Gerald Earl Slagle died at his home on April 13, 2005, in the company of his family. He was 79 and had been ill with cancer for a long time.

He was the son of Albert Lawrence Slagle and Nellie Dorothy Watson. Mr. Slagle was born in a log house on Vashon on Jan. 2, 1926. He attended Vashon Grade and High Schools. He had many fond memories of the Paradise Valley area where his family lived.

He joined the U. S. Navy in May 1943, served on the destroyer USS Taussig and spent his time in the Asiatic-Pacific Area. He was discharged in March 1946.

He married Grace L. Magers in the Burton Church on Vashon Nov. 11, 1949.

They lived on Vashon for a few years then moved to the Burien area south of Seattle.

He was a commercial fisherman in Alaska and on the Washington Coast and was a building contractor. He retired from the contracting business and in 1989 moved to Long Beach, Wash.

Survivors include his wife, Grace, of 55 years, daughter Sharon and her husband David of Des Moines, Wash.; son Michael and his wife Debbie of Honaunau, Hawaii; granddaughters Janae and her husband Shawn, and Megan and her husband Jon. Additional survivors include his sister Jeanne of Issaquah, his brother Edward of Vashon, great-grandchildren Hannah and Bradley and four nieces.

After cremation, interment will be in the Woodbine Cemetery in Puyallup, Wash.

Arrangements were made by the Powers Funeral Home in Puyallup.

There will be no services by his request.