Norman Kent Gill

Norman (Norm) Kent Gill was born on December 8, 1935, in Spokane, Washington. He was the third child of Wendell and Opal (Folkins) Gill, joining siblings Bob Gill (deceased) and Janice (Gill) Richards. At birth, he was named Gordon, but his parents later changed his name to differentiate him from a troublemaking boy of the same name who lived in their neighborhood.

Norm’s father was a mail carrier for the US Post Office and, upon being transferred, moved the family first to Seattle and then to Coalfield in western Washington. There, Norm and family lived in a converted chicken house where their water was piped down from the mountains and they used an outhouse as their bathroom. Norm spent his summers exploring May Creek and earning extra money as a trapper.

Norm later worked at the Texaco gas station on Hwy 10 (now I-90) in Issaquah, where he pumped gas, fixed tires, changed oil, and so on, to earn money to buy his own car. In 1954, after graduating from Issaquah High School, Norm, along with his good friend Bob Schroeder, joined the Army. This was the early days of the Korean War, so Norm and Bob enlisted to avoid being drafted. Norm initially headed to Oklahoma to train as an offset pressman, and then served 3 years in New York, Virginia, Washington DC, and Frankfurt, Germany.

Norm left active duty in 1957 and returned to western Washington where he went to work in the composing room of Craftsman Press, setting hot type for publications including the Seattle Times. He continued to serve in the US Army Reserve until 1962, when he was honorably discharged and awarded the National Defense Service Medal and Good Conduct Medal.

In the meantime, Norm had fallen in love with Jeannine Marie Elser of Sammamish. The couple married on June 25, 1960, and then moved to Seattle. In 1962, their son Steven was born, followed a year later by a second son, Gordon. After finding the boys toddling out of the yard and onto a busy road in front of their house, Norm and Jeannine decided to move back to Sammamish where the kids could have room to roam. Norm built the family home on property adjacent to where Jeannine had grown up, and there he and Jeannine remained for the rest of their lives.

Advances in technology eventually made Norm’s job as an offset pressman obsolete. He worked for a brief period in construction before becoming a meter reader for Seattle Steam. There he would go beneath Seattle streets to read the steam meters of the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building and area hospitals. The work was hot, dirty, dark, and sometimes scary because he never knew what he might encounter underground.

The work also inspired a love of the city for Norm, and upon retiring he’d often return to Seattle several days each week to meet his brother for breakfast, attend Mariner baseball and Washington Husky football games, and simply walk around. Norm also developed a fascination with construction and would watch, and take pictures of, the excavation and construction of city high-rises.

But if one word could sum up Norm, it was family. Norm was a devoted husband, father, and grandfather. He spent evenings reading The Hobbit to his son Gordon when Gordon was in the hospital with an eye injury; he was a constant at Steven and Gordon’s wrestling tournaments and soccer matches; he cared for both of his grandchildren from their infancy until they were old enough to go to school, and then again during summers and school breaks; and he cared for Jeannine through many years of declining health until she passed away in 2022.

Norm enjoyed the outdoors and spent many happy days fishing for halibut, ling cod, and salmon in Freshwater Bay; and for trout at Surrey and Frogmoore Lakes in Canada, and at Pine and Beaver Lakes in Sammamish. He loved visiting the family cabin at Ocean Shores during clamming season.

Norm passed away at age 89 on Wednesday, February 26, 2025. He is survived by his sister Janice, his sons Steven (Megan) Gill, Gordon (Tricia) Gill, and his grandchildren, Jason and Kalyn Gill.