Bothell's Lloyd Larsen, 78: Fishing And Water Were His Life

Picture Lloyd Larsen: blue eyes in a round face, welder's cap at a jaunty angle, grin glinting with gold crowns. He often could be found swapping stories with friends at Fishermen's Terminal, puttering with the goats at his Bothell home, or enjoying a meal out with his family.

Then picture the other Mr. Larsen on high Alaskan seas aboard the Valorous, the 60-foot, steel-hulled fishing boat he built in his back yard. He would staff the nets and winches, tweaking the engine or shouting orders.

"He was a wonderful man and would do anything for you," said his sister, Phyllis Oskam of Seattle. "All his life he worked hard. But his pleasure was being out to sea. Fishing and the water were his life."

Three years ago he was singled out by religious leaders in the annual blessing of the fleet prior to the opening of the fishing season. "He was honored as the eldest captain of a boat in Seattle's fleet," Oskam said.

Mr. Larsen died April 23 of cancer. He was 78.

Born in Seattle to commercial fishermen who were so strict they wouldn't allow the children to say "darn," Mr. Larsen grew up on Bothell's Norway Hill. He graduated from Bothell High School in 1939.

During the 1930s, while still a teen, he worked on halibut schooners with his father. On their first trip he made $3. In the off-season he was a welder at the old Lake Washington Shipyard.

In the Navy in World War II, he did underwater welding on hulls blown apart by torpedoes.

After the war, he continued fishing on other boats and worked off-seasons at Todd Shipyard, building a steel-hulled trawler in a neighbor's yard. The boat was his pride and joy.

"He lost the Sharon-Patricia in an 80-knot gale in 1969," said his sister-in-law, Maureen Larsen. "Wearing only his skivvies, he clung to the hull for 16 hours before he was rescued. When he came home, he began building the Valorous in his back yard."

He diversified his fishing to include cod. Fishermen's Terminal became his home away from home. He trained grandson Lance Ritto to follow in his footsteps.

Mr. Larsen never tired of fish. He was a fish chef, gave gifts of salmon, and ordered fish when dining out.

"We'd go to a restaurant and he'd say, `I gotta order halibut,' " his sister said. "We'd say, `Can't you order a steak once in a while?' He said, `I gotta support the fishermen.' "

Other survivors include his wife of 33 years, Norma Larsen of Bothell; children Sharon Moss and Pattie Ritto, both of Whittier, Calif.; sister Helen Pearson of Canby, Ore.; brother, Clifford Larsen of Lynnwood; seven grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.

A memorial gathering is scheduled for 6 p.m. tomorrow at Anthony's Home Port restaurant, 6135 Seaview Ave. N.W., near Seattle's Shilshole Marina.