Theodore L. Golmis, 83, passed peacefully in his sleep at his new home in Reno, Nev. Ted graduated from Grant High School in 1947, having also attended Parkrose High School and Shattuck and Parkrose Elementary Schools. He always considered Portland his hometown despite being born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and living in Hacienda Heights, Calif., for most of his adult life. Ted was always proud of his part in hanging the Golden Canopy in the ballroom at Jensen Beach Amusement Park. Following his mother's death in 1948, the remaining family went on the adventure of a lifetime, driving from Portland to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, over the very early Pan American Highway. Ted's studies at Clark College were interrupted for this journey. After returning from this mahogany logging adventure, Ted attended Rice Institute in Houston, Texas. He then enlisted in the U.S. Army, attended Army Corps of Engineers Officer Candidate School (OCS), and served in Korea with SCARWAF attached to the Fifth Air Force. He returned to Southern California, working for Hughes Aircraft Company for 32 years until his retirement in 1989. Ted was National Chairman of the Technical Documentation Division of the American Defense Preparedness Association for 13 years and winner of the R.H. Sterns Award for outstanding leadership and dedication for national standardization programs. Ted was Chairman of the Standards Engineering Society and an active volunteer in organizing various Military Electronic shows in the Los Angeles area in the 1960s and 1970s. He was an international consultant to companies and governments in Japan, Spain and Canada. Ted was a member of the Elks Lodge in La Habra, Calif., where he prepared and hosted three Greek night dinners. He was very proud of his Greek heritage, finally visiting his family's village of Anogia, Peloponnesus, Greece, in 2000. Over the years, Ted enjoyed sports cars (mostly MGs) rebuilding about 24 total wrecks, skiing on the ski patrol at Mount Hood in the 1940s and, in later years, at Powder Mountain in Utah and golfing-he shot under a 100 in his last golf game at age 80. During the last 10 years of his life, Ted battled Alzheimer type dementia, but was still able to enjoy traveling as far as Egypt and South America, and attending his high school reunions in Portland and annual reunions of his Army Corps of Engineers OCS class. In 2003, he and his significant other of 29 years were married on the Columbia Gorge Sternwheeler, honeymooning at Lake Oswego. In 2010, he and his wife moved to Reno to be near family. Ted is survived by his wife, Lorna Golmis; sister, Phyllis Alicia Geil; daughters by a former marriage, Alicia MonCrief and Sharon Tate; two stepdaughters from his current marriage; four grandchildren; six step-grandchildren; and one step-great-grandchild. A chapel service will be at 11 a.m. Thursday, June 30, 2011, followed by service of light refreshments and then a graveside service with military honors at 1 p.m., in Rose City Cemetery, Portland, where he will be buried next to his mother. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Alzheimer's Association are requested.

Published in The Oregonian
on June 28, 2011