EDMONDS — Alfred Valenzuela and his wife, Marian, loved to host holiday meals at their home on Pine Street.
One year, power went out on Thanksgiving, and they finished the turkey on the woodstove and served the meal on a ping-pong table.
The couple’s family held this memory close after Valenzuela died Nov. 27 at the Mountlake Terrace Kidney Center. He was 78.
Most people knew him as Al or Val. He was born in Santa Barbara, Calif., and served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War. He worked as a baker and later started a drywall business. He moved to Edmonds in the 1960s and raised two sons and two daughters. His wife of 53 years passed away in 2008.
The couple knew each other since third grade.
“I think he even loved her then,” said Paul Valenzuela, their son.
When Al was stationed in San Diego during his Navy days, he would get a 24-hour leave and drive to San Francisco to see Marian for a few hours.
When she fell ill, Valenzuela never left her side. He couldn’t bear to be apart from her for more than a few days.
He was a Boy Scout leader, a member of the American Legion and the Holy Rosary Parish, where he taught a Catholic youth group with his wife.
“They lived for their kids and grandkids,” Paula Reuble said about her parents.
They never missed their kids’ sports games, dance recitals or pageants.
When Reuble was crowned Miss Edmonds, her parents came to every one of her parades, no matter where they were held.
Valenzuela loved to cook and had a gift for throwing together leftovers into delicious meals. The barbecues he hosted on his spacious white deck were unforgettable, and the breakfast outings to Pancake Haus in Edmonds were a family tradition.
Everyone loved his sense of humor and his stories. He was cracking jokes even after he got sick.
He worked hard for a living and took pride in a job well done. He was a good teacher, passing along his skills with patience and kindness, Reuble said.
Valenzuela sometimes had to work far from home, but he always drove back to Edmonds at night to have dinner with his family.
Katya Yefimova: 425-339-3452; kyefimova@heraldnet.com.
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