Grant Leroy Farness

Grant Leroy Farness died peacefully May 28, 2015. He was born May 2, 1921 in Kintyre, North Dakota, the youngest of five siblings. When his mother died in 1925, the family moved to Willmar, Minnesota. Grant graduated from Willmar High School in 1939 and moved back to Kintyre to live with his oldest sister, Myrtle and husband Carl Svanes and help them on their farm.

He was drafted into the Army Air Force in 1942, sent to MacDill Field in Florida, and assigned to nursing at the field hospital and then to Air-Sea rescue boats in the Gulf of Mexico. Soon the Infantry needed more men so he was sent to Germany and Austria until the end of World War II.

After the war, he moved to Grand Forks, North Dakota and stayed with his aunt, and was employed as a bus driver and a deputy sheriff. He met Adeline Monsebroten and they married on December 2, 1950.

Grant built the house that he and Adeline resided in for the next 16 years. In 1955, their daughter Karen was born.

Grant accepted a job offer from Boeing and the family moved to Bothell in November, 1966. He worked there for five years and then got a job closer to home working for the Northshore School District. He retired in 1984. He continued to live in his home until his passing.

Grant was an active member of First Lutheran Church in Bothell: singing in the church choir, ushering, and working in the kitchen for All Season's luncheons.

Grant is preceded in death by his wife, Adeline, in 2007 and his three sisters, Myrtle (Svanes), Lillian (Halvorson), Lorraine (Hoefs) and his brother Willard. His two younger half sisters, Evangeline (Olson) and Thelma Farness have also passed away. Grant is survived by his daughter Karen Farness Holt and her husband Steve Holt, and lots of beloved nieces and nephews.

Grant loved his two dogs, Ben and Molly. Because they both were adopted from Homeward Pet Animal Shelter in Woodinville, the family would like donations made to Homeward in his honor.