Fred McWilliam Gemmell's Obituary
Fred McWilliam Gemmell
Fred was called away to his eternal home on July 1, 2016 after living his life, loving his Lord and following his heart which had an undeniable adventurous streak in it.
He was born February, 1925, to Fred and Marion Gemmell, and was the youngest of three children. His older brother, Bob, and his sister, Dorothy, with his parents lived close to the Park Avenue Elementary School in Tacoma where his father was principal.
Fred lost his father when he was six during a summer holiday from a heart attack while swimming in a lake with his family close by. Marion steadied herself with her faith in Christ and raised the family by herself modeling a steadfast self-confidence which guided Fred throughout his life.
Just after graduating from high school he joined the Navy while still 17. WW II was raging and he was stationed on the USS Laffey DD-724. When near Okinawa they were attacked by 22 Kamikazes and hit by 4 bombs, doing serious damage to the ship including the steering gear. The USS Laffey did not sink and came to be known as “the ship that would not die” and was among one of the most damaged surviving ships of the war.
After WWII, Fred returned to the Port of Tacoma on the damaged USS Laffey and saw a beautiful and graceful young woman that was waiting with some mutual friends of the family. He arranged to give them a personal tour of the ship. Grace stole his heart. On April 3 they celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary.
After his active duty he served in the Naval Reserves for many years. He also finished an apprenticeship as a machinist for the Bremerton Naval shipyard, but jumped at the chance to move to the Panama Canal Zone. So he packed up his family to settle in the heat of the tropics and work as a locks locomotive operator for the Panama Canal Company. While there, he soon became a power plant operator and engineer.
Fred and Grace loved Panama as did their children Fred, Steve, Lori and Terri. Weekends were spent on beautiful tropical beaches, or driving into the surrounding jungle roads to catch butterflies and whatever else was to be found.
When the lease with Panama ran out on the Canal Zone, Fred was offered early retirement, and so he and Grace returned to Tacoma, where Fred found further employment as a machinist until his final retirement at age 62.
Fred loved traveling with Grace. Whether they were seeing the sights by RV or trailer to different locations, cruises to Alaska, being snowbirds down to Arizona for the winters, or spending the day at Clear Lake they always enjoyed God's creations.
He also loved music. He sang and played guitar as a youth and was even in a band. You could often find Fred tapping his hand to a tune or singing along with songs played by his friends.
Fred is survived by his wife Grace, his sister Dorothy, and his children, Fred (and Holly), Lori (and Vic), and Terri (and Greg), 19 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews and friends all of whom he loved dearly. Fred will be greatly missed.
Fred was a member of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Laymen's League as well as the USS Laffey Association.
A memorial service will be held at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church at 140 East 56th Street in Tacoma, WA on July 17, 2016 at 4:00pm with a reception to follow.
In lieu of flowers contributions can be made for the preservation, restoration and education of the battleship that Fred served on to:
USS Yorktown Foundation
40 Patriots Point Rd, Mount Pleasant, SC 29464
or visit
https://www.patriotspoint.org/explore/uss-laffey
in memory of Fred Gemmell
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