Obituary: Agte, Tom
Age 87
Following Plummer High School graduation in 1945, he was enlisted in the U.S. Navy from the spring of 1946 until the massive naval troop dismissal in the fall of 1946.
He married Kathleen Mumau in January of 1947 and attended Refrigeration Service school at the former Farragut Naval Training station, graduating two years later.
Tom worked as a refrigeration and appliance repairman in Moscow and Pullman, and in 1953 opened and ran his own business, Tom’s Refrigeration and Appliance.
He moved to Seattle and became employed as a pre-flight electronics technician for Boeing Airplane Company in 1957.
North American Aviation in Fullerton, California hired him away from Boeing in 1959 until 1970, during which time he worked in their Autonetics Division on navigation and aircraft missile systems in California, Washington, Maine, Florida, Spain, and Scotland.
He returned to Plummer in 1970 and worked as an appliance and television repairman.
During his years in Plummer he was very active in the American Legion, Post 69.
In the early ‘70s, he was employed by the Union Pacific Railroad as a drawbridge operator, running the famous St. Joe River drawbridge at Chatcolet, Idaho until the line between Plummer and Wallace closed in the late 1980s.
Following its closure, he ran drawbridges for UP in Aberdeen and Pasco, Washington and Portland, Oregon.
He retired from the railroad after over 20 years of service.
Tom resided in Plummer until early 2014 when he moved to Guardian Angel Homes in Liberty Lake, Washington.
Tom and Kathleen celebrated their 50th wedding in January of 1997, followed by her death in the summer of that year.
He and Joan Pilgrim married in 2004; they later divorced, but remained good friends.
He is survived by son Conrad (Jean) Agte of Spokane; daughter Kayleen Agte of New Hampshire; brothers: Roger (Lois) Agte of Coeur d’ Alene and Plummer and Dr. Lloyd (Barbara) Agte of the Agte Farm in Plummer.
Tom’s grandchildren are: Lt. Col. Jeremy (Diana) Agte, PhD.
of Ohio, Joanna (Terrill) Constantine of Spokane, Lisa (Ezra) Kinlow of Seattle, Jolene (Johannes) Ericsson of California, Vance Agte of Seattle, Dan (Alissia) Agte of Oregon, and Sadira Antunes of Massachusetts.
Also surviving are daughter-in-law Frieda Johnson of Coeur d’Alene and five great-grandchildren.
Wife Kathleen and son Steve (Frieda) Agte precede Tom in death.
Services will be at 1:00 on Friday, March 6th at Christian Life Fellowship Church in Plummer, followed by refreshments and visitations in the church hall.
Burial ceremonies will take place, that day, at 3:30 at the Plummer Evergreen Cemetery.
To view Charles’s online memorial, please visit www.hennesseyfuneralhomes.com