George Handyside
October 08, 1927 - November 10, 2023
George grew up in Wayne, Michigan, the only child born to Wes and Lola Handyside. He spent his early years working on his grandfather’s strawberry farm after school with many cousins and other relatives who lived nearby. By middle school he became involved in Boy Scouts, where he developed a lifelong love of camping and nature. He made close friends during those years whom he stayed connected with throughout life. While in high school one summer, George and a friend set out on an extraordinary trip hitchhiking two thousand miles “out west” to California and back, camping and living off tomato juice and sandwiches. For the rest of his life, he would tell magnificent tales of his adventures from this trip, and from then on, his goal was to live on the west coast someday.
After high school, George signed up for the military. Earning his pilot’s license by age sixteen, his hope was to join the Air Force, but that was out of the question due to blindness in one eye. George joined the Army instead, and he served Panama for two years. Upon his Honorary Discharge in 1948, George came back home with the idea of looking for a girl. It did not take long to find the love of his life, Pat, at the local dance hall just after Thanksgiving in 1948. The two danced all night to big band music, and George offered to drive Pat home. She accepted on the condition that he wouldn’t pull any funny business on the way. George agreed, and because he behaved himself, she invited him in for a leftover turkey sandwich, while her parents played cards with friends in another room. That was the beginning of their three-year romance that segued into a sixty-five-year marriage until Pat passed away in 2016.
George had enrolled at the University of Michigan that fall, and Pat at then Cleary College Secretary School (now Cleary University). They dated while going to school and working, and finally got married in 1951. George landed a job with General Motors as a mechanical engineer, while Pat stayed home to raise their two children. He continued to dream about living on the west coast. For the next few years, they combined family vacations with job hunting on the west coast. During these trips, the Handysides never missed an opportunity to camp in national and state parks along the way, often taking short nature hikes and always taking lots of slides to show family and friends upon their return. Finally, George landed a job with the Boeing Company in the Seattle area in 1966, and the family settled in Edmonds, WA where George and Pat lived for the next thirty-five years.
Unfortunately, the Boeing bust, and declining auto industry happened at the same time in the early 1970s, leaving George with few good opportunities as a mechanical engineer. Forced to choose between a pay cut or making a major career change, he began selling life insurance temporarily for the Prudential Life Insurance Company. Surprisingly, it turned out that selling insurance suited him, and he eventually worked his way up into sales management. After twenty- some years with Prudential, he retired, took up golf, and moved to sunny Arizona where he and Pat lived happily for several years, until they moved back to Washington to be with their family again.
George leaves behind his two children, Dave (Elaine) and Kim (Eric), six grandchildren Erika, Cam (Lori), Tyler (Beth), Tom (George), Lizzie (Karl), Alex, and six great-grandchildren Heather, Harley, Katie, Nate, Max, and Lyra. George often mentioned how fortunate he was to have been blessed with a wonderful family and so many friends, and he felt grateful for the fun times he had with them, as well as the good years he shared with Pat. In later years, he often expressed gratitude for the caregivers who took care of him. He looked for the best in people and for positive aspects in tough situations. He was a true optimist who did not dwell on minor annoyances or adversity, and he will be missed.