Arthur Waterman built strong career on his love for cars

Arthur Paul Waterman's paper route helped turn his love of cars into a career. It was where he met his first business partner.

Mr. Waterman and Harry Leighton started an auto-repair and wrecking business in Seattle in the 1940s. The business morphed into an auto dealership and eventually became one of Seattle's oldest car dealerships.

Mr. Waterman, a Woodinville resident, died July 17 after multiple strokes. He was 89.

The man who graduated from high school "by the skin of his teeth," as his son Richard puts it, also opened a dealership in Kirkland. Mr. Waterman's academic troubles were due in part to dyslexia, but he became a successful businessman nonetheless, his son said.

"None of his teachers in high school would have given him high grades for anything but being a wild-buck redhead," his son said.

Born in Lewiston, Idaho, on Jan. 13, 1914, to Walter and Clara Waterman, Mr. Waterman moved to Seattle with his family when he was a child. In high school, he found two loves: cars, which became his career, and Isabel Senior, who became his wife. The two were married nearly 60 years and raised four children. She died in 1997.

Mr. Waterman bought his first car when he was 14 with money he had earned delivering papers. His family — who called him by his middle name, Paul — often joked he was The Seattle Times' longest-standing newspaper boy, guessing he held the job from the time he was 11 until he was 22.

"Everyone seemed to say he had a newspaper route forever," Richard Waterman said.

Mr. Waterman and Leighton founded Ravenna Auto Rebuild in 1941. In seven years, the repair shop became an auto dealership, which later was sold to Bob Byers and became Ravenna Volvo.

"They built it from scratch, with hard work and determination," Byers said.

In the early days of the shop, the two men worked into the night, pounding out fenders until neighbors begged them to stop. Mr. Waterman told the story often, Byers said.

The business partners joined with another friend, Bill Petter, to open Bel-Kirk Motors in 1963. Petter became full owner of the dealership, which he sold to Barrier Motors in 1991.

Seeing the success of his former business partners pleased Mr. Waterman more than his own achievements.

"Making money was fun for him, but seeing other people succeed made him feel even better," his son said. "And more so if he gave them a bit of a start."

Mr. Waterman hired some of Ravenna Volvo's current employees when he owned the shop, Byers said.

Mr. Waterman left the auto-dealership business to focus on his home and hobbies. He often went hunting, fishing and backpacking with family or friends.

He and his second wife, Gail, lived on a farm in Woodinville before numerous strokes required him to live at a care center.

Besides his wife and son Richard, Mr. Waterman is survived by three other children, Gerald, of Seattle; William, of Lake Oswego, Ore.; and Marylou, of Vancouver, Wash. He also is survived by his brother Don, of Camano Island, and two sisters, Margaret Johnson, of Des Moines, and Virginia Ryning, of Medina. He leaves nine grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

A memorial service is set for 3 p.m. tomorrow at the Woodinville Community Church.

Maria Gonzalez: 206-464-2449 or mgonzalez@seattletimes.com