Henry Fenbert

Henry Robert "Hank" Fenbert was born in Detroit, Michigan on May 30, 1937 and died peacefully on November 8, 2020 surrounded by family. The best way to describe Hank came in a condolence note written by his brother-in-law: "He read everything and could talk with anyone and lived his 83 years to the fullest." Hank grew up in the Catholic school system in Detroit and had a perfect school attendance record from kindergarten through high school, except for missing one day when he chose to watch an opening day baseball game of his beloved Detroit Tigers. He received a full ride scholarship to the college of his choice by receiving the highest test score of graduating seniors of parents working at the Ford Motor Company. Hank chose to attend Notre Dame, a Catholic University just south of Detroit where he majored in chemical engineering graduating in 1959. He married Gwen Marie Gable on July 9, 1960 and began his career at the Ford Motor Company in the steel division working in a job he described as being "hard, grimy and everyone smelled bad, but the pay was good." His sons Dave, Joe and Jeff were born in 1961, 1962 and 1965 respectively with one son Michael dying 6-days after his birth in 1963. When the Boeing airplane company came to town to recruit engineers, Hank jumped at the chance and with his newly purchased 1965 Ford Caspian Blue Mustang (which is still in the family today) moved the family to Federal Way Washington. Hank worked 30 years at the Boeing company and during his career had three overseas work assignments in Australia, Spain and Italy. Hank's life revolved around his family, work, reading and recreational sports. He became an avid jogger in the running boom of the 1980s. He ran 5 miles almost every day for 20 years and participated in fun runs most weekends. He was proud of completing a marathon and enjoyed running in the annual Bloomsday and Sound to Narrows runs. After pain in his knees prevented him from running, he turned to biking with the same level of dedication. Hank biked back to his hometown of Detroit a number of times in the 1990s including a trip for his 50 th class reunion at Notre Dame. He also completed a mountain bike ride over the continental divide from Montana to Colorado. He played softball in his early days in Federal Way for the Jaycees and started playing again in the senior leagues about 15 years ago. As had become his standard practice, he would plan to retire at the end of each season, but again was looking forward to another season of softball next spring. Service to others was also important to Hank. He was one of the early organizers of the Federal Way Soccer Association enrolling his three sons, coaching teams and doing the thankless job of refereeing games. He also was a founding member of the small Federal Way Human Rights Committee that protested racial segregation within organizations and housing discrimination in the mid-60s. Hank was a member of the 12 Gallon club for his regular blood donation s to the Red Cross. Hank is survived by his wife of 60 years, Gwen, sons Dave, Joe and Jeff Fenbert, grandsons Bradley, Jeffrey, Tavish and Brock Fenbert, brothers Steve, Mike and Johnny Fenbert and sister Charron Andrews.