Cleo Otto Boser

Cleo Boser was born August 7, 1930, the eldest of 10 children, to Marie and Alfred Boser in Pierz, Minn. His strong work ethic was developed from a young age as he worked on the family farm. He adventurously moved to the Seattle area when he was 16 and his parents and siblings followed him a year later.

Cleo made friends easily and always had a joke handy to put the people around him in good spirits. He was an active member of the St. Michael local Council of the Knights of Columbus and enjoyed helping those less fortunate.

Cleo met Kathleen Malone through mutual friends and they married on November 9, 1958 and had four children. They lived in Lynnwood and then moved

to Snohomish where they fulfilled a dream of having a small farm that at times included goats, pigs, and chickens, and always had cows and horses. Cleo

tended to the farm with his tractor including annual summers of baling hay on local area farms as long as he was physically able. In addition to taking care of the homestead, Cleo worked as a brakeman and then as an engineer for Great Northern and then Burlington Northern Railroad.

Arlington Health & Rehabilitation cared for Cleo in the last few years of his life, where he continued to develop the affection of those around him. Cleo passed on peacefully, in the company of his family, on April 18, 2015. He is survived by three of his children, Lisa (Wayne) Wilkens of Marysville, Michael (Anita) Boser of Issaquah, and Mark (Tracey) Boser of Stanwood; five grandchildren, Tara, Christopher, Jade, Ryan, and Jeff; and two great -grandchildren, Gage and Kallen; brothers, Leroy of Bothell and Dale of Cosmopolis; and sisters, Lila of Sutherland, Ore., Betty of Cosmopolis, Virginia of Everett , Donna of

Hoquiam, and Kathy of Kenmore.

He was preceded in death by his first child, Linda Sue (1961); by his wife, Kathleen (2013); and his siblings, Dennis (2013) and Ennie (2015).