Before Tom Warner died he told his family, don't mourn, organize.

He was never conventional. Most of the time he wore overalls, even long after retiring from plumbing.

And he was a guy who knew how to hold on to a dollar, which is how he managed to save a good sum. Now in death he's opening his wallet.

He left his family instructions to use his savings to promote the kinds of causes he actively supported.

His wife, Judith Zeh, said he told her, "My kids are all fine. They're educated and working at good jobs and they have homes," so he created a trust fund, which is being administered by six close friends and relatives.

Warner's lesson isn't that you or I should do exactly what he did, but that sometimes it's OK to write your own life script.

Warner marched, protested, wrote and organized, moving from one cause to the next.

He opposed the U.S. boycott of Cuba and collected goods for people in that country. He was involved in Central American rights movements in the 1980s, demonstrated against apartheid, and participated in a Palestinian human-rights campaign. He demonstrated against the war in Vietnam and both wars in Iraq, though he wasn't exactly a pacifist.

Each of us might come up with a different list of causes to support, but he went all out for his.

In August he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer and he died Monday at 86.

Warner lived in a lot of places but came to Seattle in 1951 with his first partner, Gloria Martin, because they heard it was progressive.

The two of them had worked against segregation in St. Louis, Mo., where he grew up.

Warner tried to join the Army during World War II, when he was 17, but wasn't accepted because of wounds he'd suffered in a fire as a 6-year-old. He'd been sent downstairs to light the boiler, and experimented with matches while doing it.

The fire nearly killed him, but his father, a postal clerk, was a Shriner, so Warner was able to spend two years in a Shrine hospital for free. Realizing not every child would have that access started him thinking about fairness.

The U.S. Merchant Marine accepted him so he spent the war ferrying supplies across the Atlantic. He was moved by the abject poverty in some of the ports he visited.

Also, his daughter, Valentina Warner, a Seattle physician, said he was introduced to unions aboard ship and learned that sometimes, if he spoke up, he could change things.

His main meal was breakfast. Warner, who always went away hungry, thought crew members should be able to get more than two biscuits with the meal. The union supported his position and the next day they each had three biscuits, and more if they wanted.

Over the years, he moved from cause to cause as issues arose. He had another passion besides activism. In the 1980s he spent much of his time remodeling his home near Northgate, making it energy-efficient. It's a large house, and the south side is covered in glass to let in the sun's warmth in the winter.

Valentina Warner said that if her dad's spirit could be captured in a sculpture it would be that house, full of books and tools and looking still like a work in progress, a lived-in space. And it's full of humanity, people coming and going. Three rooms of the house are rented out. The Warners didn't need all that space to themselves, and the rent helps pay the bills.

The house will be sold eventually and the proceeds folded into the trust. Altogether the fund will have about $1 million. Each trustee will be able to give away a sixth of the interest each year for causes approved by a majority of the others.

Warner's guidelines suggested giving to union strike funds, campaigns against discrimination based on race, religion, gender or sexual orientation, or against the death penalty. Many other organizations or causes would qualify, but not politicians or political parties.

Zeh said Warner, "didn't want all his money frittered away." He wanted it to support, "issue-oriented struggles."

Zeh will find a smaller place to live. They always had separate accounts, and, she said, "I'm saving for my grandkids."

There will be a memorial for Warner at 2 p.m. Saturday at Bethany United Church of Christ, 6230 Beacon Ave. S. in Seattle.

Jerry Large's column appears Monday and Thursday. Reach him at 206-464-3346 or jlarge@seattletimes.com.