Helen Elsie Koenig

Helen Elsie Koenig, 93, of Seattle died March 5, 2019. She was born in Buckley on February 26, 1926 and was the daughter of William J. and Anna Koenig and the granddaughter of John and Mary Kupka and G.F. and Elsie Koenig, early Buckley residents. Her Koenig grandfather was a local merchant whose business was destroyed by the fire that swept through the Buckley business district in 1892.

She attended Wickersham Grade School and Buckley Junior and Senior High Schools where she was an honor student and active in music and drama. She graduated with the class of 1943. She grew up in the family home, built with timber cut by her logger father, which still stands at the corner of Elsa and Mason Streets in Buckley. In her youth she worked in the berry and bean fields in the Puyallup Valley. Her first office job was at Schwab’s Nursery in Buckley.

She worked at Pacific Car and Foundry in Renton after high school, and she graduated from the Metropolitan Business College in Seattle where she served as president of both the student and alumni associations. She went to work for the Wright and Wight Law Firm and later for the Montgomery and Perdue Law Firm in Seattle. She them was employed at the US Court House where she was secretary to the US Judges Boldt, Sharp, and Coughcnour.

She was a past president of the Seattle Legal Secretaries Association, a past president of the Washington State Legal Secretaries Association and a member of the national board. She was twice named the legal secretary of the year by the Seattle association. She was part of the work force for over 50 years. She was the president of a Seattle chapter of Beta Sigma Phi sorority.

She was in the first group of Washington residents to be certified nationally as licensed legal secretaries after four days of rigorous examination. She was also a notary public.

After retirement she volunteered for several years as an office worker at Group Health Hospital. She also volunteered at the Red Cross blood bank and as a judge at youth math camp. She was active in bowling and golf circles.

She is survived by her sister, Doris Wagner of Tukwila; by her brother, William Koenig of Buckley; by a nephew Paul Wagner of Plymouth; and by her niece Lisa Wagner of Bellevue; and her cousins.

Funeral Services will be held at Weeks’ Funeral Home in Buckley, WA on Saturday, March 16th , 2019 at 1:00 PM. Burial in the Buckley City Cemetery.

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