Frederick Michael Gramann

Fred Gramann was born December 2, 1923 to Fred and Angeline Gramann in Seattle, WA and died September 22, 2020.  He was raised in Seattle and graduated from Cleveland High School. It was there that he met the love of his life, Jean Gronning. Since she lived on Beacon Hill and he lived in South Park, after school he would walk her the 1 mile to her home before backtracking the 5 miles to his home. Over the objections of Jean’s father and the minister who stated the marriage would not last, they were married June 11, 1943. The minister was right; their marriage only lasted 77 years. Fred attended the University of Washington briefly after high school, but then joined the army. Serving in WWII, he was stationed on the island of Saipan in the Pacific front for 23 months. After the war, he returned to the UW and graduated with a degree in education. His first teaching job was in Concrete, WA in 1949. After the second year there, he was asked to become the principal of the high school, beginning his career as a school administrator. In 1957 he became the principal of Enumclaw High School, a position he held for 10 years. During this time, he also returned to school to earn his masters and PhD from the UW. In 1967 he became the superintendent of the Bethel School District, where he served until 1979. At Bethel, with necessity being the mother of invention (a school bond issue did not pass there for years), he led the development of one of the first year around school schedules in the state. Upon retiring from Bethel, he continued working as a consultant for a number of school districts, including Enumclaw, White River, and Sumner. Fred loved teaching and found ways to be in the classroom even as an administrator. He loved making a difference in the lives of young men and women. 

When he completely retired in the mid 1980’s, he and Jean began their life as “snowbirds”, initially RVing with Jean’s brother Bud to Arizona. Over the years their time in Arizona became longer and longer. First, they bought a casita and stayed 6 months, and then a full-sized home with pool and stayed year around. They returned to live in Enumclaw to be close to family for the last decade. Fred had many interests. He was a musician. Having taken piano lessons from his mother, he learned to play piano by ear, and if you could hum it, he could play it. He was artistic, taking up creating stained glass and oil painting. He loved golf and in their years in Arizona was a fixture at the Sunbird golf course, where he had 7 holes in one. He also loved to fix things, especially if it required duct tape or a piece of wood. Fred had a wonderful sense of humor. He loved to tease. He loved to make up the names of people he claimed to have met, throwing in an occasional real person’s name just to keep you guessing. 

Fred was preceded in death by his granddaughter Nicole, and great granddaughter Jaybrianna. He is survived and dearly missed by his wife Jean; sons Bob (Vikki) and Fred (Nancy), daughter Judy; grandchildren Lane (Dennis), Lance (Stephanie), Alicia (Wade), Ben (Stacy), and Heather; great grandchildren Kadyn, Teagan, Carter, Jayleigh, Jayden, Sutton, Hudson, Adley, Ellie, Noah and Emile. In light of Covid, there will be a private family memorial, with future inurnment at Tahoma National Cemetery. 

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be sent to Enumclaw Schools Foundation.

Please share a memory of Fred with his family on the tribute wall. 

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Frederick Michael Gramann, please visit our floral store.