LYNNWOOD
Former City Councilman Jared Karstetter, a long-time resident who ran an unsuccessful campaign for mayor and was known for his upfront demeanor died Feb. 10 of an apparent stroke. He was 76.
His death came somewhat suddenly, said his son, Jared Karstetter II. His mother — and his father’s wife —- Chel Karstetter, died Sept. 19 after a five-year battle with cancer.
“He took that very hard,” Karstetter said. “So, for a couple three months, he was very distraught about that. I think it was a situation where he died of a broken heart. They’d been married for 53 years.”
Councilman Jim Smith said Chel Karstetter, an English immigrant who lived through the bombing of London during WWII, “was a pull-no-punches” type who “spoke her mind.”
“About a week before Jerry died, I called and we talked for quite a while,” Smith said. “You could tell he ws pretty choked up about his wife’s death. He seemed fine on the telephone.”
A lifelong Republican who worked in the publishing industry, Karstetter began his political career serving on the Lynnwood Civil Service Commission in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He served four terms on the council under former mayor Meryl “Herck” Hrdlicka, who was mayor from 1968 to 1998.
“He was a straight-forward, honest guy,” recalled Smith, who served with Karstetter on the council during the 1990s. “The thing I remember him saying over and over again is he really wants council members who are free thinkers. It was an important quality that he had.”
Karstetter said he remembers his father as a “pretty strict disciplinarian” who was “above reproach.”
“As a politician it almost became comical,” he said. “He refused any political contributions, would finance his own campaign and was famous for these ugly, bright orange and yellow campaign signs.”
In the late 1990s, he was one of four council members who ran for mayor after Hrdlicka announced his resignation. Tina Roberts won the seat and served the next two terms.
“My dad would never have considered running against Herck,” Karstetter said.
Funeral services were held March 10 at St. Pius Catholic Church in Mountlake Terrace. Interment was at Holyrood Cemetary in Shoreline.
Karstetter is survived by son Jared of Edmonds; brother James of Stanwood, brother Richard of Spokane, brother Douglas of Yakima; and a daughter, Theresa Karstetter of Lynnwood.
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