William Arthur Stimpson
October 21, 1918 - December 7, 2013

It is with sadness, but also celebration of a life well-lived, that we mark the passing of William Arthur (Art) Stimpson.

Art was born in Regina, Saskatchewan on October 21, 1918 even as an historic influenza pandemic raged through North America. Art's mother, Ruby King Stimpson told him later that when she went to the hospital to deliver him, more people were coming out dead than alive. Thankfully, Art was one of the latter. He went on to thrive, living in a series of depot homes where his father, William George Stimpson was employed as a station agent. The depot Art remembered best as his "home" was in Glaslyn, Saskatchewan, where he lived with his parents, three brothers, and four sisters from the age of 10 till he finished high school. Though the Stimpson family had no running water or electricity, they were very comfortable. They heated and cooked with coal, lit their home with gas lamps, fetched water from one of Glaslyn's two wells, and enjoyed music played by his mother on the family's piano.

During World War II, Art served in the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve as chief petty officer on a Corvette, escorting supply ships from Halifax, Nova Scotia to London, England. Art initially joined his fleet in Vancouver, British Columbia, from there making his way to Halifax by way of the Panama Canal. It was during this voyage that Art met his future wife, Marjorie Jeanne Allen, at a USO dance in California. They danced the night away, and had one more date the next night, dancing to Sammy Kaye at the Hollywood Canteen, before he shipped out the next day. Though they'd only just met, they continued to write letters throughout the war. Shortly after VE Day, Art made his way to Margie's home in Weeping Water, Nebraska, where they were married on July 15, 1945.

Shortly after VJ Day, Art entered the University of British Columbia. Margie, now a "war bride," joined him there. They spent three years in Vancouver, enjoying the beauty of the Pacific Northwest, while Art completed his Bachelor's degree. Upon graduation, Art did graduate work at Columbia University in New York City, and then joined the firm of Price Waterhouse in 1948.

Art thoroughly enjoyed his work with Price Waterhouse, advancing through the ranks to become a partner with the firm in the early 1960s. His greatest professional satisfaction came from helping prepare international companies, most notably Sony, for going public. During this period of his career, he had the opportunity to travel to Japan, France, Finland, Sweden, Italy, Great Britain, Hong Kong and other countries throughout the world, experiences that influenced him the rest of his life. When he retired in 1979, Art was partner in charge of the SEC at Price Waterhouse's national office in New York City.

During his years at Price Waterhouse, Art and Margie enjoyed their beautiful home in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey in a semi-forested yard covered by oaks, maples, hickories, dogwoods, birches, sassafras, and many other varieties of trees. Art knew each of these trees intimately and tended them with loving care. He also cared for the pre-Revolutionary rock wall that ran through the yard, rebuilding it, stone-by-stone, till it was restored to its eighteenth-century height.

During their New Jersey years, Art and Margie celebrated their love of dancing, joining a cotillion club where they gathered with friends throughout the year to do the lindy and foxtrot, sometimes to records in each other's homes, and sometimes to big bands in large dance halls. It was these fellow dance aficionados, as well as Art's Price Waterhouse partners and their families, who became their most lasting friends.

It was also during these years that Art took up skiing, joining his children, Barbie, Dana, and Scott on the slopes of New York, Vermont, and eventually Vail, Colorado. It was in Vail that Art and Margie purchased a condominium in 1975, skiing there every year afterward, eventually spending whole winters in a skier's paradise. Art skied the slopes of Vail until he was 87 years old, by then sharing his love of skiing with his granddaughters, Dorothy and Linnaea Franks.

After retirement from Price Waterhouse in 1979, Art and Margie returned to the Pacific Northwest where they built their dream home in the Seattle suburb of Woodway, Washington. During their years in Woodway, Art and Margie developed their yard into a kind of wildlife sanctuary. Together they created habitat for scores of bird species and the occasional visiting deer, coyotes and native Douglas squirrels. Art took to planting trees by the dozens saying, "It's a real act of faith for a 70-year-old man to plant a tree!" Happily, he stuck around more than 25 more years to watch his trees grow and mature. It's estimated that one hundred of the trees in his yard either are, or are the offspring of, those he planted. Every room in his house has provided great views of them, and he took great pleasure in marking the seasons with their leafing out in spring, and turning red or gold in the fall, or clipping their branches for the mantle at holiday time.

Art was preceded in death by his beloved Margie in February, 2004. He has continued to enjoy the constant company of his children and grandchildren throughout the years. He is survived by his daughter, Barbara Allyn Stimpson and her husband Andrew Jackson of Madison, Wisconsin, his daughter Dana Franks, her husband Don Franks, and his granddaughters Dorothy and Linnaea Franks of Burien, Washington, and his son Scott Stimpson and his wife Judy Zimmerman of Milwaukie, Oregon.

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