Alice Helen Elsie Klinker

Alice attended the State School of Science in Breckenridge, Minnesota. She came out to Seattle with her friend Naomi Antle in 1948 and put her new skills to work for Oceanic Sales Company as a secretary in the Smith Tower in Seattle. She attended Trinity Lutheran Church and joined the Walther League there, where she met Robert Klinker. The two were married at Trinity Lutheran Church on September 8, 1951and lived in an apartment in Seattle. They had their first child, Cheryl, in 1954, bought their first home in 1955 in Bellevue, had their second child, Greg, in 1957, and moved into their second home in 1964, also in Bellevue.

Throughout her life, Alice was an accomplished church organist. She started this career at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Hankinson, North Dakota when she was in high school. She later studied organ at Seattle Pacific College for four years and one year at the University of Washington. The last church she served was Beacon Lutheran when she retired in 2001. She belonged to the Seattle Chapter of the Organist Guild. She also served as a choir director at various churches. She was a loving and caring wife and mother, loved gardening, and cake decorating.

Alice Klinker is survived by her husband, Robert John Theodore Klinker; her daughter, Cheryl Ann Klinker; and her son, Gregory Robert Klinker. She has one grandchild, Paxton Robert Klinker. Three of her nine brothers and sisters still survive: Gertrude Medenwaldt in Wisconsin, Walter Klawitter in North Dakota, and Laura Nelson in Seattle, Washington.

Donations in memory of Alice can be given to the Lutheran Hour Ministries at 660 Mason Ridge Center Drive, St. Louis, Missouri, 63141-9584.