Townsend A. “Tat” Tatterson, Jr. died June 4 on Bainbridge Island.

He was born Dec. 17, 1908 in Norfolk Va. He spent his early years in Virginia and Florida, and attended the Carlyle Military Academy in North Carolina.

He graduated from Seminole High School in Sanford, Fla., where he was the quarterback on the football team.

On a trip to China through the Panama Canal, he and his parents stopped in Hawaii for an extended visit. That is where he met and married Harriett Ekstedt of Brownsville, Wash.

They were married Jan. 26, 1935 at Pearl Harbor and lived on Kauai and Oahu for the next 20 years, where their three children were born and raised.

He was working for the Navy on Ford Island in the center of Pearl Harbor when the war began in the Pacific.

He attempted to join the Sea-Bees, but couldn’t be released from his position on Ford Island, where he supervised 700 men in the reconstruction of Pearl.

Later during the war he was transferred to NAS Barbers Point on Oahu, where he was the public works foreman. During the war, he received commendations from the Secretary of the Navy for his outstanding contributions.

He and his wife moved to Seattle in 1950, where they resided for nearly 50 years.

They belonged to Sand Point Methodist Church, Sand Point Country Club and the Farthest North Bridge Club, which they formed while spending two years in Barrow, Alaska.

He was the superintendent of construction for the Navy in the building of the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory and considered the expert for building on permafrost.

He retired from his naval position in 1972, and later moved to the Madison Avenue Retirement Center on Bainbridge Island in 1998.

He is survived by his wife of 67 years, Harriett; daughters Gail (Emmet) Marshall and Anne (Max) Wisner of Bainbridge Island, son Tat III of Phoenix, Ariz.; grandchildren Tat Tatterson IV of Poulsbo, Todd (Kelee) Tatterson of Seattle, Gary Tatterson of Seattle, Heidi (Dave) Kaster of Hansville, Dan Wisner of Seattle, Hunter (Anna) Marshall of Seattle, Emmet (Kelly) Marshall II of Seattle and Christina Marshall of Auburn; and three great-grandchildren: Brittany Wisner of Bainbridge and Alex and Katelyn Sue Tatterson of Seattle. He is also survived by his sister, Ethelda Kiernan, of Chicago, Ill.

There will be a memorial at a later date.

Remembrances can be made to the Bainbridge Island Fire Department or the Diabetes Foundation.

Arrangements were under the direction of Kass Funeral Home, Bainbridge Island.