Jack Prengel

Jack Prengel was born in Tacoma, Washington on January 19, 1925. He was in the Navy three years on the Summner, a 350 foot Geodetic Survey Ship, with a crew of 320 and 20 Officers. He was a Baker and a Deep Sea Diver planting dynamite under water to clear the way for large ships to go into the different islands in the Pacific Ocean such as Fun a futi, Tarawa, Enowitok, Kawajalien, Makin, Iwo Jima, Okinowa, Bikini, and Lay te Gulf when World War II ended. Jack was introduced to Alice Gillis at the Century Ballroom Dance Hall by the Poodle Dog Restaurant in Fife, Washington in April 1946 by his cousin, Jack Forster. He dated over a year and then married Alice on July 3, 1947. After the honeymoon in Spokane, Washington Jack became a mechanic on the G.I. Bill for service men for four years. He drove a magazine truck for 13 years and later became a heavy equipment truck driver for Holryod in Tacoma. His work then took him to Seattle, so he moved to Burien and he worked for boulevard Excavating and other companies working on most of the freeways and many tall buildings in Seattle and Bellevue. The last building was the Park Towers with 78 stories, the tallest building west of the Mississippi. He also worked on the tunnel under the SeaTac airport after it was there many years and on the well known Space Needle. Jack and his family had many happy times while he was an active member in the Tacoma Inboard Racing Association and the American Power Boat Association, building and racing the small limited, 15 to 18 foot hydroplanes from 1950 to 1966. After Jack retired, he built 1/8 scale radio controlled model hydroplanes and airplanes, running them at Wicks Lake and the old Bremerton Raceway. Jack and Alice celebrated their 59th Wedding Anniversary on July 3, 2006. Jack leaves his wife Alice, daughter April Daily and husband Michael, son Tracy Prengel and wife Mindy, granddaughters Crystal Daily, Tiffany Daily and Nicole Prengel, sisters Millie Monteith, Teddy Myers, Betty Johnson and husband Leslie, brother Don Prengel, and 19 nieces and nephews. Memorial service at 1:00 pm on April 27, 2007 at Rill's Life Tribute Center in Port Orchard.