Faye Wickstrom Stipek

Faye Wickstrom Stipek, beloved wife, mother and grandmother, passed away suddenly in Bremerton’s Harrison Memorial Hospital May 22, 2002. She was born Aug. 12, 1934, to Carl Axel and Phyllis Kaye Wickstrom in Seattle.

Mrs. Stipek is survived by her loving husband of 45 years, Robert B. Stipek of Hansville; their four children, Robert Stipek, Brian Stipek, Gwen Styke, and Grant Stipek, all of the greater Puget Sound area; two grandchildren, Brandon Wolfe Styke and Sarah Caitlin Styke of Whidbey Island; and two brothers, Phillip Wickstrom of Tuscon, Ariz. and Tren Wickstrom of Seattle.

Faye believed strongly in the value of education. She attended B.F. Day and John B. Allen Elementary schools, Hamilton Jr. High and Lincoln High School. She earned over eight years of credits at the University of Washington, receiving degrees in English and Swedish and a teaching credential for grades K-12. She taught in the Edmonds, Highline and Salt Lake City school districts, and most recently in the Bainbridge Island School District. She often worked with autistic children, and she was touched when she was able to reach them with her playful, light-hearted humor and patient goodness.

Mrs. Stipek taught Swedish in the University of Washington’s Scandinavian Department and children’s and adult Swedish language classes at local Lutheran churches. She was a Camp Fire leader, Cub Scout den mother and volunteer in her childrens’ schools during their childhood.

She wrote poetry and short stories throughout her adult life. She united her cousins from many corners in Sweden for a new tradition, a cousins’ reunion to be held in Glommerstrask, Lappland, every five years, and she researched her Swedish family’s genealogy tracing back to 992. Mrs. Stipek’s goodness of heart and generous, loving nature touched many lives.

Mrs. Stipek was a loving grandmother to her two grandchildren, Wolfe and Sarah. When she stayed overnight with her daughter’s family, she would take about an hour- and-a-half to put her granddaughter to bed at night, because the two of them would tell stories and make up songs together. When she went on trips, she visited museums and brought home ancient amber and trilobite fossils for her grandson, knowing his natural love for science. When he was very little, knowing how he loved math, she wrote page after page of math problems out for him on a little note pad and rewarded him with small gifts.

Mrs. Stipek loved her family and home deeply, both in this country and in her father’s homeland, Sweden. She had just purchased and was preparing to stay at a summer home in Sweden near her father’s childhood home in Lillpite, Norr-botten. She was dearly loved by her family, in America and in Sweden, who will always miss her loving, joyful presence in their lives.