Gabriel Martin Morelli was born on August 6, 1929 to Martino Morelli (from San Gregorio, Italy) and Loreta (Giusti of Rocca di Mezzo, Italy). He was the only son and the middle child between the late Clare and sister Emilia, who lives in California. Gabriel was born in Kirkland, Washington and died in Kirkland, one day before his 91st birthday.
Gabriel lived at the same address, 5830 148th Ave N.E, in Redmond, his entire life (other than a few years in the military). This Craftsman style home was built by his parents in 1932, and is situated on one of the 63 acres of the former Morelli Brothers Chicken Farm, that the family acquired in 1916. During Gabe’s childhood, the entire extended family lived in adjacent homes on the land. His aunts, uncles and cousins worked and played together on the family farm. It was here that Gabe and his cousins got up to all kinds of crazy antics. They got into a lot of trouble, chasing after rats and trapping skunks. They played a version of stick baseball - with rocks and sticks - that they made up and role-played for hours. Gabe loved the Seattle Rainiers.
Life, for Gabe, was also filled with farm chores:
Two jobs that he talked about frequently were:
1. Weeding the immense farm vegetable garden. Gabe remembered this patch as having very very long rows and he was paid 10 cents a row to weed.
2. Gathering the many eggs on the farm. At that time the Morelli Brothers Chicken Farm raised Free Range egg-laying hens. These hens laid eggs and made nests EVERYWHERE in the fields under bushes, in the shrubs and especially in tree stumps. The kids were tasked to find the eggs on the many acres – a real egg hunt! Gabe said he didn’t complain about this chore, and, in fact, thought it was a fun treasure hunt and a great game.
Gabe went to Redmond Elementary School and then Lake Washington High School, in Kirkland. He was an excellent student, and in particular enjoyed English, world languages, debate and drama. He played the lead male role in the school play called “Ladies of the Jury”. He was also the senior class president. He lettered in baseball and football. He graduated from Lake Washington High School in 1947.
In the fall he entered Washington State University. At that time the United States was in involved in the Korean Conflict which necessitated a military draft. Gabe’s status was A1 so he was completely eligible to be drafted. Gabe was not a planner, but more of a “Let happen what happens” sort of fellow. At this time a university student could get a deferment and delay the draft upon condition of a high GPA and a very good score on a national test. Gabe passed the exam and maintained his GPA so his college education was NOT interrupted by the draft. He graduated in 1951 with a degree in Spanish, and a double minor in French and English. He received his teaching certificate for the State of Washington on September 7, 1951. He was qualified to teach junior and senior high school.
Gabe proceeded to look for his first teaching job and he did tell his potential new employers that his draft status was A1 and that he could be called up at any time. He doubted that he would get a job. At very last minute he was offered a job in the Ocasta School District in Montesano Washington (Grays Harbor). Even though the administration knew he likely would be drafted, he was nonetheless hired to teach Spanish, English and Boys PE.
Gabe only taught there for one semester before he was drafted in January 1952. He entered the Army’s 338th Military Intelligence Service Battalion stationed at Fort Mead, Maryland. This would be his permanent assignment for two years. At one point, he was transferred to Camp Desert Rock Nevada to take part as an active observer of the 1952 Atomic experiments. These were located at the Nevada Proving Grounds. He wrote his observations of these events which are part of the national archives.
After 2 years in military service Gabe returned to Washington. He immediately got a teaching job at White River High School in Buckley. In 1964 after the death of his father he returned to the farm in the house where his mother was still living. Then, in 1965 he got a job teaching Spanish, French, English and Debate at Redmond High School until he retired in the early 1980’s.
Gabe loved a variety of subjects and activities...he enjoyed classical poetry, literature and music. He had an uncanny ability to memorize stanzas and passages easily. He favored Shakespeare and the old poets.
He loved Italian Opera. He would check out CDs from the local library. Every Christmas and birthday he received gifts of classical opera CDs which he listened to at full volume!
Gabe liked visitors and frequently would cook dinner for them. His favorite meal was fettuccini noodles with homemade roast beef meat sauce. This was accompanied with French Bread that he would inevitably burn under the oven broiler because he would be distracted by talking to all his guests. In the summer he liked to BBQ steak and eat under the umbrella on his patio table.
Gabe loved the great outdoors. One summer, Gabe’s brother-in-law Verne (sister Clare’s husband), took him on a fishing trip to eastern Washington. Gabe was hooked at the first cast. Thereafter he spent many summers, school breaks, and weekends, going fishing. He soon acquired a boat that he towed over the Cascades Pass, on a trailer. He went to some of the remote lakes that he and Verne had discovered. They mostly caught trout, and, according to Gabe, he got better and better at fishing and the fish got bigger and bigger.
Even though lake fishing was a fun outing, Gabe’s favorite by far was steelhead fishing on the Kalama River. The Kalama is fed by snow melt from Mount St. Helens. Fishing in the river didn’t require a boat. Gabe just put on his waders and walked in. It was difficult to catch the steelhead, but he did catch them. And they were truly BIG! In 1986 he bought an all-in-one motorhome. He enjoyed fishing with his buddy Mark, who continued to bring us fish long after Gabe found river fishing to be too challenging.
In 1968 the Bellevue Municipal Golf Course was built. The Morelli Brothers Farm sheep pasture, formerly the free range chicken field, bordered the golf course on the 15th hole. It was the upper section of the farm; almost 6 city blocks long. Many errant golf balls would end up in the sheep pasture. Gabe liked to go on walks up there and he would collect all the golf balls that lobbed over the fence in that same field where he, his sisters and cousins had decades earlier hunted for eggs. Trudging home with his pockets full, it was clear that Gabe had not lost his ability to find small round hidden white objects. It now became a pastime revisited.
About that time Gabe decided he would be a golfer and he said he quickly became adept at the game. Having an endless supply of golf balls was most likely key to his success. He made lasting friendships with other golf enthusiasts, especially the Jones Group; several members who are here today.
Gabe filled his garage and basement with boxes and boxes of golf balls. He sold them; just like he used to sell eggs. The steady stream of people visiting every day, to buy golf balls, replaced the earlier egg customers.
In 1993, before the sale of the Morelli Brothers Farm land, Gabe always had a productive vegetable garden which was adjacent to his backyard patio. He grew enough vegetables for himself and his immediate family. He would often deliver excess bags of vegetables to all of us. Gabe grew vegetables in the 1990’s just as he had in the 1940’s. He worked hard and always did everything by hand. He cultivated that large space and nourished the soil to be very rich and productive with a great yield every year. Unfortunately this plot was lost during the Microsoft construction.
Gabe soon convinced Linda to plow and rototill a city lot, that she and her husband owned on nearby 132nd Ave so that they could garden it together. Everything was done by hand. Much teaching and some learning happened those initial few years. The veggies did grow. The fruit trees they planted did fruit. The berries ripened. The bounty was shared.
Gabe’s favorite is the potato. He enjoyed every step of potato growing starting with digging the holes to watching the plants emerge and flower. He especially looked forward to digging up the first potato hill every year in August. He turned this event into a favorite ritual, guessing how many potatoes were in that hole and just how big they might be.
This August Linda and her four-year old granddaughter Paisley dug up the first ceremonial hill of potatoes. Paisley found a special trinket the potato fairy left at the bottom of the hole. She counted how many potatoes she found and declared that at least one was ginormous. The next generation of veggies growers is born. Gabe’s passion and skills have been passed on.
In addition to vegetable gardening Gabe also loved flowers. At his house he filled his whole patio with tables and chairs and benches, planter boxes full of annuals. The patio was a showcase of bright colors. Gabe sat and read his newspaper every morning on a little section of table that was NOT covered in flowers.
In his final years Gabe’s great-nephew Eric and Eric’s partner Crystal became live-in care-givers. They managed his life and daily chores, appointments, flower shopping, they went on adventures to the casino and engaged in many hours of debate on every known subject.
Gabe plainly told Eric and Crystal that he didn’t like change and he didn’t like technology either. But yet he was very interested in all the information one could get from that technology. He wanted to know which wild animals were spotted in the neighborhood, what the weather report was for day, etc.
He loved cats. His last cat’s name was Mochoko, a black and white tuxedo cat that followed him around like a dog.
Gabe had a great sense of humor and made up all kinds of really bad jokes. He liked watching college football on TV. His favorite two teams were WSU and BYU.
During this time, Eric and Crystal had a baby boy - Adonis. So though Gabe had no kids of his own, he got to watch a baby come into his life, toward the end of his own life. Adonis brought him 16 months of joy and happiness, amusement, awe, and wonder…the amazing circle of life. Adonis was the fifth generation to live at 5830.
Gabe was preceded in death by his parents and by his sister Clare.
He is survived by his sister Emilia.
He also leaves behind 5 cousins: Anna and Tina, Panfilo, Dante, and Robbie.
He is also survived by 5 nieces and nephews. Joe, Diane, Gary, Linda, and Larry.
He leaves behind 11 great nieces and nephews. They called him GUG, for Great-Uncle Gabe. Eric, Trent, Quinn, Whitney, Briley, Brett, Brandon, Ashley, Brynne, Garrett, and Danielle.
Finally he leaves behind 6 great-great nieces and nephews: Kirra, Conner, Paisley, Hanalei, Weston and Adonis.
We will miss this man Gabe, and we will treasure the memory of him deeply in our hearts, forever.
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