Edith Fairhall

April 26, 1930 - January 30, 2023

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Edith Fairhall died peacefully on Jan. 30, 2023 after a long battle with dementia. 

She grew up in Weymouth, Massachusetts. Her father, Joseph J. Holland, was a bank inspector during the Great Depression and her mother was a homemaker. She had two older brothers, Albert and Joe, and an older sister, Ethel, who was a highly accomplished pianist and graduate of the New England Conservatory.

After high school Edith went to secretarial school and worked as a secretary for Henry Kissinger at Harvard University. She met Arthur Fairhall at an outing of a Boston-area hiking and skiing club that they both belonged to. Art was obtaining his doctorate’s degree in Chemistry from MIT at the time. Edith and Art married and moved to Seattle in 1954 when Art was appointed professor of Physics and Chemistry at the University of Washington. While raising three sons Edith returned to school part time, obtaining a BFA and MFA from the university, with an emphasis on painting. Edith and Art loved to entertain at home and hosted many parties for fellow faculty and graduate students. Eventually Edith and Art divorced amicably in the late 1970s, after which she enjoyed a 30-year relationship with Evert Sodergren, a renowned furniture designer and master craftsman. She was a devoted caregiver for Art in his last months of his life. After Evert’s death she relocated from Seattle to Port Townsend in 2017 to be closer to her son Tom. She spent her last year at Sherwood Assisted Living in Sequim.

Edith loved her children, the men in her life, and her friends she met in the arts and hiking community, at yoga practice, and via her many social networks in Seattle. She also loved classical music, art, and the natural world. She led or participated in many wildflower hikes as a member of the Mountaineers. She was known for her kindness, gentle nature, ready smile, and warmth towards others. 

Edith is survived by her son, Tom Fairhall of Port Townsend and his wife Jean Bettanny; her son, Bill Fairhall of Seattle; and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her son, Jeff Fairhall; Art Fairhall; Evert Sodergren; and her siblings, Albert J. Holland of Reno, Nevada, Ethel Holland Bloomquist of Woburn, Mass. and Joseph J. Holland III of Rockland, Mass.