| Leary/Martin/Purvis/Rouse/Blekum/Kinney/ |
| Daniel Harold Leary |
Daniel H. Leary lived with his parents in a house at 1823 4th West, owned by his grandfather, Harold Blekum on Queen Anne Hill when he was an infant until he was about 8 years old. During the Depression, Dan got a job with the WPA and walked from their rental house at 8536 11th NW, Ballard, to his job on Blanchard and 4th Ave. Danny told the story about his pet duck, "Pepe", that would walk to the street car to meet his dad every day after work. When things got tough, Dan had to kill the duck to put food on the table, Danny couldn't eat any. His father got a job with the WPA making $80 per month. In 1935 he got a job with the IRS as an accountant and was working for them when he passed away in 1936. ( Pam tried to contact the IRS for their personnel records , but they were unable to locate them. A condolence letter from the IRS was sent to Karen Leary after his death, showing the department, but the IRS still cannot find the records. Danny completed school through the 8th grade attending Vocational School and learning the trade of mechanic. Danny met Betty when he was 16 years old. On their first date they were arrested for being in a stolen car and spent the night in jail. On October 16, 1944 he was inducted into the Army at Fort Lewis, Washington. He spent 1 week there before boarding the Troop Train to Fort Worth Texas where he had his basic training. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, E Company, 4th Platoon, Weapons (30 cal. machine gun and 60 mm mortars) After 17 weeks basic training, he had 14 days leave to come home. He married Betty Elden on Feb 19, 1945 and then took the bus to Monterey for advanced training. He reported to Fort Ord . On March 20, 1945 he boarded a Troop Ship and left San Franciso for New Guinea. It took 30 days. One week later the convoy of 50 ships left for the Philippines. Two weeks later they arrived in Manila, disembarking on nets to the landing craft. About one week later they were taken by truck to Northern Luzon. Here he transferred to the 3rd Squad 1st Battalion , E Company. to the Cacayon Valley. His division was in constant combat for 101 days. In August 1945 he was in Tarlack when he was told that the Japanese had surrendered. He left Lingaan Gulf on a ship for Japan to become a "Peace Soldier" in Occupied Japan. He arrived in Nagoya in October 1945. Transferred to 725 Light Maintenance Ordinance Company. Was sent to Osaka to 98th Infantry to deactivate equipment. Shipped out of Yokohama , Japan in September 1946 , arrived Sept 20, 1946 in Seattle by Greyhound bus from San Francisco. When he arrived at Fort Lawton, in Seattle, Grandpa Blekum, His Mother, Karen Leary, Sofia Blekum his step-grandmother, Betty, and his brother Tom met him. He was given a pass for the night and then sent to Fort Lewis for processing. He got up late the morning he was to be mustered out and had to "run like hell in his under shorts" to catch up. Danny drove a truck for awhile when he returned from the war and then got a job with Associated Grocers in Seattle where he worked for 38 years until his retirement. He was an active member of Teamsters Local 117 and was very proud that his nephew, T.R. became a member too, when he began working for Todd Shipyard In Seattle. Danny and Betty spent their first couple of years living in half of the duplex belonging to Betty's mother, Thrina at 2008 13th West, on Queen Ann Hill. About 1949 Danny and Betty purchased a lot in North Seattle, at 14349 Densmore N., where Danny lived the rest of his life. Their home was a basic "shell" when they moved in, plywood floors, no cupboards, etc. They finished the home while living in it with their two daughters and then son who was born in 1952. Through the years, Danny worked on finishing, remodeling the kitchen and adding a dining room and raised the roof to add two bedrooms upstairs. He even rigged up a conveyor belt to transfer the dirt and hardpan that the whole family helped pick and shovel from under the house crawl space, to make a basement. He was an avid fisherman for years and went duck hunting and pheasant hunting with his brother Bob and later with his son Rod. He built a small travel trailer in the late 1950's and covered the outside with surplus aircraft aluminum. The family took many camping trips through the years, eventually outgrowing the home made trailer and purchasing a "Fireball" trailer with all the comforts. Every summer the family would camp at the Dosewallips River at Elkhorn Campground. The kids will never forget the trip down "THE VINES" where they were lowered down the steep bank on a rope. The climb down "Constance Creek" was always a challenge, but the beautiful pools of grey green water were always worth the grueling trip back up the side hill. The long hike past the "Park Sign" to the river was not a favorite, especially since we always seemed to get off course and end up walking forever back to the car. Dug up a lot of rhododendrons there and one is in Dad's yard. The "Steelhead" hole about 2 miles from the campground was the place where Rod and Pam both hooked huge steelhead trout. Rod caught his, Pam's got away, even though Rod got soaked trying to net it for her. Can't forget the time we crossed the river in late summer when the river was at it's lowest, carried on Dad's back or crawling along a slippery log. Pan hooked another steelhead at Constance Creek on the other side of the river and while trying to reel it in, her fishing reel fell off her pole! Dad never heard the end of that one. The family spent many hours at Aunty Ingrid's "farm" in South Seattle, salvaging everything from windows to flooring to old cement blocks from the old Boarding House Milk House. After Danny and Betty's divorce in 1979, Dan began to visit the beach at Edmonds and the fishing pier there. He made friends with the regulars and then started to visit Golden Garden Beach. He went nearly every day to sit and talk with his "buddies" and feed the ducks at the duck pond. He had a special place to eat lunch, "Gordo's" just down the street from the park. Ryan loved to go to the beach with Grandpa , just so he could order fish and chips at Gordo's. Ryan spent an afternoon there with his grandpa, flying his kite on the beach. It will be one of the special times he remembers with his grandpa. Jakob, his great grandson loved to feed the ducks with Grandpa at the duck pond at Golden Gardens. Jakob and McKensie thought that he lived at the beach and that the ducks were "Grandpa's and Uncle Danny's ducks. Danny developed some special friendships there, among them was a man named Bill who came to Danny's funeral. The family is planning to buy a park bench at Golden Gardens with his name so that the family and his friends can always remember him there. In 1998 Pam became interested in genealogy so enlisted her father's help in finding graves and family history. Together they spent many hours driving all over Queen Anne Hill looking for Mt Pleasant Cemetery and the homes where Grandpa Blekum and the Leary family had lived. On one visit we found the church where Danny had climbed into the bell tower to capture pigeons, to take home and raise .Marion, Pam and Her dad walked the cemetery at Mr Pleasant for an hour in a driving rain searching for Grandpa Blekum, Grandma Blekum , Albert and Daniel Francis Leary's graves. Finally found them, after digging and pulling off 4 " of moss(Fortunately the NASTY lady who owns the cemetery didn't catch them or they would have been arrested). Drove all over Ballard locating all the houses Karen and the boys had lived in through the years. Even found Agnes and John Johnson's house that was built in 1892. Had a family reunion in July 1999 and finally met Dorothy Gray's daughter Nancy and her son Jim. Met Bea and Owen Haselton's son Owen, daughters, Sandy and Margie and her son Brian. Dad enjoyed himself more that day than any day I can remember. It was a grand reunion of the descendants from Norway. I am sure Grandma Karen and Aunty Edna were there with us that day. Danny spent Easter, April 23, 2000, at his daughter, Pam's house. His grandchildren, Ryan, Shanna, Tawny and his great grandchildren, Jakob and Gavin Coffelt were also there. He was not feeling well so spent the night. He got up the next morning and was feeling better so his daughter, Pam, made him Norwegian Pancakes. He had not had them for 15 years. He went home in the afternoon and said he was feeling better. On Thursday, April 27 Pam spoke with him on the phone and he said he was going to try to go to the Post Office on Friday. His friend Bill, called him on Friday to check on him and he told him he was feeling better. On Monday morning around 7:30 AM Pam called his house to inform him that his niece, Susie had passed away the night before. There was no answer. Pam called her brother Rod and he said he would check on him after work. When Rod arrived there about 3:30 PM Danny had passed away. Medical examiner lists death as Sunday, April 30, 2000, from probable heart attack. He did not suffer, and most likely died in his sleep. Daniel H. Leary and Betty Klein divorced on September 5, 1979 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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