Timothy Andrew Stefurak
Timothy Andrew Stefurak, 45, of Seattle, WA, and formerly of Manchester, CT, passed away unexpectedly on January 8th, 2012 in Seattle. He was born in Hartford, Connecticut on July 15th, 1966, and was adopted in 1978 by Richard and Sharon Benedict of Layton, Utah.
Tim is survived by siblings Patrick and Susan Stefurak, niece Katherine and her son Elias, his adopted family Richard, Sharon, Donald, Debbie and Jay Benedict, and several aunts, uncles and cousins.
Tim worked as the manager of the Montlake 76 gas station in Seattle until 2010.
Tim loved the outdoors, camping, fishing, playing chess and reading. In the words of his favorite author Cormac McCarthy “…an uneasy peace has come over him, a strange kind of contentment.”
A private family placement of his ashes and memorial celebration will be held at a later time. Memories and condolences may be shared with his family on this online tribute.
4 Responses to “Timothy Andrew Stefurak”
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I first met Tim at the Last Exit Coffeehouse in the late eighties or early nineties. Tim and I shared several interests ( Chess, backgammon,pocket billiards and later scrabble, as well as hiking and climbing)and soon became close friends.
Tim was a very thoughtful and caring person who personally helped me deal with a few traumatic situations in my lifetime by having incredible patience, kindness, and insight into human nature.
Although not rated as such ( he rarely played in tournaments) Tim was a scrabble expert who loved to read the scrabble dictionary. He once slaughtered me, when I was not too bad myself, by the incredible score of 657 to 294- without playing a single triple triple. He also was a very good chess player, an expert pocket billiards player, and an outdoorsman who trained by smoking cigarettes and reading books in smoky coffeehouses- with apparently no ill affect, and an intelligent, deep, thinker.( His high IQ- over 160-probably gave him an extra onion layer of philosophical insight).
Tim and I spent many months outdoors hiking- and sometimes climbing-often for over a week at a time- over the past thirty years, and although I trained (in the day)by running 40 miles a week and by lifting weights, I could barely keep up with him. – He was a natural athelete, in addition to being an eagle scout- who had a very hardy kind of leathery toughness and natural resilience that one can only be born with.
This reserve allowed him to sometimes scorn the Becky guide book and – by risking his hide- climb places where I could( would) not follow (he was very stubborn!)- Once, on a hot august day we left our crampons at about the nine thousand foot mark on glacier peak. The snow was soft and step-kicking was easy. We took our Ice axes only. Somewhere at about nine five or so, the Becky book said go that a way and Tim said no! Its a this a way- ” This way is much more interesting- I will meet you at the top!”.
Well- I started after him- It is not such a great idea to climb alone- but when we got to the no- return point- the place where back-climbing was impossible, for me at least, I returned to the branch point and continued to the top, waiting for over an hour, eating lunch, signing both of our names in the book- but Tim never arrived.
Getting worried, I went looking for him- I found him maybe an hour later – Glacier Peak has three summits, and he climbed summit no. two- a couple of feet lower than the one I had climbed, and , as iit turns out, nearly killing himself surmounting a nearly vertical bergschrund- I could add details but I will leave it at that. ….I have much more to add but must go now. If anyone wishes to contact me my phone no. is 425 483 6341- I have no home internet access and rarely get online -Dave
Here I am, almost a year and a half later finding out of Tim’s death. Tim and I spent 5 years together in the late 80’s early 90’s. We moved from Utah to California to Seattle together where he wanted to go in order to finally meet his father, Peter, grandmother, Alois and uncles, Mark, Leo, Steven and Paul. Tim had a rough life. He was brilliant and misunderstood. “I’m just not well-received” was one of his favorite phrases.
Rest easy, dear Tim. The hard part is over now.
You were loved. You will not be forgotten.
I knew Tim years ago in the late 80’s/early 90’s – we played some chess together, shared some good conversation, and I remember having him and his girlfriend over for Thanksgiving dinner once at my parent’s house. The years have flown by and I was saddened to here of his death. He always struck me as a very decent, kind human being.
What a great person, great soul, and a great chess player.
You are missed.