Tammy Noreen Teas, 45, passed away in
a Seattle Hospice on May 5, 2006, after a
long and courageous battle with cancer.
She was born to Herbert and Noreen Keller
Teas on August 14, 1960, in Tonasket, WA.
The family moved from Oroville to East
Wenatchee in 1966, where she entered
first grade at Grant School. She graduated
Eastmont High School as co-valedictorian in
1978. Her first foreign adventure was a trip
to Japan for winning an essay contest
sponsored by the Washington Council on International Trade.
Tammy took a scholarship to Oberlin College in Ohio in 1978
where she double-majored in Economics and Russian and
Soviet Studies, spending one summer in Russian Language
immersion at Norwich University in Vermont. She graduated
Phi Beta Kappa from Oberlin College 1982. For her graduate
degree, Tammy won another scholarship to Kellogg Graduate
School of Management in Evanston, IL, graduating with a
Master's degree in Business Administration. After a productive
marketing career with Chemical Bank in New York, Proctor &
Gamble in Cincinnati and finally Microsoft in Redmond, Tammy
retired to become a world traveler in her mid 30's. She spent the
last ten years of her life visiting the 'Stans, Russia, Africa, India
Bhutan, Mongolia, China and Europe, as well as visiting
Antarctica on a Russian icebreaker. Tammy studied, collected
and designed textile patterns and brought back many unique
ideas and ethnic patterns from her travels to use in her second
career in artistic design. Tammy sought to leave a small footprint
on the earth, to travel lightly on its surface. She approached the
people and places of this planet with exuberance and grace
touching many hearts and enriched many lives. On each
continent, there is someone who feels the weight of her passing.
Tammy is survived by her parents in East Wenatchee; sister
Laurie Teas in Tacoma; financé, Andrew Faber in Seattle; six
uncles, Herbert Keller (Phyllis), Powell River, BC, John Teas
(Sonja) Sitka, AK, Bob Teas (Myrtle) Tacoma, Frank Teas (Pat)
Chehalis, Tom Teas (Cathy) & Roy Teas, (Rita) Oroville, WA.
Also three aunts, Viola Biech, Oliver, BC, Evelyn Lode (Bill)
Prince George, BC, Esther Selking (Norb) Fox Lake, IL; plus
numerous cousins.
A Private Memorial Service will be held in Seattle. Friends of
Tammy may send donations to the American Cancer Society.
