Lee Bass co-owned construction firm
|
As co-owners of Bass Construction, Lee Bass and his brother, Bill, built some of the region's busiest commercial thoroughfares, including widening the Lake Hills Connector and Richards Road in Bellevue.
The Bass brothers started out digging foundations for houses. But by 1956, they switched to road construction to coincide with the Eastside's population spurt. Many of their projects expanded sleepy two-lane roads into four-lane arteries.
Mr. Bass died May 14 of heart failure after suffering a heart attack the day before. He was 85.
Mr. Bass was a tenacious, strong-willed man who relished tackling civic projects.
In the early 1970s, he fought for bond money that had been allocated to build a community center in Magnolia but spent elsewhere. Along with his good friend, attorney Bill Caton, Mr. Bass lobbied Seattle city officials to replace the money, said his oldest child, Steve Bass. Today, a plaque at the Magnolia center honors the pair's contributions.
Mr. Bass also was an early supporter of building the Interbay Golf Club and was active in environmental issues on Camano Island, where his family owned a second home.
Mr. Bass encouraged his three daughters to pursue careers in banking, saying the business offered good pay and benefits for women. They did just that: Mary Bass at Wells Fargo, Joanne Wilson at Bank of America and Kathy Hays at Washington Federal Savings. Steve, Mr. Bass' only son, is an accountant.
Mr. Bass was a detail-oriented man who kept a sharp eye on construction costs. Mary Bass fondly recalls her father taking the family on Sunday drives to show off his road projects, which usually meant surveying "a mound of dirt somewhere in the middle of nowhere."
Mr. Bass was born in Clearlake, Skagit County. His father's family was from England and his mother's family came from Poland. But Mr. Bass' ruddy cheeks, white hair, gleaming eyes and a penchant for singing hinted at a different lineage.
"We always thought there was some Irish in him somewhere," said Mary Bass, vice president of private and commercial banking at Wells Fargo in Seattle.
He graduated from Ballard High School in 1937 and earned a business degree from the University of Washington. His wife of 52 years, the former Lucille Easton, died in 1997.
A devoted father, he attended countless baseball and basketball games, ballet performances and piano recitals, Wilson said. He taught his children to water ski and never to shrink from a challenge.
Mr. Bass suffered from dementia in his later years. His children eventually won a court-appointed guardian to oversee his affairs — a move that family members said angered Mr. Bass. His children had little contact with him in recent years.
"He had dementia and he had a personality change," Mary Bass said. "All of his kids really missed him the last couple years of his life."
Wilson said that even though she and her siblings never made their peace with their father before he died, she will remember him as a great and loving man.
"The good part isn't forgotten," she said.
In addition to his children, Mr. Bass is survived by his daughter-in-law, Stella Bass; sons-in-law Dave Wilson and Perry Hays; and four grandsons, all of Seattle. A memorial service is planned tomorrow at 1 p.m. at Evergreen Memorial Park, 11111 Aurora Ave. N.
Memorials may be made to the Magnolia Presbyterian Church Elevator Fund.
Kyung Song: 206-464-2423 or ksong@seattletimes.com