Michael Christopher Wellings

 Michael Christopher Wellings, 57, of Kirkland, Wash., died Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008, and joined his father in the great beyond.Michael was born on April 29, 1951, in Cirencester, England, the child of Don and Martha Wellings. He was the second of three children to the couple, who met in England while on tour with the U.S. military during World War II. The family moved to the United States when Mike was 2. Due to his father's career in the U.S. Air Force, Mike grew up in Virginia, Hawaii and Anchorage, where he graduated from West Anchorage High School in 1969. Following high school graduation, Mike attended the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where he graduated in 1973 with a bachelor of science degree in physics.During college, he met his wife of 29 years, Susan Petersen. They had three children, David, Mary and Amie.Mike was an engineer, showing proficiency and intuition with all things mechanical and electrical from an early age. After school, he parlayed this gift into a career as a broadcast engineer and entrepreneur. He started a radio station, KAYY, in Fairbanks and later founded a consulting firm, Theta Scientific, with business partner Mark Espe. His work led Mike and his family to Bellevue, Wash., in 1988. He eventually left the consulting business and went to work for the University of Washington, where he remained for the past 13 years and eventually attained the position of director of broadcast engineering. During his career, he became a visionary and pioneer in the field of HDTV, particularly with relation to the broadcast of high definition video through the Internet. Few people understood the more complex technical aspects of his work, but he made it his mission to share his knowledge as broadly as possible, patiently explaining obscure concepts and demonstrating those concepts in ways everyone could relate to. Many more people than will ever realize will share in the results of his hard work and innovation.However, he was not only an engineer. He was also a dedicated father, loving son, talented musician, gifted artist and a man with an unshakable faith in God. He played guitar and sang in church, first at St. Mark's in Fairbanks and then for 20 years at Sacred Heart Church in Bellevue. He said his faith grew out of his physics studies during college. The more he learned about the beauty and complexity of the universe, the more he could not imagine it without a divine creator.He lived the values he believed in. He had a strong belief in the importance of family and human connections, shown through the efforts he made in connecting with his family whether it was his local, immediate family or his relatives across the country.He spent the last four years in the company of his partner, Jan Eveleth. They shared many loves and many adventures.

Mike was, even in the final moments of his life, a role model and source of inspiration for all who knew him. He was a thinker, opinionated, intelligent, confident in his choices, goofy when he wanted to be and serious when the time called, a source of strength and wisdom to many.

His three children, David, Mary and Amie as well as his mother, Martha, older sister, Kathy and younger brother, Jim, survive him.

His father, Donald Wellings, preceded him in death.

Donations may be made in his name to the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, P.O. Box 19023, Seattle, WA 98109.

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