Family seeks return of man’s ashes, lost in car theft

EVERETT — Richard “Dick” Graham’s family gathered Wednesday to remember him.

“It was a celebration,” said his widow, Joyce. Before his July 22 death, Graham had struggled for years with Alzheimer’s disease.

Something was missing from the celebration, though.

Graham’s ashes were stolen Tuesday night along with his son’s car in south Everett. Now the family and police are asking the public for help finding the remains.

Anyone can drop them off at the Solie Funeral Home or a local police or fire station, said Joyce, who was married to Dick for 61 years.

“We don’t really care about the car,” she said. “We would like just to have the ashes back.”

Her granddaughter posted on Facebook on Thursday, “Drop them off and they will find their way back to us! No questions asked!”

Joyce and Dick had four children and five grandchildren.

One of their sons picked up the ashes Tuesday. He parked his Honda CRV in the garage of his apartment complex. That was about 5:30 p.m. in the 11000 block of Evergreen Way, Everett police officer Aaron Snell said.

By morning, the car was stolen. It’s a white, four-door 1999 model. The Washington license plate is AKG1121, and there was a black cargo trailer hitch. The urn is described as a plain gold-colored tin box, about eight inches square.

Repeated police radio bulletins on the case could be heard Thursday afternoon. A firearm and ammunition also were in the Honda, so any suspects should be considered armed, Snell said. Anyone who sees the vehicle is asked to call 911.

The family had planned to transfer the ashes into a Jim Beam decanter shaped like a car, Joyce said. Her husband was a car salesman.

“Nothing gave him greater pleasure than seeing people drive off in new cars,” she said.

Graham, 84, was born in Idaho and as a child lived on a farm in Snohomish, according to his obituary in The Daily Herald. He and Joyce met at Snohomish High School and married while he was in the U.S. Air Force.

He was a funny man who was known to put soap in the hot tub, so the kids could have a bubble bath, Joyce said.

At one point, the couple was raising four teenagers. “We couldn’t get everybody to want to do the same thing. I don’t know how we managed but we did,” she said.

Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.