captivated by his ability to “whistle through his ear”, a trick effect of his two hearing aids which were required after losing most of his hearing in the artillery during the war.
Bill and Lucy relocated to nearby Regency Newcastle assisted living facility in 2009. In 2010 his beloved wife Lucy passed away after 53 years of marriage. Bill continued as a favorite resident at Regency (and one of the oldest) until illness in September of this year led him to relocate to an adult family home on Mercer Island where he passed with family present on December 21st.
Bill is preceded in death by his sisters Betty Peek and Margaret Meyers, brother Stewart Tuff, first wife Edna Tuff, second wife Lucy Tuff and son Michael Tuff.
Bill is survived by sisters Marion Guntert, Anne Denny, son Lawrence Tuff and wife Laurie of Snohomish, daughter Lisa Lewis and his husband Dr. Christopher Lewis of Mercer Island, son William B. Tuff and wife Susan of Puyallup, grandchildren Kylie Tuff, Todd Lancaster, Chelsea Lancaster, Kacy Abdi and her husband Arash, Austin Lancaster, Morgan Tuff and Michael Lewis. He is also survived by great grandchildren Skylar Heinzerling, Kaiya Carter, Lucas Carter and Haleem Abdi.
Bill was a wonderful and beloved father, grandfather, great grandfather and friend. We will all remember his warmth, his laughter, his reassuring nature and as being the best and most decent man we have ever known.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Newport Presbyterian Church Memorial Fund – 4010 120th Ave SE, Bellevue, WA 98006.