Dwaine was the second Commodore of SSSS, and a former SSSS skipper who raced two boats in Oly for years. The first was a Columbia 36, and then in 1976 he bought a C & C 38 called Liberty Bell, to celebrate the bicentennial.
I was sent the following obituary. It was uncredited, so I can not credit the sourse. As there is nothing about his sailing in it, some remberances by SSSS Members follow.
Dwaine Matchette passed away on September 10, 2009. He was born on December 10, 1927 in Hamilton, Montana to parents Myrtle and Clyde Matchette. He attended school in Hamilton until his family moved to Spokane, where he graduated from high school.
He completed his studies at Washington State College in Pullman, earning a Civil Engineering degree. At WSC he met Dorothy Olsen, whom he married in 1951, prior to his deployment to Korea. Dwaine was proud to have served in the Army and later in the Reserves, where he retired as a Lt. Colonel. Upon his return from Korea he began his Civil Engineering career, working in Quincy and Spokane, and finally settling in Olympia with the Washington State Department of Transportation.
While in Quincy, son, Richard and daughter, Donna were born. Dwaine and Dorothy shared 25 wonderful years together before he lost her to cancer in 1976. In 1981, he married Ruth Massey and a year later they both retired. They had an active life traveling for almost 20 years. They moved from Olympia in 1995, settling next door to Ruth’s daughter Diane, in Redmond.
In 2008 they sold their house and moved to Madison House Retirement Home in Kirkland where he became ill. He passed away in Gig Harbor, where he had recently relocated to be under his daughter’s care. He is survived by his wife, Ruth Matchette; sister, June Reed; daughter, Donna O'Brien of Gig Harbor, WA; son, Richard (Linda) Matchette of Fairfield, CA; step-children Douglas Massey, Brian Massey and Diane Riley; and many wonderful grandchildren.
A Memorial Service will be held Saturday, October 24, 2009 2:00 p.m. at Rose Hill Presbyterian Church, 12202 NE 90th St, Kirkland, WA 98033-5899. All are welcome. Remembrances may be sent to favorite organizations or to Rose Hill Presbyterian Church youth missions.
He owned Blitz a red 28 ft San Juan when I sailed/raced with him. This is back when I first started sailing ... 1982.
At the time I was taking a sailing class at Evergreen College. They talked about SSSS. I went to a Meeting and before the night was over I was invited to join him and crew the following week. He was doing all the local and south sound races as well as some of the bigger races up north.
At the time he worked for DOT and was a jogger. Owned and lived in an East Bay Condo and had a large sailing library which he readily made available to everyone.
Jim Lengenfelder, String Games
Dwaine was the second Commodore of SSSS. He kept the Columbia 36 just down the dock from us for a time but I wouldn’t say we knew him well. That was when his wife was dying and he wasn’t around much. We moved to the 600 dock before Liberty Bell and rarely saw him. He wasn’t active in the Society after he was Commodore.
Not directly related, Dwaine’s Columbia was originally owned by Harold Sargent, whose previous boat had been a Coronado 25, owned when he designed the Harstene Island Bridge. The Coronade, of course, could get under the bridge on any tide, the Columbia could not. Harold took a bit of ribbing for it. He replaced the Columbia with Damn Yankee.
Bill Sheldon, Opposition