Elmer Gunnette - Honorary Member 1988, SEAW Seattle President 1953, SEAW President 1950. March 31, 1912 - November 26, 1999

Born in Spokane, Elmer E. Gunnette received his Naval Architect Certificate from the University of Washington. He spent his entire career with the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) as a structural engineer, where he proved a valued resource to his colleagues when they had questions about structural steel. He retired from AISC in 1977.

As the founding President of SEAW, he begins his 1958 History of the Association with these lines:

"The Structural Engineers Association actually began at 11:55 a.m. April 13, 1949. Its beginning was noted by every individual in the Pacific Northwest area, and the very earth trembled for that auspicious occasion. I do not say that the beginning of the Association caused the turmoil of that day. Actually, it was just the opposite. The turmoil caused the beginning of the Structural Engineers Association. That turmoil has come to be known as the 1949 Seattle earthquake."

Immediately after the quake, Elmer and five other structural engineers met and discussed the fact that Seattle needed an organized list of engineers available to help determine structural damage to downtown buildings. Three weeks later they formed the "Seattle Earthquake Study Group."

Elmer Gunnette, Homer Hadley, and Cecil Arnold signed the Structural Engineers Association of Washington Articles of Incorporation on April 20, 1950. An April 22 newspaper article heralded "Structural Engineers Incorporate."

Posted April 2012. Source: Equilibrium March 1990

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