May 1st 2024
In Memoriam Martin Koleber, Don Daniels, & Dave Grayson.
In the past seven months the LEOFF 1 Coalition has witnessed the passing of two active Coalition Board members, Martin Koleber, At-Large Member, Retired Fire, Tri-Cities, and Don Daniels, Retired Seattle Police and President of the LEOFF 1 Coalition.
This week we learned that retired Seattle Police officer and former charter member of the LEOFF 1 Coalition, Dave Grayson passed away.
We are an aging cohort of law enforcement officers and fire fighters from across the state of Washington. Having served our citizens for decades as public safety professionals we find ourselves still representing our few active and numerous retired members in the ongoing effort to guard and protect our retiree pension/medical benefits.
Our loss in these three members is deeply felt. Their voices were valued and their contributions were much appreciated. Mr. Grayson's was an early voice of alarm about the threats to the LEOFF 1 system when the State of Washington was considering closing the LEOFF 1 plan, disbursing a large share of our pension to the state and former employers with only a token amount going back to LEOFF 1 members. His voice of alarm was instrumental in galvanizing the quickly formed LEOFF 1 Coalition to action to halt that attempted policy and allowed the LEOFF 1 coalition as well as brother and sister organizations to sound the alarm members of the LEOFF 1 system.
The Coalition went on to travel around the state with educational meetings to bring our active and retired members the facts of the pension threat and the need to rally together in the protection of our benefits. Without Mr. Grayson's attention to detail and his knowledge of the political process in our state's political arena it would have been much more difficult to meet the challenges faced by our pension system.
Dave Grayson passed away on May 15th, 2014. Dave retired from our board a few years ago as health and family issues led him to focus his efforts in those pursuits.
The LEOFF 1 Coalition wishes to recognize Dave Grayson for his much appreciated efforts in protecting the pension/medical benefits of all LEOFF 1 members. Dave was a valued charter member of the Coalition and a member of the Coalition Board. His voice and his views were valued. His efforts helped maintain our focus and our efforts. His wisdom, wit and straight-forward determination were an inspiration. He will be missed and his memory continues to remind us of the value of simple duty, honor and respect. When the measure of Americans is taken, Dave Grayson will be one of those whose life added to the length, breadth and depth of that measure.
Dave Peery, Secretary, LEOFF 1 Coalition