Charles O. "Chuck" Dahman

Charles O. "Chuck" Dahman passed away peacefully in his sleep at home on Tuesday May 21st 2024, at the age of 68. He was born to Ernest A. and Virginia Dahman on Feb 4th 1956, in Seattle WA. Memorial Service will be held at Skookum Community Hall in Shelton, WA on June 27th 2024 at 1:00 p.m. Potluck to follow, and a Graveside service at Shelton Memorial Park.

Chuck lived in Quilcene, WA with his family until he was eight years old and then they moved to Shelton, WA. His early summers were spent in Kamilche, WA at Quarters Point in Totten Inlet, where the family moved in 1972. He worked as a carpenter, electrician, and worked timber and road construction with his father. He began working at Simpson Timber Co. where he worked until a friend was killed in a logging accident. He traveled to Alaska to work on a fishing boat which ended up sinking before his plane landed. He did odd jobs and mended nets to make the money to return home. He then worked as a self-employed shellfish farmer full time in 1982 after having worked the position occasionally.

He met Patricia Wilkinson and the couple and had one son in 1976. He met Kelli VanderWal in 1981 and the couple was happily married in 1984. Chuck and Kelli began Dahman's Oyster Bay Oyster Co in 1984 and sold clams and Olympia oysters to the wholesale markets. Their company was once the largest supplier of Olympia Oysters in the world market. Chuck Dahman was a man of many firsts. He was the owner of one of the first running companies to start seeding beaches with shellfish. He was also the first person to put webbing on the beach to protect clams using a sockeye net. He later used plastic netting he found in Maine which later became an industry standard. He was one of the first growers to successfully plant Geoduck with Terry Nosho from the University of Washington's Sea Grant program. He went on to help build the first successful closed nursery system on the west coast and was a member of the Olympia Oyster Growers Association, now the Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers Association. In 1989 Chuck began a partnership with his father and brother to create Dahman's Shellfish Co. Inc. In 1995 he began a separate shellfish company called Clam Acres which he ran until 2010. He deeply loved working on the water, hunting, fishing, playing pool and watching westerns.

He loved his granddaughters and growing his vegetable garden every year. He was a shellfish farmer through and through. His dad used to say that "his blood pumped with the tide". Chuck was a past member of the Eagles, and past president of the Mason County Pool League.

Preceding him in death are his parents and brother, Donald A. Dahman, sister Susan Weber and two nieces. Surviving him are his wife Kelli Dahman, son Steven Dahman, his granddaughters Alexandrea, Rayanne, Morgan, and Amelia Dahman, and his great-grandson, Mitchell Tweed. He will be dearly missed.