Clyde Regnar Langsted

Mortician Clyde Langsted, Cared For Others' Families As His Own

Dec 19, 1994

Carole Beers

Clyde Regnar Langsted had just finished preparing the body of a little girl for viewing.As he was locking up the funeral home, he took a last look at the peaceful child, then left on the light because he felt she might have been afraid of the dark.Mr. Langsted, who died Thursday of cancer at 61, was the kind of mortician everyone would want when the need arose: He cared beyond the call of duty."He was there for us," said his daughter, Kristin Murillo of Bothell. "But his work was his life.""One time a baby had died after birth. Dad felt bad because the parents had the birth expenses as well as those for the death. So he paid the latter himself."He discovered a widow buying a $3,000 casket for her husband," said his daughter. "He discouraged her because he felt her husband would want the money to be spent on the kids he left - not on a casket."Christmas was his favorite time. He loved seeing children open gifts. He made everyone wait until the chores were done. No one could even look at the presents or tree before all could do so.Mr. Langsted couldn't pass a "giving tree" in a public place without taking 10 names to buy gifts for; he couldn't think of children going without.He only cooled his Christmas fever to respond to calls from families who had lost a loved one."It happened several times as we were opening gifts," said his daughter. "We stopped, he went to take care of the family - notletting them know they had interrupted his Christmas - then he came back and we'd pick up where we'd left off."Mortuary work was his calling, she added. He had wanted to do it since he was in grade school. He had played an undertaker in a school play, and he'd admired a neighbor in the profession.Although he earned a degree in commercial baking at what is now Seattle Central Community College, he graduated from San Francisco College of Mortuary Science in 1959. 

He apprenticed at Arthur A. Wright Funeral Home here, then in 1962 joined Bleitz Funeral Home, where he served as funeral director, embalmer and manager. Just as important was his long affiliation with the Danish Brotherhood. He held local and national office, planned picnics and promoted Danish culture."He really worked hard," said his brother Jim Langsted of Birch Bay, Whatcom County. "He traveled around the country representing the Brotherhood, and was on the board of Nordic Heritage Museum."They all liked him because he was a good speaker with a great sense of humor. Typical mortician's humor. Behind closed doors he told some pretty funny stories about the business. People think it's morbid, but it's not like that at all."Other survivors include his sons, David of Kirkland, and Eric and Brian, Seattle; his brother John, Las Vegas; his sisters, Grete Buxton and Joyce Garbe, Seattle, and Joan Paulson, Las Vegas; and two grandsons. 

A service will be at 11 a.m. Dec. 31 in the Nordic Heritage Museum. Remembrances may be sent to the museum, to the scholarship fund of Northwest Danish Foundation, to Hospice Northwest or to Toys for Tots. Arrangements entrusted to Bleitz Funeral Home - Seattle, Washington.