Munson Edwin Shardelman Obituary (1926

Munson Edwin i? 1/2Mikei? 1/2 Shardelman passed away in Silverdale, Washington on July 12, 2011, at the age of 85. He was born in Treece, Kansas on February 16, 1926, the 8th of 10 children born to Frank Henry and Eveline Melinda (Heddleston) Shardelman. He grew up in the southern Midwest during the Depression, moving frequently. He spent most of his teen years working as a farm or ranch hand for various neighbors. After graduating from high school, he moved to the Seattle area, where he worked for a feed mill in Kirkland, Washington and then as a mechanic in the Lake Washington Shipyard. In 1944, he joined the U.S. Navy. He claimed afterwards that the draft notice had read that his friends and neighbors had selected him to serve his country; and he vowed that one day he would find out just which of his friends and neighbors had done the selecting. He was stationed aboard the LSM(R)-193, where he was assigned to the i? 1/2Black Gangi? 1/2. He served with honor and distinction in the Pacific Theater, earning multiple medals and citations. His unit was awarded the prestigious Presidential Unit Citation for coming under fire from Japanese kamikazes, and for rescuing survivors of the attack during action off of Okinawa. In his later years, he rarely went anywhere without wearing his WWII Kamikaze Survivor hat. He left Navy service in 1946. After leaving the Navy, he moved to Washington, and hired on with the Northern Pacific Railroad as a laborer, for the building and maintenance of track throughout western Washington, specifically near what later became the I-5 corridor. In 1951, he was offered a chance to become a crane operator for the railroad; after discussing it with his wife, he took the job. In November 1961, he was hired as a crane operator by Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. By the time he retired from federal service on January 1, 1987, he had worked his way up to the position of Supervisory Quality Assurance Specialist over all of the shipyardi? 1/2s nuclear reactor servicing equipment. His federal service also included 2 years at Subic Bay Naval Base in the Philippines, from 1977-1979, where he was a Supervisory Mechanical Engineering Technician in charge of organizing and implementing various quality assurance programs. In 1948, he met the love of his life, Dora i? 1/2Crisi? 1/2 Crisman at a dance. After their first meeting, he told his friends that she was the one he would marry some day. On July 1, 1950, they were married at her parenti? 1/2s farm in Littlerock, Washington. Their early years together were fairly nomadic, because of his work with the railroad, and included homes in Tacoma and Centralia. They also spent several years travelling with the railroad in an outfit car, because his position as crane operator with the railroad depended on his moving around with the work crews, and he refused to take the job if it meant leaving his family behind. So starting shortly after their son Michael was born in 1951, and during which time their daughter Teresa was born in 1954, they lived a train car fitted up into living quarters, with running water and electricity only when they arrived at their next assignment. His wife later described it as having a new back yard every day, adding that their children did not need to worry about being from the wrong side of tracks, because they lived on them. Daughter Karen was born in 1959, after they had left the outfit car, and settled in Bucoda. In 1961, they settled in Poulsbo, Washington in a series of rentals, while he got established in his career at PSNS. In 1963, they purchased a house at auction that was being removed from a lot on 6th Street in Bremerton, and had it barged out to the property on Liberty Bay that would become their home for almost 50 years. He was known all of his life as i? 1/2Mikei? 1/2, because he hated both his given and middle names. He was once asked if anyone ever called him i? 1/2Munsoni? 1/2. His reply was typical, and succinct: i? 1/2Only the very brave, and only just the one time.i? 1/2 He enjoyed playing cards with family and friends, with Pinochle, Cribbage, and various forms of i? 1/2Unoi? 1/2 and i? 1/2Crazy Eightsi? 1/2 as his favorites. He also enjoyed board games like dominos and checkers, but rarely found anyone to match him at chess. He had a life-long love of baseball, and even briefly played on a minor league team in Centralia. He delighted in word play, and by a well-placed question or comment, he challenged the unthinking usage of common phrases or sayings. Once, when he was attending a wedding, the usher asked if he was on the bridei? 1/2s side, or on the groomi? 1/2s. i? 1/2I didni? 1/2t know they were fighting,i? 1/2 he replied. He enjoyed finding obscure words and using them to amuse or confound others. When he couldni? 1/2t find one, he made it up. His favorite was i? 1/2the bascobibliovalve on the starboard side of the mutinyi? 1/2, which was anything he could not remember the name of at the time. He loved to sing, and to tell funny stories. He was an amateur auctioneer, and lent his skills to local civic and religious groups in fund-raising efforts. He developed a keen interest in social and political causes, discussing and debating at length various movements and ideologies, and their historical contexts and origins. His research was always extremely detailed. During his later years, he spent much of his time researching and archiving the details of his military service, and that of the LSM(R)s. He was preceded in death by his parents and 8 siblings, and survived by his sister, Ida Cluff of Oregon. He is also survived by his wife of 61 years, Dora i? 1/2Crisi? 1/2 Shardelman of Poulsbo; children Michael Shardelman(Bonnie), Teresa Walker, and Karen Timmerman (Alex), all of Bremerton; grandchildren Jacob Timmerman (Erin), Jared Timmerman, Briana Shardelman (Stephen), Kelsey Edwards (Jeremy), Megan Marek, and Kevin Shardelman (Sarah); great-granddaughters Danica Marek and Sophia Edwards; and numerous nieces and nephews. Our thanks to everyone who loved him, supported him, and cared for him in the last, pain-filled years of his life. Most of all, thanks be to Mikei? 1/2s Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, Who has given him the gift of a pain-free, and joy-filled eternity. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to a charity of your choice, or to one of his favorite charities, including: The Disabled Veterans of America The Boy Scouts of America, Troop #1577 18129 Viking Way NW Poulsbo, WA 98370 Poulsbo Church of the Nazarene 22097 Viking Way NW Poulsbo, WA 98370 Gideoni? 1/2s International P.O. Box 909 Poulsbo, WA 98370