Harry Hokanson, a member of The Greatest Generation, passed away at home on his farm on his 98th birthday, April 7, 2016. He was born in the Lincoln Creek Valley to Oscar and A. Andrey (Soldal) Hokanson April 7, 1918.
Harry grew up in Chehalis, attending the Newaukum Valley School and then Cascade Elementary. Always an adventurer, Harry and his best friend hitchhiked and rode the rails to Chicago to buy cars, when they were in high school. His love of airplanes and flying began one day while he was on the playground and Charles Lindbergh flew over, waggling his wings to the kids. Harry’s determination to become a pilot was cemented after listening to a naval aviator, who came to speak to the students at Chehalis High School. While attending Washington State College, majoring in forestry, Harry enrolled in Reserve Officers’ Training Corps and was a member of the rifle team and the flying club. More importantly, he met his future wife, Verda C. Giles (1919-2013). Verda was waiting outside her student dorm, getting ready to go to a football game. Harry saw the prettiest girl, with the prettiest smile, grabbed her hand and took her to the game. They dated his last three years of college, marrying in 1941. Harry had a uniform to play football at WSC, but declined his position on the team to work his way through college by being a waiter in the commons dining hall.
After graduating from college, Harry was accepted into the U.S. Navy as a prospective pilot. He trained at Pensacola Naval Air Station and his skills led him to be assigned as an instructor of new pilots. He served in World War II as a fighter pilot on escort aircraft carriers in the Pacific, first on the USS Corregidor and later on the USS Makin Island, where he served as squadron leader. Harry loved to tell stories about his squadron mates, especially their shenanigans and card playing. He was discharged from the Navy in 1946 and for the next 70 years stayed in touch with his Navy friends and later their widows. Harry and Verda kept up these friendships in part by traveling to squadron reunions in distant cities in their RV. He planned to participate in a veterans’ Honor Flight to Washington D.C. this spring (something he had to be convinced of by a pretty VA nurse). In December 2015, he gave a speech at the Veterans Memorial Museum in Chehalis in honor of Pearl Harbor, the day after being in the hospital for pneumonia.
After the war, Harry returned to Chehalis, where he worked for various lumber companies as a timber buyer. He later owned his own business, buying and selling logs at his reload in Napavine. His reload supplied the pilings for a new pier in Seattle in time for Expo 1962. He finished his career working for the State of Washington, as a logging safety inspector, retiring in 1985. For a time, he was an avid bowler, participating in three different leagues and was busy with the Masonic Lodge, where he served as master in 1969. Harry and Verda were involved in square dancing, where he was a caller. He became known for his large gardens and the vegetables he would share with friends. Woodworking was another interest and he joined a group of local crafters, selling their wares at their store. He built the house his family lived in for 60 years. If something broke, he fixed it or he would fabricate parts and invent something better. Later in life, he brewed his own wine. He was an avid reader, crossword puzzler, Sudoku worker and Seahawks fan.
Harry was one-of-a-kind. He had a hole for his .22 notched in the corner of his shop so he could dispose of the starlings, ready to attack his fruit trees. He took his grandkids fishing and gave them rides in the bucket of his tractor. Later in life, he had weekly breakfast with friends to discuss politics and solve the world’s problems. Last summer, at age 97, he bought a new wood splitter and a new four-wheeler because his last one didn’t have enough power. Some of his oft-used sayings included “hot diggity,” when the Seahawks made a good play, “close enough for government work,” when perfecting his wood working, and “you’re too short on one end,” when playing pool with his young grandchildren.
Harry was preceded in death by wife, Verda; brothers, Allen, Marvin and Gene; and sister, Jewel Woody.
He is survived by his children, Jim (Kathy), Marysville, Jarlee (Bob) McCormick, Chehalis, Jon (Linda), Tulalip and Jeri (Don) Hokanson, Arlington; as well as seven grandchildren, a passel of great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.
There will be a party for family and friends, that was planned by Harry, held later in the summer to honor both him and Verda. Any donations may be made to the Veterans Memorial Museum, 100 SW Veterans Way, Chehalis, WA 98532 or to the Adna Scholarship Foundation, P.O. Box 93, Adna, WA 98522.
Harry’s family gives many thanks to the Providence Hospice staff, who gave such excellent care to their dad.
