Memorials

Queen Anne High School Memorial Page
This page is dedicated to the memory of all Queen Anne Alumni

Special thanks to "Sandy" Murray '55
for the many hours of research he spent in researching information for this page.

Please send any new obituaries or updates to our existing listing to this link and include the alumnus' name,
class year, date of death, and location (and cause if known.)

A Tribute to Doug Jancura, '71:

February 4, 1953 brought my closest friend to the world, though I didn’t know it as yet since I was born six months later. Since I moved to Magnolia at six months of age, I can’t remember when Doug Jancura didn’t live across the street. We played together for much of our lifetime through Lawton , Catherine Blaine, and Queen Anne High (’71), and beyond, far into our adulthood. And what a time we had.

Doug was fearless and would try most anything, from climbing in windows from extension ladders, jumping off the garage roof, cliff diving at Sun Lakes …the list is endless. I know he drove his sisters Sharon and Barbara Sue (both Grizzlies) crazy so many times, not to mention his wonderful late parents Jan and Lola. He was a terrific baseball player, a tough football player, wrestler, and even played with us on the prep City Championship basketball team when we were fifteen. We both worked for a time as deckhands for our longtime friend Bob Shrewsbury (’71), now President and driving force behind Western Towboat. Many of us were close as a group in high school, graciously hosted almost daily by Jeff Persitz’s (’71) mom and dad, Charlotte and Benno. These years were some of the most memorable of my life, and I’ll bet there are a bunch of Grizzlies who feel the same.

After high school, Doug bought his first toy, a street rod. We had fun with it, after it was painted bright red at Greg Heiser’s (’71) dad’s shop. That soon gave way to his first hot boat, a wood hulled ski boat with lightning bolts on the side. In between Doug’s softball leagues and tourneys, we had a great time meeting girls and water skiing with Thunderbolt, but the bug hit us to go faster. So, he bought his first flatbottom drag boat, with which we had fun skiing, but we knew it was a matter of time until he would race it. In 1974, Doug and I went to his first circle race in Pasco , followed soon after by Lake Sammamish . Doug was later presented with a poster from that race where the entire boat was three feet in the air. Suffice to say we didn’t yet know what we were doing, and he got by on sheer nerve.

Doug bought and raced three more flatbottoms in circle races around the Northwest, many years running high in the National High Points Championship. He would work at his job at Western Steel Castings, then work most of the night preparing to race. I have not yet known of anyone who has been more dedicated to anything as Doug was to racing. I missed his first crash in the late seventies, when he was bruised but okay. I was crew chief for him at Lake Spanaway at his second crash, when he was miraculously avoided by other boats…bruised but unharmed. A few years after I repaired his boat, Doug had a third crash which I missed but evidently was not unexpected to fellow racers, who had renamed him Air Jancura for his aggressive driving style. He again was bruised with broken ribs, but not seriously injured. During this period, Doug elevated his game to record some of the fastest speeds ever run in his class. This led him to be recruited to drive a very fast boat, owned by others in Seattle , capable of speeds of 130 mph.

On April 17, 2004 , Doug was testing the boat at American Lake , and blew over at 100 mph. He was killed, probably on impact with the water. Dave Villwock, longtime competitor in flatbottoms and driver of Miss Budweiser, witnessed the crash, and said, “He was a great guy. It’s going to be tough for everybody.” George Woods was the former driver of the boat Doug crashed. “ That boat was one of the fastest in the world and Doug was one of the better drivers in the world," said Woods, who retired from racing after an unlimited-class hydroplane accident 11 years ago.

I can assure you that these words from these men would mean a great deal to Doug. He was both a great guy and became an excellent racer. When he came to my Dad’s funeral late last year, I had hoped he would come to my son’s baseball games this summer, to help him with the game Doug had played so well. My son will have to settle for the stories of another fallen Grizzly, the boy across the street who my mother called Bugsy, my dear friend Doug Jancura. Steve West – QA ‘71

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