In Memoriam
Bilge Pump Issue:
April 2011Grimm, Huber Keith, M.D. 1920 - 2011
Captain Huber Keith Grimm, MD, crossed the bar on Feb 18,2011, at ninety years old! Huber was born on September 6,1920, the second son to UW All-American Huber "Polly" Grimm and Emma Grimm, in Centralia, and graduated from Centralia High School in 1938.
Huber entered the University of Washington and played freshman football. He enrolled in the San Francisco College of Embalming and in 1939 received his license as an embalmer and funeral director, working as a circuit embalmer for numerous funeral homes in the Greater Seattle area during the war. Huber entered Seattle University in 1942 and received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1945. Huber attended Saint Louis University School of Medicine, where here received his medical degree in 1949 and received his certification in General Practice and General Surgery at Seattle's Providence Hospital in 1951.
As an intern at Providence, Dr. Grimm began his 30-year tenure as team physician for Seattle University, providing medical services to hundreds of athletes and their families during the golden years of Seattle University basketball, as well as serving as team physician at Seattle Preparatory School. Dr. Grimm was inducted into the Seattle University Athletic Hall of Fame three times, once as an individual and twice as a team member of the 1957-58 and 1962-63 basketball squads. As a physician, Dr. Grimm served as a captain in the United States Army Medical Corps from 1952-54 and was a surgeon and Medical Commander at Camp Irwin in Barstow, CA.
Upon his return, Dr. Grimm opened his medical practice in Seattle, serving the community for 42 years until 1996. During that time, Dr. Grimm delivered thousands of babies and provided medical assistance to underprivileged families. He served on numerous professional boards and was Past President of Washington State Academy of Family Physicians, King County Blue Shield, King County Medical Services Corporation, and Washington State Academy of Family Physicians.
Dr. Grimm married his wife Georgia in 1944. They settled in Capitol Hill, raising nine boys (Tom, Bob, Larry, Gerald, Peter, Chris, Paul, Scott & Pat) and after having the sixth boy, Georgia brought in Suzie Montegut to help care for the younger Grimm boys. After assimilating into the family, Huber, Georgia and the boys considered Suzie part of the family and she became the 10th Grimm child. As one can imagine in a household raising nine energetic boys, there was never a dull moment! After Georgia's untimely death, Dr. Grimm married Mary Lancaster in 1998. Dr. Grimm was also a charter member of the Seattle Seafair Clowns and was a Past President of the Associated Seattle University Graduates Club.
Dr. Grimm was an avid boater his entire life and in 1960 Dr. Grimm joined Queen City Yacht Club (he was member #009 at the time of his death) and quickly became an active and contributing member. He served the club well as Fleet Surgeon for 34 years, served on the Board for two 3 year terms, was Chairman of the Board, and chairman of numerous committees including the Entertainment/Skit Committee several times, Birthday Party committee and Safety Committee. In addition, Dr. Grimm served on the club’s US Coast Guard Auxiliary for 27 years. Every couple of years, in his capacity of Fleet Surgeon, Huber would speak at one of our regular meetings, providing information about what we should include in our first aid kits and additional items of meds and equipment to assure a well equipped locker to deal with common accidents and illnesses. He loved cruising the waters of Puget Sound and Canada with his family and loved working on his boat.
Huber owned numerous boats over the years but was especially fond of his 45 foot 1954 Chris Craft, GEE GE, named after Georgia, that he owned for 31 years. The boat became a well known fixture at Queen City, spending many weekends at Winslow and cruising up in the islands. Scott maintained the paint and varnish and Huber and Scott worked together on the engines. Unfortunately, that boat burned in 1996 right here at Queen City, but Huber got back in the saddle and purchased the present GEE GEE with Peter, Paul, Scott and Pat. After Huber couldn’t operate it any longer, he passed the boat on to them and now the Gee Gee is owned by Pat and moored peacefully on Dock 2. It is a tribute to Huber that Peter, Paul, Scott and Pat followed in their father’s footsteps and joined Queen City and are active members in the club. Paul and Scott each own Chris Crafts and, along with Pat and Pete, continue Huber’s tradition of working on their boats. Their brother Tom also owns a “Tupperware” boat and is a member of Everett Yacht Club. Huber was very proud of Scott going through the chairs as Commodore and it’s no wonder, too, that Paul and Scott also followed in his footsteps and “entertain” the club at Entertainment night every year!
Huber is remembered very fondly by many, many members as not only a “pillar” of the club in his generation but as a warm, fun loving friend. The Grimms often cruised up north with the Art Janes’, Howard Wilsons, Al Tregonings, Dye Hawleys, Joe Klietchs, Jerry Walliks, Todd Deems and Bill Castrow families. They all had their kids with them and now savor wonderful memories of their fun days together cruising and ”growing up” in the club while up in the islands and at Seattle and Winslow. Many of the kids have become life-long friends. When boating together, everyone helped everyone else if boat problems occurred and Huber is remembered as a very good mechanic – often getting other boats under way again. Among many other things, Huber loved to fish and was quite proficient at landing a salmon or two.
Huber always flew his Fleet Surgeon flag and would treat anybody that needed medical help – a true medical “good Samaritan.”
Dr. Grimm is preceded in death by his wife, Georgia. He is survived by his wife, Mary, her two children, Mary Lou and James, and his ten children and their spouses, Suzanne Montegut (Monte), Thomas (Gari), Fr. Robert, Lawrence (Barbara), Gerald (Betsy), Peter (Dawn), Christopher (Wendy), Paul, Scott (Karin) and Patrick (Nancy). He is also survived by two dozen grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Chaplain’s Note: When contacting members about Huber, P/C Doug O’Brien sent the following story about boating with the Grimms in Big Bay. It is too good not to include it in Huber’s eulogy, so it follows just as Doug has written it:
A Note from P/C Doug O’Brien:
You asked me for some thoughts on Huber. Here are two, all in the same time frame that I remember so clearly.
Huber had a heart bigger than his boat. He'd do anything for anyone, any time. He loved fellowship, whether he knew you or not -- he and Georgia loved to be with people.
One summer day, we pulled into Big Bay at the top of Desolation Sound. 'Lo and behold there was the Gee Gee tied to the dock. My generator had shut down. During happy hour on board the Shenanigan with the Grimms, Huber decided he thought he could fix my generator. He went to his boat, rummaged through a bunch of parts and came up with the part that was needed. I can't remember what the failed part was, but being this far from home, the main thing was to get it operating for the duration of our cruise. And Huber made it happen. He gave up his back-up spare that he had, so that we could continue our vacation with our generator operating. That's the real kind of fellowship that our club is known for.
The fact that Huber fixed the generator was reason enough that he suggested we
carry on our happy hour...so we did. The sun was setting, it was getting toward dusk when an RCMP 42' Canoe Cove pulled up to our dock. They were greeted by Huber who assisted with the lines, and as soon as they secured to the dock, Huber asked what brought them to Big Bay. They said that had been on 'patrol' and that their shift had ended. Huber said, "Wonderful! - why not come aboard our boat and join us for happy hour?" (Scotch, of course!) and they did.
Darkness fell on Big Bay, but the lights of our Shenanigan were blazing away with my Barbara, Georgia, Huber and 3 or 4 of the Canadian boys aboard enjoying visiting and our happy hour(s!).
Some time later, the RCMP radio crackled that "our friends" were needed to try and find a small boat that had lost its power and was adrift in the Arran Rapids area -- in the black of night. So the Mounties excused themselves from the "happy hour," fired up their engines and hustled off in search of two or three fishermen who had run out of gas and had been enjoyed their own "happy hour" on the water -- probably since around noon the same day. The RCMP "got their men," brought 'em ashore and "dried them out" as it were. By now, our happy hour had ended, as it did with the Mounties.
Good memories of but just one, fun-filled adventure, whenever you happened to be traveling with the Grimms!
Marcelynas, Robert (Bob) Allyn 1944 – 2011
Captain Bob Marcelynas passed away peacefully on Feb 15, 2011, at the age of sixty-six. Bob was born in Riverside, California, on April 1, 1944. While most people would not enjoy having their birthday on that day, Bob thought it was a great day to be born. After all, any fool could remember that date!
His father, Anthony, was a fiery Lithuanian, and his mother, Elizabeth, was the ever proper English lady. Bob had one brother, Richard, who was seven years older. His father was serving in the Army at the time Bob was born and they were not in California for long. The family lived all over the United States and in Wurzburg, Germany. Living in so many places over the next few years was instrumental in his life. It gave him a passion for travel which he pursued with his own family.
Bob graduated from Clover Park High School in 1962. It was here, on the field or court, where he really shined! Bob had always loved to compete and although this competitive spirit started on the playground in elementary school shooting marbles, it quickly blossomed and grew into a defining characteristic of his personality. Competition, of any kind, drove Bob to pursue his own excellence, in high school and throughout his life He became a force to reckon with on the football field and eventually was the starting quarterback for the varsity team. He also loved to play basketball and participated in wrestling.
After high school he went on to attend WSU, where he met his future wife, Stephanie, on September 18, 1962. They were together that entire first year of school and had a wonderful time adapting to college life. The next year Bob transferred to the University of Washington. He told his parents it was because there were better courses for him to pursue, but the family always thought it was so he could follow in his brother’s footsteps and join the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity! He graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in economics and then entered law school at the University of Idaho.
Two years later, Bob and Steffie were together again! They were married at the tender age of 24 on June 8, 1968. Their first home was an apartment on Queen Anne with easy access to Bob’s first job as an assistant accounting manager at Nordstrom. Their first child, their daughter Carrie Anne, was born on May 28, 1969. Their second child, Andrew, was born on April 19, 1975. Bob was very proud to have his girl and boy! He felt very blessed. WOW….life was going fast! But, with Bob that was a constant.
Bob enjoyed investing and began by dabbling in the real estate market. He owned many different homes and buildings but his most treasured acquisition was the family’s present home, purchased in 1977, located just above Shilshole Bay in Ballard.
His biggest investment came in 1991. He had the opportunity to experience many different industries before he finally purchased his own company, Washington Belt and Drive Systems, in 1991. He had been the controller at Washington Belt for 10 years prior to purchasing the company. During this time, he had assisted the prior owner in expanding and developing its footprint throughout the Washington. Under Bob’s careful watch the company grew from seven branches to thirteen with locations in Montana, Wyoming, Oregon and Alaska.
Bob joined Queen City in 2002 and he and Stephie immediately became active and involved members - Bob really enjoyed everything about it. With their new boat and new friends, it was a whole new world! They made friends quickly and easily and attended many, many functions at the club – often with their best friends, and also new members at the time, George and Nancy Austin. Bob and Steffie learned a lot about being a part of the water world and all that entailed! Bob and Stephie chaired the Valentine’s Sweetheart Dinner in 2008. Bob served our club as a Board of Trustee member in 2009 and 2010 and enjoyed predicted log racing, often making a team with Marv Elbon and Ken Klett. Bob and Stephie owned the Moon Rider, a beautiful 37’ Cummins powered Bayliner that they loved to cruise to the San Juans and the Gulf Islands.
Bob is lovingly remembered as a wonderful loving husband, father, grandfather and loyal friend. We will surely miss Bob at our club.
Bob leaves Stephanie, his loving wife of 41 years, daughter Carrie and Roy Cupler and their two boys Max and Jack, and son Andy and Kate and grandsons Vinnie & Leo.
