Felix Kam, Longtime Bakery Owner, Combined Work, Family And Humor

The 1908-vintage brick-lined oven works fine. The old electric mixer performs like a top. The dough divider still runs well and the wall-size refrigerator purrs contentedly.

But Carolyn's Cakes Bakery on Capitol Hill is closed for the week, marking the loss of the most important fixtures it ever had: baker, husband, father and businessman Felix Kam.

With his wife and children by his side and grandchildren close by, Mr. Kam died at home Monday morning after a battle with lung cancer. He was 84.

Just as he made his breads, rolls and pastries from scratch, Mr. Kam lived according to a precious recipe: hard work, devotion to family and a dash of humor.

For 47 years, he and his wife, El Marie, prepared the breads and rolls that graced the tables of some of the city's most influential families on North Capitol Hill, in Madison Park and in Broadmoor.

They baked and decorated cakes that served as centerpieces for countless birthdays, weddings and family celebrations.

The bakery, at 518 15th Ave. E., drew its name from its former owner, Carolyn Edgett, who operated it 10 years before selling to the Kams in 1945. Because the establishment had a faithful following, Mr. Kam decided to retain the name.

"The bakery was his life," said a daughter, Tina Candoo of Bellevue. "He wasn't one to sit back and relax much."

"He'd work a long day - from 5 in the morning until at least 6 at night," said another daughter, Ellen Kam, who now runs the bakery with her brother, Stephen Kam. Both are Capitol Hill residents.

Working in the bakery has been a tradition, among Mr. Kam's four children, whether it meant twisting cinnamon rolls in the early morning, running the counter after school or sweeping floors and helping with the baking during summer breaks.

The 5-foot-7-inch, broad-shouldered Minnesota native was strong and solid, a former star athlete who got more exercise on the job than most professional athletes do on the field.

In his native St. Cloud, Minn., Mr. Kam drew honors in a variety of sports: football, baseball, basketball and track. At the University of Minnesota in the 1920s, he blocked for the legendary Bronko Nagurski.

After graduating from the university in 1930, Mr. Kam coached and taught at the high-school level until pressures of the Great Depression forced him to leave teaching and return to work at a family bakery.

In 1936, Mr. Kam, along with his wife-to-be and three other companions, piled in a car and headed to California in search of opportunity. Along the way, the Kams were married in Reno, Nev.

For the next several years, jobs in the yeast business took the Kams to Portland, Spokane and several cities in California.

When Mr. Kam heard a small bakery was for sale in Seattle, he seized the opportunity to plant roots.

"The work was hard, but he loved being his own boss, not being transferred by a company and having to move his whole family," his widow recalled.

At the bakery, Mr. Kam did the bulk of the baking and cake decorating. Mrs. Kam ran the counter.

"Sometimes he would come out and help, but he really didn't know the prices, and he kind of gave things away," his wife said.

Besides the bakery, Mr. Kam was most at home at a family cabin at Lake Joy in East King County, the getaway that framed some of his children's most precious memories.

"Those were special times," Candoo said. "He would carry us in our hooded pajamas out to the dock to look at the stars."

In the woods near the cabin, Mr. Kam created the family's own "jungle ride." Using sawhorses and painted flour sacks, he made tigers, leopards and zebras along a wooded trail and took the children along the course in a cart pulled behind his small tractor.

Dr. John M. Deinas, a longtime friend, recalls the fun he and Mr. Kam had in the Capitol Hill Lions Club. "He was a great guy; he had a unique sense of humor, and we were always pulling jokes," said the retired dentist.

One gag that stands out, Deinas said, was when the club nominated officers, and Mr. Kam showed up in his baker's hat with flour sprinkled on himself.

"And then I would say he should be our club treasurer because he was always in the dough," Deinas recalled.

Mr. Kam never officially retired from the bakery, even though his work became more difficult over the last decade due to the effects of Parkinson's disease, a neurological disorder.

A longtime smoker, Mr. Kam gave up cigarettes 20 years ago, telling his loved ones, "I want to live to see my grandchildren." He saw seven, now ranging in age from 2 to 21.

Survivors also include another daughter, Marilyn Milnor of Seattle.

A rosary was held last night at Butterworth-Manning-Ashmore Funeral Home. A funeral Mass will be tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. at St. Joseph Catholic Church, with entombment at Holyrood Cemetery.