Jeffrey Brian Thieme was born on April 9, 1957 to Paul and Catherine Thieme in Seattle. He graduated from Interlake in 1975, where he met the love of his life, Debbie Welling (class of 76). In high school, Jeff excelled in baseball, and was named the team’s most valuable player his senior year. He went on to play semi-pro baseball in college for Jim’s Steakhouse.
After receiving a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Seattle University, Jeff got his first job in the insurance industry at GAB. He went on to work in insurance for over forty years. He was most recently with Grange Insurance Association in Seattle, where he worked as the Senior Director of Claims. He worked at Grange for the past twenty years, and enjoyed the culture and all of the people he worked with at the company.
In 1981, Jeff and Debbie got married in Bellevue. Jeff and Debbie went on to have a son, Travis. Jeff was an avid hiker. He had climbed more than thirty peaks in the Cascades, and was always sentimental about his two summits of Mt. Rainier. Jeff loved music and playing guitar with his brother, friends, and eventually even teaching his son. Jeff loved to play golf in his free time. He played many times with his son, but also played for forty years in the annual insurance industry golf tournaments, in which he won many trophies and gained many life-long friends. Jeff also became quite the accomplished chef. He loved to cook for his family, and it was always his way to relax.
Jeff was diagnosed with cancer in 2018. But he was able to live happily and pain-free until the last few weeks of his life. He passed away peacefully on January 27, 2023, surrounded by loved ones. He was 65 years old.
His obituary can be found here.
