Obituary

David Earl Hatch was born June 23, 1935 to Helen and Earl Hatch of Bellingham, Washington. He was the eldest of two children. He lived in Bellingham until a couple years after graduating from Bellingham High School in 1953, when he made the life changing decision to join the Air Force. David was stationed in Texas and Alaska, before getting sent to Mitchel AFB on Long Island in New York. In late summer of 1958, while working part-time at a little coffee shop, a cute blond named Catherine Sullivan caught his eye. After pointing her out to his buddy as “the girl I’m going to marry” David talked Cathy into giving him her phone number, and six months later, on February 7, 1959, they were married at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Oceanside.
The next year David was honorably discharged and the newlyweds moved west, first to Bellingham where they had their first child, Linda, and a year later to the Shoreline district in north Seattle, where their sons Jeffrey and Thomas were born. David tried college at Western Washington State College, but ended up going to drafting school. After moving to Seattle he worked as a draftsman for the city of Seattle. After a couple of years, he got a job at Puget Power in Bellevue, Cathy eventually joining him there in an effort to shorten their commute. In 1969, David got a job as an engineering sales representative with Maydwell & Hartzell in Rainier Valley, and both he and Cathy decided to move to Mercer Island in 1970 in order to raise their family in a smaller community with good schools. They were both involved in their children’s activities, David coaching his son Jeff’s soccer team, the Stingers, and helping the team to an undefeated season. David was also a Boy Scout Troop leader, and helped out with extra practices for his daughter Linda’s soccer team. In 1973, David and Cathy purchased a 45-foot Chesapeake Bay skipjack sailboat from David’s aunt, and enjoyed several years of sailing vacations with their kids. The distinctive pirate look to the Bayjack gave them a lot of attention. They also went on many camping trips as a family, and David often took Jeff and Tom with him on summer business trips.
In 1981, their 14 year old son Tom was diagnosed with cancer. After an unsuccessful bout of chemotherapy, David donated his bone marrow to Tom for a bone marrow transplant, but even though the transplant took, Tom died from complications four months after his diagnosis. Both David and Cathy were devastated, and never really recovered completely from losing Tom.
After Tom’s death, David worked for several more years at Maydwell and Hartzell before he was dealt another blow. Although he had been the top salesman in 1984, Maydwell & Hartzell decided to downsize, and David was laid off. With a generous severance package, he decided to start his own company, and in 1985, David Hatch and Associates was born. David continued representing manufacturers for the utility market; selling transformers, cooling fans and other supplies to utilities in the Pacific Northwest, and even Hawaii. He was awarded multiple awards during his 31 years in business. He loved working, and didn’t retire until the month before his death, at the age of 81.
With kids grown and gone, David and Cathy began to travel. They went frequently to Ocean Shores, and took mini-trips to other local areas. In 1999, they discovered the beauty of Hawaii, and made the trip to Maui almost every other year, one year bringing their granddaughter Caitlin with them. When Cathy and her sister took a cruise to Alaska, David and his friend Bud Bjarnason met them there and cruised back with them. Several months after Cathy’s retirement, David expressed a desire to tour Washington D.C., something he’d never had the opportunity to do, so on September 10th, 2001, he and Cathy flew out of Seattle. Because of a delayed lay-over flight, they didn’t get into Washington until after midnight on September 11th, so they cancelled their early morning bus tour of the Pentagon and decided to sleep in. When they came down to breakfast, the entire hotel lobby was riveted to the T.V. watching the events unfold in New York and Washington. They never got their tour, but instead returned to Philadelphia and visited with family until they could fly back to Seattle a week later.
David was active in the Mercer Island Lions club until he and Cathy moved, and served in many areas including a two year position as President. He loved working at the Christmas tree lot, helping out with the scholarship program, and participating in the Mercer Fair Parade while his daughter Linda chauffeured him in her convertible Mustang.
David and Cathy sold their house and moved to Renton in 2012, in order to be closer to Linda and Jeff and their families. After a short illness, Cathy died in September of 2015. David moved in with Linda and Alan and was diagnosed with cancer several months later. He was never afraid of the prospect of dying, and said “The party’s up there – I want to be with Cathy.” In March of 2016, David was confirmed into the Catholic Church. He died peacefully at home on November 26th, 2016.
David is survived by his daughter and son-in-law, Linda and Alan Halvorson, their children Caitlin and Lt. Christian Halvorson; and his son and daughter-in-law, Jeff and Laura Hatch, and their children, Michael, Joseph, Jeremy, Nathaniel, David, Johnny, Carina and Steven, all of Renton; as well as his sister and brother-in-law, Shirley and Chris Taylor and niece, Erin Taylor, all of Kent, Washington,. There will be a Funeral Mass at St. Anthony Catholic Church in Renton, WA on Friday, December 9th, at 11:00 a.m., reception following.