Obit: Querin, Verdie Ray (1932? - 2019)

Transcriber: Robert Lipprandt
bob@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Bolz, Querin

----Source: The Star News (Medford, WI) 3/28/2019

Querin, Verdie Ray (1932? - 20 MAR 2019)

Verdie Ray Querin passed away peacefully on March 20, 2019 in the presence of his loving wife, of more than 62 years, Janice F. (Bolz) Querin.

Verdie was born in the winter of 1932 in Medford to Andrew and Caroline Querin. He was the fifth of nine children, and was preceded in death by his siblings Leo, Lawrence, Floyd and Angeline. He is survived by his younger siblings, Gene, Ted, Jerry and Jimmy. Each of these Querin family members were all educated in the same one-room Wayside schoolhouse in Medford. Verdie’s job during the winter was to haul firewood and build the fire in the pot-bellied stove, the only source of heat for the school during the cold Wisconsin winters. Verdie was the first of the Querin family to graduate from college, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from the University of Wisconsin.


Born during the depths of the Great Depression, Verdie understood the importance of learning how to repair broken items to extend their life. Through his entire life, Verdie was hesitant to toss any item that might one day be of use. He was an incredible self-taught carpenter, plumber, electrician, upholsterer, auto mechanic and welder, among many other skills. As a teenager in the 1940s he taught himself the fundamentals of electricity, then installed wiring, lights and electrical outlets in the family home on Deer Road near the Black River. Throughout his life he very rarely hired a professional to perform a task, knowing that his keen mind, ability to learn, and extraordinary work ethic would always bring a better, faster, less expensive result.


Although Verdie always had a full-time career with organizations including Firestone, Boeing and the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, he devoted a significant portion of his off-work hours to acquiring, repairing and maintaining an ever-growing real estate portfolio. During his peak real estate years, Verdie and Jan managed nearly 20 different real estate properties. Although his sons were lukewarm to the idea of spending evenings and weekends assisting with clean-up and repair of these properties, the skills Verdie passed on to them have proven to be invaluable. Additionally, with the steady increase in property values in the Pacific Northwest, Verdie’s hard work was ultimately rewarded in allowing Verdie and Jan to enjoy a comfortable retirement.

Verdie served his country in the US Military, first as a member of the Wisconsin National Guard and then as a member of the US Army, where he spent nearly two years in Korea de-coding encrypted teletype transmissions. In December of 1957 Verdie received one important message that read “Please inform PFC Verdie R. Querin that his wife has given birth to his first son, who she has named Charles Verdie Querin.” After returning to the US in 1958, Verdie and Janice moved from Medford to the Seattle area, and the family added three more boys, Michael N., Randall J. and Douglas A. Querin.
In 1959 Verdie and Jan settled in the rural farming community of Kent, Wash. and Verdie set about building a home to accommodate his rapidly growing family. At the end of every long day at work, Verdie would come home, eat a fast meal, then walk over to the land he had purchased next door to work all evening building a new family home. After seven months of working hard every night and weekend, Verdie moved his wife and sons into his hand-crafted house, which the family would occupy for nearly 30 years.

Although Verdie was a firm believer in the value of teaching his sons important skills and instilling in them a strong work ethic, his views toward his grandchildren were quite different. He treasured his grandchildren, and loved every minute that he spent with them, reading books, laughing, and playing games. It was a joy to see Verdie’s face light up every time one of his grandchildren would arrive for a visit. His six grandchildren, Chantale, Callie, Joseph, Jacqueline, Nicholas and Kathryn), adored him.
Of all Verdie’s many strong characteristics and values, perhaps his strongest is the great love he had for his wife, Janice. In all his 62 years of marriage, Verdie never once looked at another woman. He knew he had picked the very best life partner he could ever ask for and expressed that to Janice throughout their entire marriage.

During his final days in the hospital, as Verdie was losing his battle with Alzheimer’s disease and his speech and motor skills were virtually gone, he was still able to look at Janice and form the words “I love you.”
Although Verdie is gone from this world physically, he will live on through his family, who proudly carry on his traits of hard work, honesty, affection, laughter, and love of family.

Note: Birth information was not published with obituary.