Nicholas Gleboff, contractor known by 'St. Nick' plates
 |
|
||||||||||
Nicholas Gleboff had a smile and a wave for everyone. Personable, handsome and outgoing, Mr. Gleboff became known around his longtime home of West Seattle for the "St. Nick" license plate on every car he drove.
Mr. Gleboff died Thursday (May 24) after a long battle with Parkinson's disease. He was 85.
Mr. Gleboff was a self-made man, said grandson Nick Jenkins, hardworking, honest and with genuine goodwill for everyone.
He was born in 1916 in Cheta, Russia, near the border of China. His family fled Moscow and the Bolshevik Revolution, living for a few years in China before sailing to America in 1922.
"They were supposed to go to San Francisco," said Mr. Gleboff's wife, Helen, now 83. "But the captain got snockered and so they wound up here."
Lucky for her. Helen met Nicholas at a party in 1939. It wasn't quite love at first sight, she said, but they got married three months later.
"He was handsome; brown hair, brown eyes," she said. "He was a great guy."
Mr. Gleboff worked as a carpenter early in his career, then served in the U.S. Army during World War II, working as a Russian and German translator.
After the war he became a residential and commercial contractor, building homes and warehouses in and around Seattle, including the West Seattle house where he lived with his wife and grandson.
Mr. Gleboff and his wife raised their grandson as their own when their daughter died, adopting him in 1983, Jenkins said. Mr. Gleboff was always there as a father figure, taking his grandson to baseball and basketball games. He never called Jenkins by his given name, but instead nicknamed him "Skookum."
Mr. Gleboff always liked to have a shiny new car to drive around. Every few years he would buy a new Cadillac or something similar, said Jenkins.
"It was kind of ridiculous," Jenkins said. "Whenever he'd come home, he'd honk his horn at the top of the hill, giving us a good warning. That came in pretty handy when I was a teenager... not that I was doing anything wrong.... But he always gave us a head start."
Mr. Gleboff retired in 1981. He loved to go crabbing and shrimping near Hood Canal, where the Gleboffs had a waterfront cabin, Jenkins said. Mr. Gleboff used to overwhelm his friends with the seafood he gathered. He also spent much of his time golfing with his buddies.
His wife, to whom he was married 62 years, described Mr. Gleboff's two main hobbies as "golf and driving me crazy being around the house too much."
He was a member of the Glen Acres Country Club from 1956 to 1993, and he played every Wednesday night and Saturday morning until Parkinson's forced him to give up the game.
A private family service is being held today at West Home Funeral Home in West Seattle.
Remembrances may be made to the American Parkinson's Disease Association.
Caitlin Cleary can be reached at 206-464-8214 or ccleary@seattletimes.com.