A naturally charismatic person, Tony Vivenzio, greeted all with an encouraging word and a cheerful expression. Megan, his wife of 30 years, can never recall a time when he did not wake up happy.
Tony’s mother, Isabelle, a classically trained opera singer and pianist from the Boston Conservatory, imbued Tony with a love of music. Singing Return to Sorento in Italian at age two made the front page of the local papers in Lawrence, Massachusetts where he was raised. His charming and always dapper blonde haired, blue eyed Italian father, Fred, was a tailor at West Point Academy before opening his own tailor shop. Fred taught Tony how to tell a good joke and the art of picking out a good suit. Tony’s love of cars and motorcycles began with his irst car, a Chevy 409. His Italian uncle who was the police chief, gave Tony one final warning when he caught him maxing out the Chevy’s 360 horse power speed on the back roads. Tony’s childhood and lifelong friend, Paul Twist, never recovered emotionally after riding on the back of Tony’s first Honda Super Hawk motorcycle.
Earning his law degree from Boston University and after a lengthy tour of Italy and Europe with his parents, Tony passed the Massachusetts Bar and became a prosecutor in Boston. His fascination with the west drew him to Seattle (or the Seattle area) and he was sworn into the Washington Bar in 1973 and began work with Grant-Adams County legal services office, where he met David Ebenger, also an attorney. When David was needing to fill spot in Moses Lake’s Vista program office “that everyone could get along with,” he remembered Tony. Selling Tony into the idea was easy until the two driving to Moses Lake in Dave’s Karmann Gia, Tony commented on the trees thinning at which point David said, that is the last Evergreen you will see. While in Moses Lake, David and Tony met John Morris who was intrigued by the new Karmann Ghia in town and happened upon them in front of the local diner. The three became fast and lifelong friends.
Tony met his wife Megan in Seattle at Ernest K. Gann Retrospective of his artwork in Pioneer Square. Tony knew she was a “keeper’ when on their first date, Megan, in a sudden gale off of Port Townsend, tied off the bow of his jumping 24-foot sailboat to an equally jumping buoy. Megan had grown up sailing with her family on the San Francisco Bay and was accustomed to stormy seas.
Tony and Megan were married in the St. Francis Catholic Church in 1994, in Friday Harbor where Megan’s parents lived. They settled into their new home in Lake Forest Park in the Seattle area where Tony continued his work as in house counsel for the Seattle Fire Fighter Union. As a prior lobbyist in Olympia with the Service Employees International Union, Tony was adept at working with the city and state governments to enhance relationships, benefits and safety protocols.
Tony and Megan made the decision to make their home on San Juan Island to be closer to Meg’s parents and pursue their love of cruising the San Juans, the Canadian Gulf Islands and Desolation Sound. Tony opened a sole legal practice focusing on estate planning, non-profit and business startups and adoptions. A natural peace keeper, he gained training and certificates to become a federal mediator and arbitrator. He traveled throughout the Pacific NW including Alaska to hear cases between labor and management and as a graduate of the Harvard School of Government, Tony became a popular speaker at conferences.
His theatrical talent was honed with a summer at the Banff School of Fine Arts in Alberta, Canada. Tony pursued his hobby as an actor performing in many plays in with both Port Townsend’s Key City Players and the San Juan Community Theatre. Megan’s favorite role was when Tony was the lead as the British author and theologian C.S. Lewis in the biographical drama, Shadowlands.
Tony loved to travel and it was a big part of Megan and Tony’s life together. Pre-Christmas trips to Victoria, B.C., with their dear friend, Lynda Guernsey, to hear Handel’s Messiah was always an end of year highlight. Discovering Alaska late in life, he loved trips there with family and friends. Proud of his Italian heritage, he often suggested to people where to get the most memorable Bistecca Florentina in Florence.
As an only child, Tony got great joy from being a part of Megan’s family and he leaves behind her two younger sisters, Jennifer and Courtney, their husbands, Mike and Teal, and his nieces and nephews, Samantha, Kate, Sam and Olivia. Megan brought her love of animals into his life and he leaves his two beloved Shelties, two cats and a horse. All the animals loved him and will miss him terribly.
Tony, always a cheer leader of people’s gifts, Tony’s distinctive laugh and impromptu song will be forever missed. To share memories of Tony, please visit: www.evanschapel.com/obituary/tony-vivenzio