Thomas Wesley Airhart died March 8, 2002, in Seattle, after a brief illness. He was 89 years old.

Mr. Airhart was born Oct. 13, 1912, in St. Paul, Mn.

He married Virginia “Red” Whittier on June 16, 1936. The two moved from Plains, Mont., to Vashon, in 1962. She died in 1987.

In January 1992, he married Myrle Martin. She died in January 1999.

Mr. Airhart had many vocations. He worked for the Civilian Conservations Corps during the Depression. He also worked in the silver mines in Kellogg, Idaho. And he was a lookout for the U.S. Forest Service in the 1930s and fought fires for the forest service.

Mr. Airhart also worked in the shipyards in Seattle during World War II. In the 1950s he raised mink for several years.

He last worked for the Boeing Company where he was recognized as an award-winning welder. He retired from Boeing in 1977.

After he retired, Wes and Virginia became snowbirds and spent winters near Ajo, Ariz. After she died, he sold the home on Vashon and made his permanent home in Ajo until he and Myrle moved to Hayden, Idaho, in 1996. In 2001 he moved back to Vashon to live near Larry and Karen Fuller.

Friends and family recall he enjoyed music, especially playing the organ, accordion and piano. In his younger years, he played the tenor saxophone with a group that played for dances.

Survivors include a sister, Margaret Rojecki, and his children, Tom Airhart, Marty Airhart and his wife Carol, Mike Airhart, Gary Airhart, Karen Fuller and her husband Larry and Mary Brown and her husband Tim, and 20 grandchildren and 22 great grandchildren.

Memorial services will be at St. James Catholic Church in Plains, Mont., at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, March 16.

The family asks that memorial gifts be sent to a favorite charity.