Family and friends will gather Tuesday to remember Daniel L. Nitkey, and are sharing this remembrance with the community:

Daniel Leroy Nitkey was born August 29, 1944, in The Dalles, Oregon; the first child of John W. Nitkey and Frances L. Fagan Nitkey. Danny died in Everett on November 25, 2022, at the age of 78, surrounded by his family.

As a young boy he built go-carts and raced them down 39th Ave and Marine View Drive with his friends and was a master at playing marbles – he started with a small bag of marbles and ended up with a large jar of them. Danny learned to drive on the country roads in Harrison, Idaho when he was 13 years old. He graduated from Sealth High School in West Seattle in 1962. After graduation, Danny worked for Nitkey Construction, his father’s company, before joining the U.S. Army, serving from 1963 to 1965 during the Vietnam War.

His parents predeceased him. He is survived by his children Cheryl, Roy, and Michelle Nitkey; his siblings Joan Kocharhook (Steve), Susan Griffin, Frances Kahler (Rick), Kathy Hostenske, and Lawrence (Eliza). Danny has five grandchildren – Anthony (Kate) and Brittany Modica, Hannah Nitkey, Ryan Keller, and Charlie Stensel, and three great-grandchildren – Laila Flores, Nicole Nitkey, and Isaiah Feil, and many nieces and nephews.

Mass of Christian Burial will be at 11:00 on December 6 at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, 7000 35th Ave SW. Mass will be preceded by recitation of the Rosary at 10:30 am. Burial will be in Woodlawn Cemetery in St. Maries, Idaho, near his grandfather Andrew Nitkey.

The family wishes to thank the staff at Providence Hospital in Everett and Hospice for their care of Danny. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the John W. and Frances (Fagan) Nitkey Endowed Scholarship at Gonzaga University, Gift Accounting, 502 E Boone Ave, Spokane, WA 99258-0098. Gifts can be made online or by phoning Gonzaga University at (509) 313-6142.

Live stream of Funeral Mass can be found at: olgseattle.org/livestreaming-at-olg

(WSB publishes West Seattle obituaries and memorial announcements by request, free of charge. Please email the text, and a photo if available, to westseattleblog@gmail.com)