Marvin Douglas Osher
FEDERAL WAY, WASHINGTON — Marv Osher, 69, passed away early Saturday at his home in Federal Way, Washington. His early years were spent at the family home in northwest Montana with his parents, Al and Unda Osher, sister Marilyn and brothers Nolan and Ken. He graduated from Polson High School in 1963 and the University of Montana four years later. He then moved west to accept an offer to teach at a middle school in Enumclaw, Washington, a position he held until his well-deserved retirement.
Marv’s passion for sports of all kinds began at an early age. A fielder on a Little League baseball team, fullback on the Polson Pirates football team and fan of the Mariners, Seahawk and Huskies, he also loved to fish the Toutle for steelhead, team with his beloved black labs to hunt pheasants in central Washington, and backpack with his brothers into the Mission Mountain Wilderness Area of Montana. Golf provided him the familiar mixture of satisfaction and frustration.
With 220 muscular pounds well distributed over his 6-foot frame for nearly all his adult life, Marv did not fit the image of the typical runner, but he could run. The road races—Sound to Narrows, San Francisco Marathon and more—-satisfied his competitive urges. Nonstop runs to the tops of the Missions and Going-To-The- Sun Highway in Glacier Park tested his limits. Lifting weights supplied the other half of his lifelong regimen for staying physically fit.
Not all his recreational activities were so strenuous. Most every winter, Marv and life partner Mary Coleman took extended trips to Hawaii. Visits to the gambling tables on the California-Nevada border were shorter but more frequent.
Family and friends will gather at the Dumas Bay Centre in Federal Way at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 28, to share their memories of this lovable man. For the convenience of Montana residents a similar gathering will likely be held in Polson this summer.
