...who was the family doctor to three generations of Queen Anners, and devoted to his own extended family
Dr. Glen S. Player, who grew up in Queen Anne and in later years practiced medicine there, died Sept. 28 at his home in Medina, Wash., surrounded by family.
He was 89.
Born Sept. 15, 1918, to Shirley and Myrtle (Weiser) Player in Salt Lake City, Utah, he was a great-grandson of original Mormon pioneer settlers of the valley. He moved with his family to Seattle on Queen Anne Hill at 8 years of age. As a youth he remembers sailing across Lake Washington to the Kirkland area, where there were only one or two small homes at the time. Hiking up Coal Creek in the 1920s didn't involve a multi-lane parkway, and in those days camping at Lake Sammamish was considered wilderness backpacking.
A proud graduate of West Queen Anne Elementary Class of 1932 and Queen Anne High School Class of 1936, Dr. Player organized and supported class reunions for more than 70 years. Following undergraduate studies at University of Washington (1936-40), he received his medical degree in 1943 from the University of Oregon Medical School, now called the Oregon Health Sciences University. He completed postgraduate studies with the School of Neuropsychiatry at New York University, 1944-45, and took related classes at Cornell. During World War II, Glen served in the US Army as a neurology consultant, England General Hospital, 1945-46, and Halloran General Hospital, 1946.
At the close of the war, he returned to Seattle and set up his office on Queen Anne Hill, at 1623 Queen Anne Ave. N., as a general practitioner and surgeon. Dr. Player was a member of the King County Medical Society and past national civil defense chair for the American Medical Association. When he retired he had served as a physician for 50 years, caring for the grandchildren of some of his original patients.
As early as the 1950s, Dr. Player showed a keen interest in genealogy. He left a written personal history and recollections of his parents and grandparents, so his posterity would know about their roots. His life spanned a time of great technological advances, which he embraced. He participated in the computerized indexing of Ellis Island passenger arrival records.
Dr. Player talked of visits in his youth to his grandmother's home in Twin Falls, Idaho, when it was necessary to hand crank the car's windshield wipers on a rainy day, and water from puddles would stream up through the floorboards, drenching the car's inhabitants during the journey. He said they thought nothing of sleeping together on bare wood floors, all for the adventure of being on Grandma Eliza's farm.
His extensive workshop included welding and woodworking tools that he used to create interesting and useful items for his home and office. He could fix anything. Next to the teahouse, he designed and installed a pool enclosure with a retractable roof, extending the use of the pool into the cooler months of the year.
Closest to Glen's heart was his love of family, and he jumped at the chance for any type of get-together. He finally shared his secret recipe for barbecued salmon. His family remembers him as a firm taskmaster and a devoted mentor. He was a hunter, water skier, boater and inventor. Family trips to Orcas Island are legendary, so it was a particularly choice experience to have him along one last time this past summer eating at Bilbo's and readying for float-boating on Cascade Lake.
In addition, the good doctor played the organ masterfully, and encouraged the study of musical instruments in his grandchildren. He would take that huge organ over to the cultural hall at church on a little trailer he rigged up, so he could play for dinner dances and other activities.
Dr. Player was preceded in death by his dear wife, the former Blanche Myrtle Jackson. Together they shared a full life of family, church and civic activities. They sang in the Leonard Moore chorale and dedicated nearly 40 years to the choir at the Bellevue 1st Ward of the Latter Day Saints Church. Glen and Blanche actively supported the Bellevue Philharmonic Orchestra, serving in the BPO League in various capacities. Mrs. Player died on Christmas Day 2006, just a few months shy of their 44th wedding anniversary.
Their combined children from previous marriages included Mary Clements, Dave (Lilette) Player, Pat Richley, Mike (Becky) Player, Sharon (Steve) Wagner, Daniel (Catherine) Bennett and James (Nancy) Bennett. Their family has grown to include 14 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. Glen is also survived by his sister Beverly Muir and brother Jack (Laura) Player.
The family wishes to thank friends, caregivers, physicians and Providence Hospice for thoughtful assistance during the past few years of their parents' illnesses. A joint memorial service honoring Glen and Blanche Player will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 13, at the LDS Church, 10675 N.E. 20th St. in Bellevue. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to charity.
[[In-content Ad]]
