Farnam

(nee Karlberg)

Marge was born February 5, 1934, in Seattle. She died April 8, 2006, after a lengthy battle with MS. She was 72.

Marge graduated from Franklin High School in 1951 and was a member of their Alumni Society. She married Donald Farnam on December 19, 1958. They made their first home in the Wallingford area. Since 1965 they have lived in Normandy Park. She worked at Sears for seven years before opening Double F Ceramics with her husband. Marge was a certified ceramics teacher, a member of the Washington State Ceramic Arts Association, and a nationally certified Judge. Additionally, she won numerous awards at the state level for her ceramics.

An avid hockey fan, she went to hockey games for well over 50 years. Most of that time she was a season ticket holder until illness forced her to quit going. She was a founding member of what is now the Seattle Hockey Booster Club, in which she was one of seven Life Members. Marge served in every office with the Booster Club except Treasurer -- some positions more than once. She was also a chair of, or member on, numerous committees. She helped create the Seattle Hockey Hall of Fame and was inducted into it in 1988. She is the only woman in the “Hall.” She worked for the Seattle Breakers and Seattle Thunderbirds hockey teams for several years, in various capacities, and was known by many at the games as “Mom.” The highlight of her interest in hockey was when Jake Geortzen, Curt Kamp, Bruce McDonald and the rest of her family made special arrangements to surprise her with a visit to her house with the Stanley Cup.

She loved hydroplane racing, and was often a fixture at Lake Washington. When she couldn’t go to the lake anymore she watched the races on TV. In her later years, she also watched the Mariners on TV. Her favorites were Edgar Martinez, Jay Buhner, and I-CHI-RO, as she would say.

One of her other big interests was numismatics. She belonged to University Coin Club, where she was a Life Member, and held several offices; a member of the Boeing Employees Coin Club; and a Life Member of the American Numismatic Association. She was also a Life Member in the Pacific Northwest Numismatic Association, where she was a Past President and Judge. Marge received a distinguished national award from Krause Publications as a Numismatic Ambassador. Although she did not do much in the way of collecting, she was very active in furthering the hobby. Ultimately, this was another hobby she had to quit as her disease progressed. Marge also collected Avon and salt and pepper shakers, and was especially proud of the salt and pepper shaker collection. They number in the hundreds, and have won several awards at the fair in Puyallup.

Margaret was preceded in death by her mother, Adeline; her father, Evar; and her step-father, Walter Gormley.

She is survived by Don, her husband of 47 years; her two half-sisters, Orinda Koukal (Don) of Savage, Minn., and Ilene Grimaldi (John), of Burnsville, Minn.; her three daughters, Linda Farnam and Donna Farnam, both of Seattle, and Janet Jerick (Don), of North Bend; six “granddogs” and numerous ”rent-a-kids.”

A special thank you to the great doctors and nurses who cared for her during her extended illness, and to all of the wonderful people at Highline Home Health Care, particularly her much-beloved bath aide, Agnes.

Services will be held at the end of April. Please contact the family for more information. In lieu of flowers please send remembrances to either the National MS Society or the Seattle Thunderbirds Scholarship Fund.