Obituaries

“It isn’t that life ashore is distasteful to me. But life at sea is better.” – Francis Drake

After months of declining health, Captain Louis (Lou) Kingma, at the impressive age of 94, died peacefully at home with his family by his side. He enjoyed an adventurous career in the Merchant Marine and spent as much time on sea as on land. His travels made him the consummate storyteller who was still surprising his family with new anecdotes until the day he died.

Lou was born on a “near 40 below” winter day, the youngest of six children, to Dutch immigrant parents struggling as ranchers on the harsh prairies north of Columbus, Montana. At the age of four, after the death of his father and the remarriage of his mother, Lou moved with his family to Lynden, Washington. The entire family of eight packed into their 1927 Essex, clothes and household items battened to the top of the overtaxed car on its multiday journey to the top northern corner of the Pacific Northwest where little Louis was “awestruck to see so many trees”.

In 1944, at the age of 17, Lou left home to join the U.S. Navy in the WWII Pacific campaign. He served on the U.S.S. Samaritan, a hospital ship, and participated in the battles of Saipan, Peleliu, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. His naval experience ignited a love of being at sea. After the war ended, he spent two years attempting to find satisfaction in onshore jobs, but the sea was calling him back. In 1948 he began a lifetime profession in the U.S. Merchant Marine progressing from Able Seaman to the highest rank of Captain, responsible for overseeing shipboard operations on vessels of unlimited size sailing anywhere in the world.

It was at sea in 1953 that Lou met a beautiful Irish brunette from Boston, Josephine (Jo) Mahoney, whom he would marry in Seattle two years later. He was serving as third mate on a passenger ship bound for Japan and Josephine was enroute to a U.S. civil service job in Japan supporting the Army Occupational Forces. Over the years Lou and Jo established homes throughout the world, all of them in coastal locations close to a port. They lived in Seattle while Lou skippered tugs to Alaska, spent seven years in Hawaii where Lou worked for the Military Sealift Command (MSC), lived in South Africa and Australia during which time he was a captain for Global Marine, returning finally to settle in the Seattle area. Once back in the USA, Lou accepted a captain position with Apex Marine Shipping and spent the next ten years taking large freighters and tankers on extended ocean crossings with Josephine accompanying him on many of them.

One of Lou’s most fondly retold stories was about his ship, the Glomar Explorer, being the only vessel to get departure clearance from the Chilean port of Valparaiso during Pinochet’s 1973 military coup. He had strategically unloaded a large amount of the ship’s toilet paper stock after learning that the soldiers guarding the port had a desperate need for it. When later questioned by the CIA on how he managed to get clearance, he answered roguishly that it just took a s**t-load of toilet paper!

Lou circumnavigated the globe and crossed the equator more times than he could remember. He docked at ports on every continent and navigated every ocean. He transited the Panama Canal, the Suez Canal, and rounded the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn numerous times. He was one of the most knowledgeable and respected captains in the international maritime industry, serving as a mentor and providing an inspiring example for others to follow. In the words of one who served under him “I am forever grateful for the opportunity to have sailed under your sure hand and deeply in debt for your graciousness and understanding”.

Lou was preceded in death by his brothers, Simon Kingma, Ralph Kingma and Fred Stremler and his sisters, Sylvia Madej, Dorothy Hobson and Martha Loomer. He will be dearly missed and forever remembered by his wife Josephine of 66 years, his daughter Barbara Kingma, his daughter Sheri Hargus, son-in-law Brian Hargus, grandkids Kyle Hargus, Cory Hargus, Kelley Hargus and Connor Hargus and his many nieces, nephews, and friends.

At his request, his ashes will be dispersed at sea in a private ceremony. To remember Lou, his family asks that you simply contemplate the majesty of the sea and celebrate its power to inspire exploration and adventure.