Posted on 11/29/2018
Wilfred Harry Dearth, 94, of Gig Harbor, died Nov. 23, 2018. He was born June 16, 1924 in Lawrence, Mass., the only child of Wilfred and Martha Hein Dearth. He graduated from Lawrence High School in 1941 and enlisted in the U.S. Navy in August of that year. He served at Pearl Harbor following the attack by Japan in December 1941 and later on the USS Taurus, a provisions ship that supplied Allied Forces in the South Pacific. Following the war, he attended the U.S. Naval Academy before transferring to Columbia University in New York City, where he graduated in 1950 with a degree in economics. It was at Columbia that he met Shirley Swayze of Tacoma, whom he married in 1949. They lived in Tacoma until 1956 and then for the next 13 years in Portland, Ore. He worked for approximately 20 years in steel industry sales. In 1969, he and Shirley relocated to Gig Harbor, where they founded and operated Mostly Books for 27 years, and later No Dearth of Books. Harry was a member of the Masons and was active in numerous local organizations, including the Downtown Gig Harbor Association, Gig Harbor Chamber of Commerce, Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society, Gig Harbor Lions Club, Gig Harbor Historical Society, and Olympic Peninsula Travel Association. He was also a member of the Orpheus Male Chorus of Tacoma and a choir member at St. John's Episcopal Church in Gig Harbor. He is survived by his wife Shirley, Gig Harbor; daughters Karen (Jack) Merry, Gig Harbor, and Robin Holtz (Doug Petre), Kirkland, Wash.; son David (Kathy Dobler) Dearth, Gig Harbor; grandchildren Nick Jordan, Blaine, Wash., Adrian Merry, Gig Harbor, Zachary Holtz, Santa Rosa, Calif., Thomas Merry, North Bend, Wash., Taylor Holtz, Seaside, Calif., Luke Holtz, Seattle, Katie Dearth, Gig Harbor, and David Dearth, Gig Harbor; eight great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. Services will be held at 1 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 1 at St. John's Episcopal Church in Gig Harbor. Remembrances may be made to the Harbor History Museum or the Gig Harbor Lions Club Endowment Fund.
Published in News Tribune (Tacoma) on Nov. 29, 2018