Ardell Erling Schilke

Ardell Schilke, 82, passed away on March 8th, 2010 in Seattle, WA. He was born on December 9th, 1927 to Wilhelm & Esther Schilke in Wild Rose, ND. He attended high school in Sequim, WA; served in the Army during WWII, and attended WSU. He married his wife Dorothy on January 18th, 1953 and moved to Seattle where they raised their two children and resided for 55 years.

Dell loved spending time with his family, especially his five grandchildren. His hobbies included photography, tennis, reading, cribbage, and UW football. Ardell is survived by his wife of 57 years, Dorothy Schilke; his son Daryl Schilke; his daughter Doreen Burris; his grandchildren Courtney & Steven Burris; Amber, Connor, and Braxton Schilke; his two brothers Obert & Warren Schilke, and his sister Evelyn Person.

My thoughts about my dad...

I remember going into work with him in the evening at Safeco with him in the evenings and using the toll-free line to call my cousins in Portland, painting houses with him in my teenage years to earn money, working with him on his landscaping projects, performing maintenance with him at many of the UW sororities during my college years for extra cash, having lunch with him when he worked at Wilbur Ellis, working with me on all my remodeling and landscaping projects, spending time teaching and playing with the kids, and visiting him for

dinner once a week with the kids. We were always really close when I was a kid growing up and everything we did seemed like an adventure lead by the best teacher or mentor in the world. We played a lot of tennis together, threw the football, road our bikes just about everywhere, and went swimming at least once a week. We went to car shows, boat shows, and had a lot of father-son talks

while working on editing movies or getting slide shows ready for the next family get together

.

He was the kind of dad that just when you were beginning to think that Santa wasn't real, would make a fire in the fireplace on Christmas Eve so that Santa would have to come knocking at the door with a big bag full of toys and a stern warning not to have fires on Christmas Eve anymore. Somehow he looked as surprised as Doreen and I did but I'm sure he had that same old sly grin on his face when we weren't looking or when he was snapping away with the camera.

Other memories include Jake (our lab) ripping his pants pocket off after he decided to hide the tennis ball from Jake there, rebuilding wrecked cars, painting the Vega green without the proper masks, making crepes, waffles, german pancakes, and waffles, eating smoked salmon with him, riding our motorcycles together, picking huckleberries in Idaho, picking cherries in Yakima, laying in the Sun with him when he got home from work, spicy

foods, microwave experiments in the basement, fish tanks and weird sucker fish that just wouldn't die, watching the Tonight Show (Johnny Carson) with him, electronic projects like adding a headphone jack to our console stereo in the 60's before anyone had them, 8 track tapes, reel-to-reel recordings, celebrating my 21st birthday with a six pack and a walk around Green Lake, BBQ's, and going out for Chinese.

To some he was a man of mystery or a man of very few words, although I like to

think of him as a man that kept people guessing or a man that was an expert at conversation...a man that truly listened to everyone and helped them figure things out on their own. Even now when people ask me who my role model was when I was a growing up, I'm pretty sure I'm not alone when I say that it was my dad. I remember being pleasantly surprised many times when my friends and relatives would tell me that I was lucky to have a dad like mine. He will always be someone that I look up to, someone to admire, and a person that I hope I someday grow up to be.

Daryl Schilke