Helen Lauridsen Bucey, age 90, died April 2 in Seattle after a prolonged illness.
Born in 1912 in Seattle, she spent most of her life in the Seattle, Bellevue and Bainbridge Island areas. Her parents, Morten J., Sr. and Mary Olsen Lauridsen, built a home in the Pleasant Beach area in 1925, where they lived during their retirement years.
She was the granddaughter of one of Bainbridge’s pioneer families, Martin and Christine Olsen, who settled in the West Blakely area in 1890. The first Olsen home was destroyed by fire, but the second home, constructed in 1905, remains one of the island’s historic houses.
After graduating from Queen Anne High School in Seattle, she attended the University of Washington, where she earned an undergraduate degree in music and a graduate degree in library science.
She worked as a librarian in Detroit, where she met Boyd Hendall Bucey, a Seattle native and aeronautical engineer for Boeing. The two married in 1941 and returned to the Seattle area, where Boyd became Boeing’s director of manufacturing research and development.
The couple built a home in the Pleasant Beach area of Bainbridge in 1970, relocating to Winslow in 1984.
She was active in numerous civic, educational and charitable organizations. In addition to holding positions on the governing boards of many organizations, she served as president of the Overlake Service League, the Lake Washington Branch of the American Association of University Women, the Overlake Memorial Hospital Association and the Bellevue Library Board. She also served as president of the local chapters of the Children’s Orthopedic Guild, the Seattle-King County Visiting Nurses Service, the Arboretum Foundation, the American Cancer Society, the Music and Arts Foundation and the Mountaineer Ortho Guild.
She was an active member of the Women’s University Club, the PEO group, the Altrusa International and the Delta Zeta sorority. A long-time member of the Mountaineers, she climbed the major mountain peaks of the Northwest and was one of the first women to conquer the Grand Teton in Wyoming.
In her later years she was a volunteer at Bloedel Reserve.
She was also committed to giving financial support to worthy causes. In 1990 she established the Boyd K. Bucey Memorial Professorship in Orthalmology at the University of Washington School of Medicine. She also established and funded the Boyd K. Bucey Lecture Program at Seattle’s Museum of Flight in 1998.
She was recognized numerous times for her leadership and contributions. In 1955, she was cited for Outstanding Community Service through Bellevue’s All-American City celebration. In 1960, she was given the Citizen of the Month award by Bellevue’s Lions Club, received the Man-of-the-Year award from Bellevue’s Junior Chamber of Commerce, and was selected as the Woman of Achievement by the local alumni chapter of Delta Zeta.
She was preceded in death in 1985 by her husband Boyd.
She is survived by brother Morten J. Lauridsen, Jr. of Portland, Ore.; two nephews, Morten J. Lauridsen III of Los Angeles and Neal A. Lauridsen of Portland; and five grandnieces and grandnephews.
At her request, there will be no public funeral service.
Remembrances may be made to the University of Washington School of Medicine, the Museum of Flight, the Arboretum Foundation or a charity of the donor’s choice.
