Dennis Haws

Dennis Charles Haws, aged 82, of Battleground, WA passed away on February 19, 2024, in Spokane, WA where he had recently moved to be closer to his daughter and grandchildren. Dennis was born in Idaho Falls, Idaho on December 17, 1941, to Grace and Darold Haws. He spent most of his life in the Portland/Vancouver area where he met and married the love of his life, Sharon. They were married on August 31, 1963, and celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary last summer. They had 2 daughters, Lisa and Denise.

As a young man Dennis enjoyed boxing and soon found himself in the amateur boxing league. He practiced hard and soon excelled in the sport. He was invited to attend a tournament in Madison Square Garden in New York. He won many trophies and multiple Golden Gloves awards in the early 1960’s. He was a daredevil and a go-getter. He loved to ride his motorbike up into the hills with his brothers, racing through the dunes and dirt tracks. They also would go jalopy racing together. He proudly displayed a few trophies from some of his jaunts around the track.

Dennis enjoyed taking his family hunting, fishing, crabbing and camping and they spent a lot of time on the Oregon Coast. He liked to garden and farm. He planted a big garden every year. He was passionate about planting trees, especially pine and fruit trees. He was always planting and growing something.  He enjoyed animals and had his own little farm with a variety of creatures over the years. But more than anything Dennis deeply loved all his grandchildren and great grandchildren. He was born to be a Grandpa. He always had an adventure planned for the kids, whether it was a trip to Disneyland, Yellowstone, the new Ice Capades, OMSI, the Zoo, the Park, or the ice cream shop, it didn’t matter, and if you went, he had to buy you a souvenir no matter how many times you had gone. Grandpa Dennis made the yard a big playground for the kids. He made treehouses, sandboxes, he bought trampolines, play sets, a HUGE slide, merry-go-rounds, bikes, motor cars… on and on. Anything he found (especially at a garage sale!), he would buy for the grandkids, making Grandma & Grandpa’s house a fun place to be. Everyone was welcome!

 Dennis was a hard-working family man. He worked for many years as a machinist for Dillingham Ship Repair on Swan Island in Portland, Oregon until he “retired” and moved over the river to Tidewater Barge to finish out his working career. But Dennis was not one to settle down. Even after his official retirement, you could not keep him still. He was always busy tinkering, puttering, fixing and building. But he also liked to play hard. One of his favorite activities was collecting old cars. He would buy them and fix them up. Some he would resell, but some he would hang on to and enjoy for a while. He had some  beautiful cars from the 1940 to 1960 eras.

 Dennis and his family have been active at Evergreen Bible Church in Vancouver, WA since the early 1980s. Dennis has been a big part of their children’s AWANA program, helped at VBS, and a participant at other events and projects.

Dennis is preceded by his parents, his brothers Larry, Monty, David, Jeffrey, and his Daughter Denise. He is survived by his beautiful wife Sharon, his Daughter Lisa, 9 grandchildren, Sarah (Aaron), Joseph (Jennifer), Aderyn, Elizabeth (James), Deric (Nora), Corina (Kyle), Alisa (Nathan), Andrew, Abigail; 14 Great-grandchildren, Zavian, Mùirnin, Emmett, Hendrik, Brayden, Evelyn, Tobias, Jessica, Victoria, Elayne, Milo, Aurora, Greyson, Hayden.

A public viewing will be held at Northwood Park Funeral Home & Cemetery, 16407 NE 15th Ave, Ridgefield, WA 98642, on Thursday March 14th between 12-4pm.

Please join us at the Memorial Service as we celebrate his life at Evergreen Bible Church, 9600 E Mill Plain Blvd., Vancouver, WA 98664 on Saturday, March 16th at 11 am. A reception will follow.

A live stream link will be available for those who will not be able to attend the Memorial Service.