Andrea Durfee Never Gave Up

Opportunities for advancement were rare in Peach County, Ga., where Andrea Houser Durfee was born. She sold her widowed mother's homemade sausage door-to-door during the Depression.

A quarter-century later, she was selling national advertising for Seattle's largest radio stations and directing their Community Club Awards promotional programs.

"The thing about Andrea is she was born 20 years too soon," said her friend Edie Hilliard. "She would have been an executive at an important company."

Instead, Mrs. Durfee, who died Monday (Aug. 26) of cancer at age 73, made a mark behind the scenes.

Mrs. Durfee earned a degree in education at Shorter College in Rome, Ga. In World War II she "joined the Navy to see the world," said her daughter, Melissa Davis of Seattle. She saw New York, San Francisco and, after her marriage in 1945, Seattle.

"Mom was a determined woman," said Davis. "It was unusual to be divorced in 1960, working and putting three kids through college."

Mrs. Durfee worked at the Bellevue station KFKF, owned by Kemper Freeman Sr. She also worked at KXA and at KJR.

"Somebody told me it wasn't like she was this imposing character," said her daughter. "She was just more a presence. She didn't judge anyone but accepted them, made them feel comfortable."

Mrs. Durfee's favorite interest, aside from reading mysteries, was continuing education. She went to an Elderhostel in Port Townsend to study marine biology and became a fan of "talking books" when a nerve disorder blinded her in 1989.

She became a wheelchair user; it took 45 minutes to put on shoes, and an hour to open a can of soup.

"But she did these things willingly," said her daughter. "She never wanted help. She took as her motto, `I think I can, I think I can, I know I can, I know I can, I did, I did.' "

Also surviving are her daughters Marcia Durfee of Seattle and Molly Hackett of Kent, and four grandchildren. A life celebration is scheduled for 5 to 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Harborside, 1200 Westlake Ave. N., Seattle. Remembrances may go to Group Health Cooperative Hospice Program, 83 S. King St., Suite 515, Seattle, WA 98104.