Herbert George Thylin, 75
Herbert (Herb) George Thylin died on May 11 in Poulsbo after a two-year battle with cancer. He was born in San Francisco on July 6, 1932, to Gustav George Thylin and his wife Theresa Ann Ahlberg.
He graduated from Polytechnic High School in San Francisco in 1950 and San Francisco City College in 1957 with a degree in electronic engineering.
Thylin served in the U.S. Navy Reserves from January 1951-53 and on active duty until 1955. He served aboard the Navy oil tanker USS Mispillion (AO 105) as a electronics technician.
He was awarded the National Defense Service Medal and the Navy Occupation Service Medal with the Asia clasp. He was honorably discharged from the Reserves in January 1956.
He was married to Bianca Restani from 1956-69. They had two children, James Norman and Anna Marie.
Thylin married Elizabeth Alexander Buchanan in 1977.
He worked as field engineer for Sperry Gyroscope Co. and traveled to various shipyards to ensure the Polaris/Poseidon submarine’s navigational equipment was working within specifications. Assignments included monitoring test firings at Cape Canaveral, Fla.
He also worked for Lockheed Martin Corp. in Sunnyvale, Calif. In 1974, he was selected as the Lockheed electrical engineering representative for the United Kingdom Polaris program at the Royal Naval Armament Depot at Coulport, Scotland.
In March 1980, Thylis was assigned to the Trident program at then-Subase Bangor. He and his family moved to Poulsbo.
He retired from Lockheed Martin in 1998 after 35 years. Thylis became active in local city affairs, serving on the Poulsbo Board of Adjustments and Appeals (1994-1998) and the Kitsap County Fire District Citizens Advisory Board (1995).
In his retirement, he became very active in family genealogy and writing political letters to local newspapers.
Two letters were published in USA Today. He joined the local Evergreen Bonsai society learning to style small trees for exhibition.
Surviving are his wife, Elizabeth Buchanan; their four daughters, Fiona Horn (Nick) of Royal City, Sandra of Poulsbo, Heather Thorene (Casey) of Bremerton and Eilidh Thylin of Poulsbo; and two children from his first marriage: James Thylin (Stephanie) and Anna Halverson (Sean); and seven grandchildren.
The funeral service will be at 1 p.m. May 20 at the Poulsbo First Lutheran Church. A visitation will precede the service at the church from 11 a.m. until service time. Interment will take place in the First Lutheran Church Cemetery. An online guestbook is available at www.cookfamilyfuneralhome.com.
