Clifford Kettells Ran Grocery Store, Deli In Georgetown With A Smile

Clifford Kettells started every work day with a smile and an invariable "Good morning."

It's that kind of warm friendliness his family and friends will miss most about Mr. Kettells, who ran Kettells Corner, a family-run grocery store and deli in Georgetown.

Betty Lindgren, who has worked at the store for 42 years, said Mr. Kettells loved to be around people.

"He was quiet, not outspoken," she said. "But he always had a smile on his face. He liked serving the people. And they liked him. He was just a beautiful person."

Mr. Kettells died Sunday. He was 67.

Born and reared in Seattle, Mr. Kettells learned the family business as a teenager, managing a wholesale grocery outlet and operating the cash register at Kettells Corner, which was first opened by his father in 1941 as a grocery store and gas station.

After graduation from Ballard High School, Mr. Kettells joined the Army Air Force, serving as a communications officer for two years during World War II.

He attended the University of Washington for one year, studying chemical engineering, before returning to work at the grocery store. He married Marjorie Kettells in 1946.

In 1951, Mr. Kettells and his brother bought the store from their father, closed the gas station, put in a parking lot and expanded the store into a restaurant, bar and deli.

He retired in 1991 and turned the store over to his nephew, Gary Kettells.

"My uncle and dad taught me everything about the business," said the nephew, recalling the time the three Kettells decided the store could use a gimmick.

They came up with an owl on a shirt to represent the store's 24-hour service, and a motto that read "Kettells Corner: where the customer is never right."

"People would do a double take when they saw the shirts," he said. "But it was that kind of funny rapport we had with people who'd been coming here for 20 or 30 years. They'd tell us our product would cost three cents more than Safeway, so the shirt was a little joke. We sold 4,000 of them."

Mrs. Kettells said she will miss her husband's companionship the most.

"After all these years of marriage, there's a void," she said. "He was a hard worker and a caring man who loved people."

Lindgren suspects the regulars who saw Mr. Kettells every day behind the grocery store till will also miss him.

"Everyone seemed to like him," she said. "The truck drivers, the cops, they all knew him, and they must have liked the place. They always came back."

Besides his wife and nephew, Mr. Kettells is survived by a son, Ronald Kettells of Salem, Ore.; daughters Joyce Vail of Seattle and Sharon Kettells-Goodall of Bellingham; brothers Deryl Kettells of Rockport, Skagit County, Clarence Kettells of Seattle and Richard Kettells of Ellensburg; and three grandchildren.

A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Yarington's Funeral Home, 10708 16th Ave. S.W.

Contributions in memory of Mr. Kettells may be made to the Swedish Foundation Sustaining Care at 747 Summit Ave., Seattle, 98104.