Hylas Hathaway Twiford

Hylas Hathaway Twiford, 67, passed away July 11th, 2016 after a courageous battle with cancer.

Hylas was born on August 8th, 1948 in Cleveland Ohio to Carl & Mary Twiford. Hylas spent his early years growing up in Cleveland playing sports getting into trouble with his older brother Carl (Terry) Twiford. He loved staying active by playing sports. His fondest memories came from playing baseball. A memorable baseball story he would tell was when his mom washed his white Red Sox uniform with a red shirt and dyed the uniform pink. Unfortunately for him, she made him play the remainder of the season in the pink uniform.

Beginning at a young age, Hy starting working with his dad at the Cleveland Yacht Club in the family boat repair business, Twiford Marine Services. He had an innate ability to fix anything, especially if it had to do with boats or boat engines.

Hy moved to Bellingham in the late 70’s and started his own business, Hy’s Marine Service. After meeting Stephanie they opened a repair shop in Harbor Mall, Bellingham Boat & Engine then HST Marine. Hy turned a rusted LCM-8 landing craft into a floating repair shop, then into a spill response vessel during the Alaska oil spill. After selling the landing craft, Hy continued his oil spill work with Clean Sound, then Marine Spill Response Corp, traveling to the Gulf of Mexico for the oil spill and assisting with Hurricane Katrina.

Hy was happiest at home working on his Chris Craft Continental or following his kids sporting events. Football, hockey, soccer, tennis; if his kids were playing, Hy was there.

Hylas always put others before himself, dedicating his free time to fixing a friends boat, letting someone else operate the TV remote or sharing half of his take out food with his son because his son was still hungry. He made sure to teach his daughter to always check her engine oil, especially when she would drive back home to Oregon. Hy loved his routine of waking up early, drinking coffee and sitting at the table of knowledge with the guys at the Web Locker. Till the very end he despised eggs but loved his evening bowl of ice cream while watching a movie with his family.

Hylas was preceded in death by his parents, Mary and Carl Twiford, and is survived by his loving wife, Stephanie; children, Sarah and Tyson Twiford; brother Carl (Marlane) Twiford; niece, Audrey (Ravi) Singaraju and many treasured friends.

Please join us any time between 1-4 on Friday July 15th at the Bellingham Yacht Club for a celebration of Hy’s life.

Friends and family who wish to make a donation in memory of Hylas can make checks payable to UW Foundation with Hylas Twiford-Melanoma Research noted on the check. Send to UW Medicine Advancements Attn: Tyrone Jimmison Campus Box 358045 Seattle, WA 98195-8045.