Vernon "Vern" Poulson

Vern was born in Weiser, ID on May 29, 1926 to his parents Vernon and Violet (Benten) Poulson. Vern was brought to Yakima by his father at 11-years-old after his mother died. He attended grade school at Wide Hollow Elementary in Yakima.

Rather than continuing on with his education in school, Vern made the decision and sacrifice to enlist in the United States Navy at the age of 17 back on November 30, 1943 to protect and serve during World War II. He set out for sea on the USS LST 1017. After serving nearly 3 years for his beloved country, he was honorably discharged from duty on April 16, 1946. He was graciously awarded 5 prestigious medals for his courageous service during the famous Battle of Leyte in the South Pacific.

He came back to Yakima and married his first wife, Shirley McGrath. They had a son, Gary, and a daughter, Debra. He later met the love of his life Laticia (Tish) Lawson and, after only 3 months of courtship, they married on May 20, 1961. They were blessed with a son, Richard Lee, on November 18, 1965. Vern and Tish would have celebrated their 60th anniversary this May.

Vern and Tish joined her dad, Cliff Lawson, and founded LP Body Shop, Inc in 1966. The letters “LP” are representative for their last names, Lawson and Poulson. They built a company that has stood strong, been honest and customer focused, which celebrates its 55th anniversary this year.

Carrying on as the 3rd generation of leadership, Rich took the reins from his parents after graduating from college and has been the co-owner of LP Body Shop for over 33 years. Each day when Rich arrives at work, he gives thanks when he looks at the company building frontage which displays both Cliff and Vern’s names embossed in the company logo.

The many who knew Vern were aware that he was a very crafty man. Besides using his craft at the body shop, he spent many of his off hours as part of the pit crew for Yakima race car legend, Don Dowdy. Many special friendships were built during those years. From building structures, fixing irrigation, too finagling with miscellaneous parts in the garage, Vern carried those traits on to his family members. Vern’s oldest son, Gary Poulson, has become a great craftsman from plumbing and electrical to the fabrication of race cars. Gary learned many of his traits revolving around craftsmanship from his father. Gary carries his creativity throughout the body shop to this day. Being a family owned and operated business, Rich and Gary have worked together for many years at LP as well as with another family member, grandson Chad Morehead. Chad is one of Vern’s eldest grandsons, who has contributed to the success of LP for nearly 25 years and leads the paint department.

As a husband, father, and grandfather, Vern, over-excelled in each of those categories. As a husband to Tish for nearly 60 years, he instilled his trust and commitment to a life-long marriage filled full of joy and memories that will never be forgotten. Vern and Tish shared many memories watching their son Rich play baseball all over the region from his high school years at Eisenhower High School in Yakima to his short stint playing baseball at Bellevue Community College. When they weren’t busy supporting Rich at his sporting events, they spent much of their time vacationing at their property at Blue Lake. The fun didn’t stop there. Vern and Tish found a love for their biggest vacation spot, Yuma, AZ. Yuma consumed much of their retired life and they were blessed to have met so many wonderful people there. They looked forward to going to Yuma every winter.

Vern thoroughly enjoyed being a grandfather to his grandsons. Chad, being the eldest, experienced much of his time with Vern long before the two other grandsons joined the family. Chad recalls how Grandpa spent so much time teaching him how to swim in their pool. Other grandsons Peyton and Carson, spent much of their childhood with their “papa.” Peyton grew up at the body shop since day one, mainly because he was a wild child growing up, so papa always took care of Peyton when he wasn’t on his best behavior at school. Reeling in the years, as Peyton was able to drive, he was out at his grandparent’s house almost every day taking care of the lawn, fixing broken irrigation pipes with papa or just hanging out for papa’s favorite meal – a barbecued steak. Peyton said that his grandpa was one of the biggest inspirations and influences in his life to becoming the great young, presentable man he is today. Carson was there to learn from papa too. Vern taught Carson how to operate the riding lawn mower or fix miscellaneous things around the house. Papa would also patiently throw a ball back and forth with Carson for long periods of time. He was at every single one of Carson’s sporting events. Vern and Tish loved watching Carson excel at his favorite sports of basketball, soccer and baseball.

Vern was preceded in death by his daughter Debra (Poulson) Morehead. He is survived by his wife Tish Poulson; son Gary Poulson, granddaughter Samantha (Poulson) Riddle, great-granddaughter Shyann (great-great-granddaughters Violet and Lily), a great grandson Buddy and great granddaughter Chloe; grandsons Kevin Morehead, Chad Morehead (great-grandson Dylan, great-granddaughter Lexi), son Rich and daughter-in-law Lisa Poulson (grandchildren Peyton and Carson Poulson).

Please make all donations to the local Veterans of Foreign War (VFW) Post. 379 in Yakima, WA.

Visitation will be held at Keith & Keith Funeral Home on May 14 from 4-8 p.m. and the graveside service will follow on Saturday May 15 at 9:00 a.m. at Terrace Heights Memorial Park.