Notes:

Melvin Aitken, age 87, longtime resident of the Shoreline neighborhood, died June 10 in Poulsbo. He was born Aug. 23, 1915 in Scotia, Calif. A 1938 forestry engineering graduate of Oregon State University, he was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army Air Corps 16 months prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. As a B-17 pilot for the duration of the World War II, he rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He was discharged in December 1945. After the war, he returned to Seattle and employment with Howard-Cooper Corporation, where he had many years of success selling equipment to the forestry industry. Over the course of his 36-year career with the company, he was promoted to vice-president in charge of Seattle operations.

He held a lifelong appreciation of the outdoors and visited active logging sites throughout the Northwest. He served as president of Keep Washington Green and was an active member of Scottish Rite and the Nile Temple. In 1947, he married Afton Bruun. Together they raised three sons, Jim, John and David. Widowed in 1969, he married Mathilda (Tillie) Hudgens in 1973. The couple relocated to Shoreline, where he spent many happy years of retirement. His later life's pleasures were family, fishing, playing golf, working in the backyard and wintering in Palm Springs. He is survived by wife Tillie Aitken of Bainbridge Island; sister Helen Anderson of Eureka, Calif; brother Jim Aitken of Hillsboro, Ore.; sons Jim (Ann), John (Pat), David (Bonnie), stepson Warren Hudgens (Sharon), stepdaughter Susan Hudgens; and 12 grandchildren. Remembrances may be made to Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children, P.O. Box 2472, Spokane 99210-2472, or Children?s Hospital, P. O. Box 5371, Seattle 98105. Arrangements were under the direction of Wiggen and Sons Funeral Home.

Melvin married HERSLIP, Mathilda on 12 Jan 1973 in King, Washington, USA. Mathilda (daughter of HERSLIP, Henry and ZURCHER, Martha) was born on 18 Apr 1915 in Russell, Bottineau, North Dakota, USA; died on 20 Nov 2005 in Bainbridge Island, Kitsap, Washington, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Melvin married BRUUN, Afton Jean on 31 Mar 1942 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA. Afton was born on 12 Dec 1916 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA; died on 29 Mar 1971 in Seattle, King, Washington, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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