Callahan Wolf Phinney

Callahan (Cal) Wolf Phinney, 21, of Seattle, WA passed on from this life on Friday, December 12. Beloved son of Dr. Alexi J. Phinney and Lecia W. Phinney, Cal was an undergraduate student at Seattle University. He graduated from the Northwest School in Seattle in 2023.

Cal was one of few people whose presence could brighten any room and put everyone at ease. He had a mischievous sense of humor and an endearing dimpled smile. Every single day Cal gave his family a reason to laugh. His gentle nature allowed him to connect deeply with animals, and he adored spending time with his younger cousins, who considered him a rock star. Cal worked and played with one hundred percent effort, and his kindness, curiosity, and eagerness to learn inspired the same in all who knew him.

Cal was an elite multisport athlete and team leader. As a junior in high school, he was chosen to play on the U20 (under age twenty) Ultimate Frisbee National Team, which won the World Junior Ultimate Championships in Wroclaw, Poland, that summer. Cal was also a skilled athlete in hockey, basketball, and track and field. At the Northwest School, he was a four-year, three-season athlete, a rare achievement. He was loved and respected by his teammates.

He wrote that his experience playing ultimate for Team USA “...helped me understand how to be the best version of myself, and not only for my own benefit. I learned how to maximize my abilities for the benefit of a bigger group and within the context of what a group needs. For the rest of my life, I will keep striving to be a better person, colleague, friend, and family member, at least in part because I will never forget what it felt like to battle it out on a muddy field in Poland and win a gold medal, and I know what it took to get there.”

At Seattle University, Cal was working toward a degree in the Design major. He had a pronounced gift for the visual arts, a love for music, and a flair for fashion.

Cal is survived by his parents, his brother Abbott, his aunt, two uncles, numerous cousins, three of his four grandparents, and other extended family who love him.

“Because children grow up, we think a child’s purpose is to grow up. But a child’s purpose is to be a child. Nature doesn’t disdain what only lives for a day. It pours the whole of itself into each moment. . . . Life’s bounty is in its flow, later is too late.” — Tom Stoppard, The Coast of Utopia Series

A wake is planned for Sunday, December 28, at 11:00AM at the Central Lutheran Church Parish Hall, with a funeral to follow at 12:00PM at Central Lutheran Church, 1710 11th Avenue, Seattle.

Cal will be laid to rest at the Mount Pleasant Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in his honor to The Vera Project.