Marshall Edward Hooper

Marshall Edward Hooper was born in Houston, Texas on February 11, 1927. There are a lot of Hooper's in Texas and they all know him as M.E. He was the third of four sons born to Joseph Abna and Lillie Belle Hooper. His brothers Harold (who was killed in action in Standdaarbuiten, Holland during WWII on November 2, 1944), Zach and Joe all served in different branches of the military. All the brothers grew up together in Houston during the depression. His nick name in school was John L. Bookworm because he was tall, skinny, wore glasses and always had his nose in a book. On February 10, 1945 Marshall joined the United States Navy where he was stationed at Bremerton Naval Base in Washington. Marshall would say, this is when I met my future bride Wilma Louise Pfeiffer. He would often tell the story of how he would take the ferry named the Kalakala over to Seattle on the weekends to see Wilma then ride it back to Bremerton just before his shift started. Marshall was honorably discharged from the Navy on August 20, 1946 after WWII ended and returned to Houston to complete his High School education. He and Wilma wrote letters to each other as often as possible. He graduated from Milby High School on May 13, 1947. Then he returned to Seattle to be with his sweetheart. He started working at the Safeway training store in Fremont where he quickly advanced from a cashier to trainer. On April 4, 1948 Marshall and Wilma got married. He left Safeway for a job that started his career in the parking industry. He went from Henry Paulgen Parking to Spring Parking and then moved on to Ampco Parking where he stayed until he retired. When his children were young he was the manager of the Washington Building Garage. He took the family to one of the higher floors in the building to watch the Torchlight parade. He retired as cashier (which is the job he enjoyed best) while working at the Queen Anne Square Garage. The roof of that building was the perfect spot for his family to enjoy the 4th of July fireworks. During his free time he managed the family properties and went fishing whenever he could. He was a self-taught handyman and could fix just about anything. His temporary fixes as he would call them, usually lasted forever. He loved to invent things and always shared his ideas. On January 28, 1951 Marsha Lillie Louise Hooper was born. Three years later on March 18, 1954 he got his boy, Michael Edward Harold Hooper. In March of 1962 Marshall and Wilma bought a brand new home. Then, three months later on June 19, Marianne Colleen Hooper was born.

On June 4, 1988 Marianne married Brian Fojt and gave him his first grandchild, Olivia Lindsey Fojt on October 27, 1989. He got his second grandchild, Michael Brian Fojt on July 23, 1991. He spent the rest of his life spoiling them rotten. In March of 1992 Marshall retired from Ampco Parking after 25 years. He and Wilma enjoyed trips to Hawaii, Tahiti and took a cruise to Alaska. He spent a lot of time with his family, especially his beloved grandchildren. Olivia married Travis Elliott in December of 2011 and they gave him a little fuzzy headed grandchild named Dillon Richard Elliott. He was so happy that he lived long enough to enjoy being a great grandpa.

Marshall had many different hobbies including scuba diving (when he was young), gun collecting, fishing and joke telling. He never ran out of jokes to tell and could put a smile on anyone's face. He would go fishing with his buddies Stanley and Bud every chance he got. He loved to tell stories about the fishing trips to Eastern Washington and on the way home they would stop and buy cherries. He described these trips as A bunch of old guys driving in a car, eating cherries and passing gas. His favorite fishing spot was a beautiful place called Rivers Inlet in Canada. He and Bud took these trips as often as they could. Every summer he and Wilma traveled to Eastern Washington to buy fresh fruits and vegetables for canning and making jams but mostly just for eating. When Olivia and Michael were still very young, he, Wilma, Marianne took a week long car trip to Edmonton, Canada to see the Edmonton Mall. They stopped in many places along the way including Banff and beautiful Lake Louise. Then, when the grandkids were older, they all took a trip to Disney World. He loved to ride his motorcycles in the warmer weather. He enjoyed sitting on the bench in the front yard and watching and feeding the birds. He especially loved hummingbirds and they visited him all year long.

Please join us for a celebration of his life between 1 and 4 pm on Sunday, May 31 at the home of Brian and Marianne Fojt. The address is 9752 Woodlawn Avenue North, Seattle 98103. If you'd like to call us our home # is 206-781-8591.

Marshall Hooper will be remembered and missed by all who knew him.