Theodore Heindsmann was born in New York City on August 2, 1925. He grew up in both New York City, where his father, Theodore, was an architect, and Norfolk, Virginia, where his mother, Alma, and grandmother, Emily Christine Harrall, kept a boarding house during the Depression. Because of his very high academic achievement, he began college at age 16 at William and Mary, and was tapped for the V-12 Program in W.W.II. He earned degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic, the U.S. Naval Academy, and the Univ. of California, Berkeley, as well as serving as an officer in the U.S. Navy. He moved to San Francisco for his Master’s work on fog, and there met Virginia Green, to whom he was married for 58 years. They moved to New London, CN in 1949 so he could work at the Underwater Sound Lab, as a civilian doing some of the first research into underwater sounds in peacetime, particularly with submarines and sonar. In 1955 the family moved to Seattle so he could work at The Boeing Company, where he worked for 35 years, including on the AWACS and Hydrofoil projects. He was an acoustical engineer, but he was always interested in oceanography, even traveling with “Namu the Killer Whale” from British Columbia, recording and researching “whale speak.”
Ted and his family lived in the Madrona and Fauntleroy neighborhoods in Seattle, until moving to Vashon Island in 1964, where Ted lived until his death on December 21, 2009.
Ted was much more involved with his children’s lives than most men of that era. He was equally proud of his son, Kenneth Theodore, and his two daughters Sandra Christine, and Emily Lynn. He worked long hours for Boeing and then spent many hours working outdoors on his (retired) farm on Vashon, as well as in the community. An Eagle Scout, he led scout troops and YMCA Indian Guides. Ted was a long-time member of the Vashon Chamber of Commerce, serving as president, 1972-73; he was an elder and trustee at Vashon Presbyterian Church; he was a founder of both the Vashon Health Center, helping to bring professional medical services to Vashon, and the Vashon Cooperative Preschool; and, in the 1960s, he helped put a comprehensive zoning plan in place for Vashon Island.
He loved the natural world. He used to say that the deer and the birds and the raccoons kept him alive. He loved to hike, swim, and camp. He tended many all-organic gardens long before that was fashionable. Although an ultra-rational and scientific person, he had a streak of creativity and whimsy that occasionally flashed. He and Virginia loved to dance, and they traveled in the 1980s and 90s, even to the Amazon, Australia, and New Zealand. He also read and collected Science Fiction/Fantasy (which he called Speculative Fiction) for seven decades. Up until his final days, he was reading and researching broadly and keeping up on a wide variety of subjects.
He was predeceased by his wife, Virginia, in 2007. He is survived by his sister Dorothy V. Heindsmann, of Arlington, VA; his son Kenneth and his wife Renée, of Grants Pass, OR; his daughter Sandra Larkman Heindsmann and her husband David Larkman Clark, of Seattle, WA; and his daughter Emily Heindsmann and her wife Cheryl Klotz, of Seattle, WA.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, January 30, 2010 at 4:00 p.m. at the Vashon Presbyterian Church, 17708 Vashon Highway SW, Vashon, WA 98070 (206 463-2010). Any remembrances may be made to the Heindsmann Family Scholarship fund at Vashon Presbyterian.
(paid obituary)
