B. David Daly, innovative undertaker, dies at 67

By Jack Broom
Seattle Times staff reporter

B. David Daly won many funeral-industry honors.

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Mr. Daly, 67, who died of a heart attack at his Innis Arden home Saturday (July 31), was known as an innovator who brought caring and a sense of joy into an otherwise somber job. "He invited the funeral industry to think outside of the box and to help create memorable events that were personal and deeply meaningful," said Paul Elvig, the cemetery's vice president and a 30-year friend of Mr. Daly.

Mr. Daly, a lifelong Seattle-area resident, was known nationally for his willingness to explore alternatives to the "minister-speaking-to-audience" form of memorial service, Elvig said.

For example, earlier this year, Mr. Daly helped a family that didn't want a formal service set up a room at the funeral home with the deceased man's personal computer, exercise equipment, diving gear and other effects. Friends were invited to simply share in the memory of the departed man's life. The celebration drew Mr. Daly one of his numerous "Keep it Personal" awards from the International Cemetery and Funeral Association.

Last year, Mr. Daly became one of only 25 people inducted into the association's "Hall of Fame," the funeral industry's highest honor, Elvig said.

Mr. Daly's sense of humor showed in a 1986 interview with The Seattle Times in which he called the cemetery the "ultimate condominium" and said, "I once figured that if this was like Illinois, where cemeteries vote sometimes, we'd be about the third-largest city in the state of Washington."

According to Elvig, "His humor was never disrespectful. He never made fun of people's grief. But he saw that life is a smile and there is humor if you look for it."

Robyn Daly, Mr. Daly's wife of the past 10 years, said, "He was a kind and loving man who never dwelt on the past and was always thinking of the future, in both his personal and work life."

A descendant of a pioneering Washington family, Mr. Daly graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1955 and earned a bachelor's degree in personnel management from the University of Washington in 1959.

Mr. Daly married into the cemetery business. His first wife, Louise "Lou" Daly, is the granddaughter of Clinton Harley, who formed Evergreen-Washelli in 1919. The cemetery, which holds the remains of about 145,000 people, is the largest in the state.

Lou Daly said Mr. Daly wanted the cemetery to be much more a part of the community than just a final resting place. He placed great emphasis on events such as the cemetery's military observances. "And he arranged for schoolkids to go through the park and identify plants and animals."
 
Mr. Daly was a past president of the American Cemetery Association. He received the Distinguished Professional Service Award of the Washington Funeral Directors Association and the Person of the Year Award from the Washington Interment Association.

Three governors appointed Mr. Daly to the State Cemetery Board beginning in 1974.

Away from his job, Mr. Daly enjoyed working with wood, carving in a style of the Northwest coastal Haida tribe. Robyn Daly also told of "a side a lot of people didn't see": that Mr. Daly was a longtime member of the Naturist Society, a nudist group.

Mr. Daly is also survived by son and daughter-in-law Scott and Penny Daly of North Bend; son Chris Daly of Seattle; daughter and son-in-law Laura and Mike Angotti of Waltham, Mass., three grandchildren; a twin sister, Pat Wheeler, and her husband, Don, of Snohomish; and stepmother Virginia Bathrick of Seattle.

His funeral will be 4 p.m. Saturday at Evergreen-Washelli Funeral Home. The family suggests in lieu of flowers, memorials be sent to the King County Crisis Center.

Jack Broom: 206-464-2222