Howard Augustine Fosser

October 9, 1942 - February 25, 2023

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Howard Augustine Fosser, 80, died on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023 following years of living with Parkinson’s disease with recent additional infection complications.

He was born on Oct. 9, 1942, in Rugby, North Dakota to Henry and Mabel Fosser and moved with the family from North Dakota to Seattle as a teenager. He graduated from Mount Rainier High School in Des Moines, Washington in 1960. He attended two years of university and then enlisted in the U.S. Air Force from 1962-1966. He graduated from Pacific Lutheran University in 1968 and then enrolled in Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota and graduated with a Master of Divinity in 1972. He was ordained as a Lutheran Pastor at Grace Lutheran Church in Des Moines, Wash. in 1972.

He met Adele Swenson in Wenatchee, Wash. where they were married on Dec. 27, 1970. Howard and Adele and family lived in various locations in the Pacific Northwest where he served in Lutheran churches in Wenatchee, Wash.; Beaverton, Oregon; Forks, Wash.; Troutdale, Ore.; and Port Townsend, Wash. He retired as Pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Port Townsend in 2008 where he served for 23 years. In retirement they relocated to Lakewood, Wash. where he served as interim pastor of Trinity Lutheran in Parkland, Wash. and Mount Cross Lutheran in University Place, Wash. and were active members of First Lutheran Church in Tacoma, Wash.

Howard is survived by his loving wife of 52 years, Adele; son, Hans Fosser; his wife, Anna Marie, and grandchildren Hayden, Jorgen and Kallen; daughter, Kari Fosser; and sister, Noreen Cramer and her husband Mike; as well as numerous extended family. He is preceded in death by his parents.

Memorial services will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, July 22 at First Lutheran Church in Tacoma. Additional service will occur the following day, at 2 p.m. Sunday, July 23 at Grace Lutheran Church in Port Townsend, followed by interment of ashes in Grace’s columbarium. Memorials preferred to Lutheran World Relief.