Roy Ferrari Sr. Brought Precision To His Creations

It didn't take a genius to figure out what made Roy Ferrari Sr. tick: the chance to fix or make something that required a craftsman's care and an inventor's imagination.

For 40 years the Seattle native built homes from Rainier Valley across Beacon Hill to West Seattle. It kept his family fed, clothed and sheltered in style.

After heart-bypass surgery in 1981, Mr. Ferrari traded his hardhat for a horologist's tools and along with his wife began building handmade wooden pendulum-clocks.

He made nearly 60, selling for up to $10,000 each. He sold one to Tukwila City Hall. He even sold one to a Saudi Arabian prince.

Before dying of heart failure Sunday, Aug. 4, at age 74, Mr. Ferrari built his clocks, tended his garden and followed the latest computer technology.

"Young people who have called or come by have said they consider him a second father," said his wife of 50 years, Teresa Ferrari of Seattle. She designed the clocks he built. "Roy used to help the neighbor kids do physics problems."

As the only child of northern Italian immigrants, he always wanted a big family and proudly included neighbors and extended family in the circle, said his daughter Nina LaSalle of Vashon Island.

He also wanted to find creative solutions.

"He loved puzzles and could fix anything," said his son-in-law Gar LaSalle. "His famous whimsical quote after repairing something was, `If I can't fix it, it's not broken.' "

About the time he retired from building homes, Mr. Ferrari began making surgical instruments for an oral surgeon.

He also saw a photo of a wooden clock in a woodworking magazine - and thought he could do better.

"We took an old chest of drawers of solid mahogany, and he made a clock of it," said his wife. "My son was so excited, he took it to the woodworking gallery, and it was on the Art Gallery Walk that very night."

Ferrari clocks are kinetic sculptures that function as precise timepieces with a soft pendulum sound. He used hardwoods such as cherry, walnut and koa from the United States, coco-bolo from Brazil and mahogany from Honduras. The ebony used in gears was seasoned, cut to within a thousandth of an inch in accuracy, sanded and oiled.

Other survivors include his other children, Maria Porteous, Lawrence Ferrari, Roy Ferrari Jr. and John Ferrari of Seattle and James Ferrari of Vashon Island, and eight grandchildren.

Services are set for 11 a.m. tomorrow at St. George Catholic Church, 5306 13th Ave. S., Seattle. Remembrances may be made to Georgetown Service Center, 6200 13th Ave. S., Seattle, WA 98108.