Bill Hewitt, 85, Tillicum Village founder, caterer

Native American he was not, yet celebrating Indian life and lore became the signature enterprise of Bill Hewitt's 85 years.

It was a 40-year celebration, begun in 1962 when he founded Tillicum Village, a longhouse-style performance area, restaurant and gift shop on Blake Island in Puget Sound. The complex, reachable only by chartered yacht or private boat, grew into a major tourist attraction in which visitors feast on Indian-baked salmon and watch dancers re-enact the legends of Northwest coast Native peoples.

Mr. Hewitt, who lived in West Seattle, died Monday (June 24), having seen his efforts rewarded with ever-growing numbers of visitors, now about 100,000 a year, said his son, Mark Hewitt.

The visitors included a president and a king. President Clinton hosted the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum at Tillicum Village in 1993, and King Olaf V of Norway once came to call.

Though he retired in 1990, Mr. Hewitt kept his hand in the business, often donning an apron to help serve salmon in the buffet line.

"He was such a beautifully humble man. The joy of his life was to serve food to people and know they were getting the best," said Vi Hilbert, an elder of the Upper Skagit Indian tribe and member of the Tillicum Village advisory board.

"The last time I saw him he was serving salmon," she said.

Hilbert, 84, said the salmon was "very authentic," prepared much as her own mother prepared it when she was growing up: hung from cedar sticks beside a hot alder fire.

It was such salmon that first inspired Mr. Hewitt to launch Tillicum Village, which is operated as a concession within Blake Island State Park. The wooded island is between Vashon and Bainbridge islands in western Puget Sound, and had been a food-gathering and stopping place of Puget Sound Indian tribes.

As a professional caterer in the 1950s and 1960s, Mr. Hewitt had learned the Indian style of preparing salmon, "and he wanted a place to show that off," said Mark Hewitt, now Tillicum Village president.

Tillicum became that place, as well as a place to display Native American dancing and crafts.

"His heart was there to honor the first people of this land," Hilbert said.

Mr. Hewitt also made a point of employing Native Americans. The staff is 55 to 70 percent Native American, said Roberta Greer, senior vice president of Tillicum Village and Tours.

Besides celebrating Indian traditions, Mr. Hewitt relished promoting the Northwest in general, said Marlene Jones, a former vice president of the Seattle-King County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"He was so loving and caring of his community," she said. "He would do anything that needed to be done."

She said Mr. Hewitt catered the first meal atop the Space Needle, before its construction was even completed. He rode up in an open-sided construction elevator — a breathtaking experience for him, she said, because he was afraid of heights.

Mr. Hewitt was born in Seattle and grew up in Bremerton as part of a pioneering family. His grandmother had a restaurant in Seattle in the late 1800s, said Mark Hewitt.

Mr. Hewitt earned a degree in hospitality management in 1942 from Washington State College (now University) and worked for several hotels before launching his catering business.

He married Ruth Delp in 1940.

A religious man, Mr. Hewitt was active in West Seattle Christian Church, Youth for Christ and the Christian Businessmen's Organization, as well as Kiwanis, Special Olympics and other community groups.

In addition to his son and daughter, Marcia Willis, who runs the gift gallery at Tillicum Village, survivors include his wife, Ruth, of West Seattle; daughter-in-law, Carrie Hewitt; eight grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at Arbor Heights Community Church, 10213 41st Ave. S.W., West Seattle, followed by burial at Forest Lawn Cemetery, also in West Seattle.

A celebration of his life will be held from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. July 22 at Tillicum Village. Attendance is by invitation or request, with reservations required.

Judith Blake: 206-464-2349 or jblake@seattletimes.com.