Dury Albert Fox, age 90, award-winning educator and 27-year resident of Rockaway Beach, died May 20 at Jacobsen House in Seattle.

He was born March 25, 1912 in Snohomish, to Roy Fox, a logger and woodsman, and Charlotte Payne Fox. Fox was raised in Glacier, near Mt. Baker, and graduated from Maple Falls High School.

He was working toward a bachelor’s degree in education at Bellingham Normal School (now Western Washington University) during the Depression when he was asked to fill a vacancy in a teacherless one-room school house in the town of Fernwood.

In those days, exceptions to rules were made: Fox was hired knowing that he’d complete his degree. He taught the “three R’s” reading, writing and arithmetic to grades one through eight.

When the year was over, he said he’d never teach again! He did not renew his contract, disappointing the school’s directors.

The year was not a loss. At his boarding house, Fox met and “fell in love at first sight” with Harla Seeberg, the beautiful daughter of the woman who ran the place. They were soon married.

He completed his degree and tried teaching again in Oak Harbor for a year, and in Prosser for five years, before moving to Seattle and the Renton School District for 31 years.

Fox taught carpentry and woodworking. During World War II, he organized a major expansion of the Renton district’s Industrial Arts facilities. He directed the training of hundreds of novices to become airplane mechanics for nearby factories. The last five years of his career, he was director of the district’s industrial and fine arts department.

In 1973, the American Industrial Arts Assn. voted him “Outstanding Teacher of the Year for Washington State.”

Before he retired, Fox and Harla helped build a home on Rockaway Beach near Port Blakely. They lived there from 1972-1999, when they moved to Edmonds.

They celebrated their 65th anniversary, thanks in part to what his wife describes as Fox’s “wonderful companionship, sense of humor and mischievous sparkle.”

He was a member of the East Shore Unitarian Church in Bellevue.

Fox was active in Bainbridge Island Concerned Citizens in the 1970s: He helped community efforts to prevent a rezoning at the old Winslow shipyard site and to preserve the maritime-commercial zoning there for future island needs and other water-dependent uses.

Fox patiently taught inexperienced BICC members how to restore old furniture, which was sold to raise thousands of dollars for legal fees.

His love of wood and children often expressed itself at island picnics, too, where young people would flock around him as he taught them how to make whistles from willow branches.

Fox loved his beach life and boats. He was an enthusiastic photographer, rower, fisherman, and the “Park Ranger of Blakely Rock.” He was an early and active member and enjoyed regional field trips of the Marine Science Society of the Pacific Northwest. Three times he traveled abroad to tour and photograph the English countryside on canal barges.

Fox is survived by his wife, Harla; three children, Michael, Mauris Justice, and Julia Heneghan; four grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

A family memorial gathering is planned. Remembrances may be made to the Alzheimers Association, Poulsbo’s Marine Science Center or a charity of the donor’s choice.