Gregory Vincent Priestley

June 1, 1946  –  October 26, 2024

Gregory Priestley

Gregory Vincent Priestley died on Saturday, Oct 26 2024 of Lewy-body dementia, a Parkinson’s-related disease. He died peacefully, in the company of his wife, Kim, and adult children, Amy and Alex. He was 78.

Greg was born in Spokane Washington on June 1, 1946. He grew up in Pasadena Park, a semi-rural neighborhood near Spokane. He was the second of three sons of Ambrose and Willene Priestley.

Greg had a happy childhood. He was in the first year of the generation that came to be known as the Baby Boomers. Pasadena Park was full of children, and there were always groups of kids to play with. He built forts, played backyard baseball and football, skated on the nearby river, swam in the large irrigation ditches. He worked with his father tending a flock of chickens and weeding and irrigating a large garden. He had a large paper route and was a Boy Scout. One of his fondest memories was a rafting trip with his father and members of his Scouting troop on the Selway River in Idaho.

Greg was Student Body President at West Valley High School. He attended Lewis and Clark College for a year, then transferred to Washington State University in Pullman, where he earned a BA in English Literature. During summers while in college, Greg worked in agricultural areas of eastern Washington harvesting peas and managing grain silos.

After college, Greg enlisted in the Army. He was a conscientious objector. He worked as a medic and refused to carry a firearm. He spent a year on a big gun emplacement in the jungles of Viet Nam. The site was sprayed with Agent Orange, a toxic defoliant, several times. Near the end of his life, Greg believed that exposure was the cause of his health issues.

Greg’s experience as a medic ignited an interest in medicine. When he returned from Viet Nam, he enrolled at the University of Washington and earned a BS in Microbiology. After graduation he found work doing medical research at the main UW Hospital at Montlake. His name appears on approximately 40 scientific papers.

It was in his lab at the University that Greg met his future wife, Kim. They married and had a couple of kids in their home in the Renton Highlands. There he enjoyed bicycling, gardening, hiking, camping, and playing with the dogs.

During the last two decades of his life, Greg’s passion was a hobby farm that he and Kim built on 30 acres near the Pacific coast, south of Aberdeen.

Greg is survived by his wife, Kim Priestley of Renton Washington, daughter Amy Priestley of Renton Washington, son Alex Priestley of Seattle Washington, and two brothers, Ernest Priestley (Evelyn) of Seattle Washington, and Wes Priestley (Margie) of Knoxville Tennessee,