Edith R. Engel

Edith Engel passed away peacefully on July 29, 2016 at age 90. She was born on May 12, 1926 in Des Moines, Iowa and grew up in Rochester, Minnesota. After finishing high school, during the last years of World War II, she was recruited to work for the Navy Department in Washington D.C. and there developed a life-long interest in politics and government affairs. She later returned home to run a local bookstore, which enhanced her love for books. After several years, she followed a friend to the Seattle area where she remained for the rest of her life. While living at The Casa, an iconic apartment building over the water on the shore of Lake Washington, she met her future husband, Klaus Engel, and they found their life-long home on the south end of Mercer Island, on an undeveloped, wooded beachfront property.

This home became their focus where they fed the raccoons and she later volunteered to help remove unwanted raccoons, which were less welcome as the area became more populated. She took scuba lessons in Puget Sound with her son, loved swimming at Hawaiian beaches and was a great supporter of local theater where she and Klaus attended the Shakespeare festival in Ashland, Oregon, the Bathhouse, and the Rep.

Her father planted the seed for fly-fishing, which she passionately pursued in her later years. She was a member of the Northwest Women’s Fly Fishing Club and the Overlake Fly Fishing Club. She participated in Casting for Recovery and attended the Federation Conclave numerous times. She was predeceased by her husband and is survived by son Andrew, daughter-in-law Tamara, grandson Hans, and sister, Marianne Chun of Kaneohe, Hawaii.

A private memorial service will be held in celebration of her life. Donations in Edith’s memory can be made to the Big Hole River Foundation at www.bhrf.org.