Tommy Sivich
Obituary
A gentle and generous man, Tommy Sivich’ s life journey ended one day shy of 95 years old on October 1, 2022. Raised in Rainer Valley, in the Great Depression, Tommy recalled waiting in line for weekly food rations of bread and hotdogs with his mother. As a child, he and his brother used to collect bottles after school for money to help their mother with the bills. Tommy’s best day was when he and his brother found ten bottles and brought them to the local butcher in exchange for money. Instead of money, the butcher gave the boys a pound of hotdogs. Disappointed, they returned home to their mother who, upon seeing the hotdogs, began to cry with happiness telling Steve and Tommy that “the pound of weenies” would feed them for a whole week.
Tommy graduated from Franklin High School, worked at Darigold Dairy and then enlisted in the Army during the Korean War. He served in a medical ward. He was awarded the Maltese Cross for sharpshooting and this he proudly wore with his “ Army dog tags”.
After the war, he returned to Darigold to work alongside his brother Steve. He attended the University of Washington but working all night and attending class during the day was exhausting and he eventually went to work at Boeing becoming a technical engineer. He contributed to many successful programs at Boeing including Minuteman missiles, AWACS, and Peace Shield programs.
He married Dorothy Peterson in 1955 and they raised three children: Lorrie, Thomas, and Michael. He chose to spend his retirement raising his grandchildren Jason, and Nikolas Sivich, with frequent visits from their brother Justin Sivich. His other grandchildren included Tia and Emily Gass. He also had numerous great-grandchildren.
Tommy was a science fiction buff. He and his daughter Lorrie loved to watch the original Star Trek series and read his old sci-fi pulp magazines which he collected since his childhood. He also loved to walk his dog’s “Passion” and “Nike” as well as his daughter’s dog ‘Wiley”.
Tommy had many fond memories spending summers in Roslyn, Washington with his uncles. This is where his mother was born, and his relatives were coalminers.
A Celebration of Tommy’s life will be held Memorial Weekend, 2023 in Roslyn, Washington
