Topic: Biographies
Shirley Ross Speidel, the devoted wife of Seattle Underground Tour founder Bill Speidel (1912-1988), was active in her community. She was one of the first members of the King County Landmarks Commissi...
John D. Spellman was the first King County Executive and later served as governor of Washington. Elected Executive in 1969, shortly after the County's Home Rule Charter created the position, Spellman ...
One of America's preeminent ceramists, Robert Sperry was a restless creative force who helped shape the University of Washington's ceramics program into one of the country's most influential. Hailed a...
Alexander Spithill was an early Puget Sound pioneer, arriving in October 1856 and settling initially at Utsalady on Camano Island. In 1861 he started what was probably the first logging camp in the Ma...
John Wilson Sprague was born in the state of New York, became a successful businessman in Ohio, served the Union cause with distinction during the Civil War, and then moved to the Northwest in 1870 as...
Ira Spring had the great good fortune to spend a lifetime doing what he enjoyed most -- hiking, climbing, and skiing throughout the Pacific Northwest and documenting his way in words and pictures. He ...
John Stanford (1938-1998) was the superintendent of Seattle Schools for just three years and seriously ill during the last few months, but he continued to maintain a high profile in the community as w...
Betty (Batchelor) Miles of Samish Island contributed this piece on Jack W. Stangle, who was a celebrated artist in Seattle from 1953 to his death in 1980. He was a member of the Northwest School and h...
Matt Starwich was a colorful King County sheriff who left a wealth of stories to delight historians. He first rose to prominence as a deputy sheriff in the coal-mining town of Ravensdale in southeast ...
During the dark days of the Great Depression, Tacoma boxer Freddie Steele captured the region's imagination as he rose to his sport's ultimate coronation: world champion. Steele's footwork, speed, and...
Architect Victor Steinbrueck, perhaps best known for his efforts to protect Seattle's historic Pike Place Market and Pioneer Square, worked to adapt modern architecture to reflect the Puget Sound regi...
Bernice Stern devoted much of her life to public service, starting at age 15, and was the first woman elected to the King County Council, where she served for 11 years, retiring in 1980. Before and af...
For a brief, glorious moment in the summer of 1963, Seattle native Brian Sternberg (1943-2013) was the world's greatest pole vaulter. A 19-year-old sophomore at the University of Washington, he set th...
As Washington's first territorial governor, Isaac Stevens oversaw the establishment of government in what would become Washington state. He also led the survey of a route to Puget Sound for a transcon...
Frank Stevenson and Mary Fell Stevenson were considered the father and mother of the city of Enumclaw, Washington. The community had its beginning when, in 1885, the Northern Pacific Railroad accepted...
Rick Steves (b. 1955) is a best-selling travel writer, businessman, philanthropist, and television personality whose work revolves around encouraging people to broaden their perspectives through trave...
In 1950, Charles Stokes was elected to the Washington state legislature from the 37th District in central and southeast Seattle, becoming the first black legislator from King County. The only black le...
Captain David Lamme Stone was the builder of Camp Lewis and later returned as a general to command Fort Lewis. He arrived on May 26, 1917, at American Lake, Washington, assigned to build a National Ar...
Elllsworth Storey, one of Seattle's most popular architects, combined contemporary trends in domestic architecture with local materials. His approach created a number of houses and public works ground...
Robert E. Strahorn (1852-1944) and his wife Carrie Adell Green "Dell" Strahorn (1854-1925) had a significant impact on the Northwest in the 1880s and 1890s, through their writings that publicized the ...
Walter W. Straley was the founding president of Pacific Northwest Bell in 1961. Later he was a top executive and corporate "radical" with the American Telephone & Telegraph Co., and a community-se...
Anna Louise Strong remains one of the notable radicals in the history of the United States. During her Seattle years (1914-1921), she won her election as the lone woman on the School Board, only to be...
Samuel N. Stroum was a self-made businessman and philanthropist whose far-reaching generosity of time and resources forever enriched Seattle's health, educational, and religious institutions, and espe...
Alice Stuart is a singer, guitarist, and songwriter whose old-timey, folk-blues style earned her a decades-long career and an enduring fanbase. From the tiny burg of Chelan, Washington, she worked her...