Tabitha Lena Kiesel

Tabitha was born on November 17, 1936 and passed away in her home in Portland Oregon on Thursday, January 10, 2019. 

Tabitha was born in Chicago Illinois to Frieda Kiesel and Helmut Wiedemann. They moved to Naperville, Illinois, where she grew up. Tabitha traveled and lived in many states throughout her life but her heart and home was in Seattle Washington. Tabitha was very politically motivated and supported many organizations. She volunteered and donated to organizations such as Public Broadcasting Radio (OPB), Sierra Club, Arbor day Foundation, Separation of Church & State, Compassion Choices, and National Parks Foundation. She worked to keep coal out of the Seattle ports, worked on the campaign to pass the death with dignity bill, among many other political and social issues. 

She is survived by her children, Tina Quick, Tom Quick, and Madison Loftus, and her brother John Wiedemann; also her grandchildren, Savanah Loftus, Colin Dick, Abigail Dick, Cameron Quick; and her great grandchildren, Neeva Horrell, and Pippa Horrell. Those that preceded Tabitha are her daughter Julie Loftus, her sister Martha Lauger, her brother Alfred Wiedemann, and her sister Ruth Johnston.

From Savanah Loftus:
My Grandma Kiesel was the strongest, sassiest, feminist that I know.  I treasured our time together - I love her stories of growing up on a farm in Illinois, looking at photos of her from the 1960's when she was a classic mid-west house wife, rocking cat eyed dark frame glasses and raising 6 awesomely free spirited kids. My favorite story is the one where she secretly saved and bought a GMC van, left her Archie Bunker-style husband, packed up her teenage girls (my Mom and Aunt Julie) and moved West to Seattle. Earned a college degree, became an accountant, bought her own house (when banks didn't give loans to women without male co-signers) and then traveled the world. ߌŽFor her 65th birthday she kayaked down the Amazon River. She has slept under the stars on the top of Chichenitza in Mexico, circled the globe by sea on a freight cargo ship. When I was in 13 we traveled for a month to every Province in Canada from the Northwest Territories to the islands north of Nova Scotia in that same classic white van. I would not be the woman I am today without her support, love and raw honesty. Grandma was wanderlusting before it was a thing and she fought the good fight for the environment and human rights to the end.  

From Tina Quick:  
Sister Madison (Shelly) was with our mother until she drew her last breath.  I am in awe of her love and dedication.  I was able to visit a few times over the years.  The last time i visited, she proudly pointed out to me her Alaskan ice fishing pole and described how she sat with her friend next to a hole in the ice with this string and hook on a handle and caught their dinner.  Her time in Alaska was most truly adventurous.  

I was part of Tabitha's life in the 1960s and 1970s, when she lived as a classic mid-west housewife.  My memories are of her in the basement washing the clothes and ironing them, or her at her sewing machine creating children's clothes and doll clothes.  Or else she would be in the kitchen, baking cookies, making soups and casseroles, creating foreign dishes before anyone else did. She told me recently that one year she made 27 types of cookie for her Christmas cookie plates.  She always grew vegetables and preserved them.  I remember the year of preserving fruit in a rum pot, and Mother and Auntie Ruth laughing round it at the kitchen table.  When she bought her white van, she did the carpentry inside which made it her own creation in which she traveled extensively.  She also managed to take local college classes and eventually found a job with a tax firm, for whom she worked for many years. 

We all lived in that small house on Rose Street by the railroad tracks in a neighborhood of strong women who did many of the same things our mother was doing. There were children to play with and places to explore.  We had a beautiful dog called Taffy.  I am grateful for that time in the Chicago suburbs!  As a family, we camped, swam, sat round campfires, sang, paddled our canoe.  These were good times, and I am thankful for the life she provided for us.   

A memorial bonfire/picnic in honor of Tabitha will be held at the end of August or beginning of September. We look forward to everyone attending please send an email to madison.loftus@gmail or call 503-888-4466 for more information. 

Tabitha will truly be missed.