Parents:
Valentin Vasseur
Matilda Michaud

Siblings:
Albert George (Dewey) Vasser
Suzanne B. Vassar
John Vassar
Francis Vasseur
Margaret Daisy Vassar

Married:
Bertha A. Norton

Children:
Verona Vassar (m. Harris)
Daughter Vassar (m. King)
Edgar Valentine Vassar

Obituary:

VASSAR -- Valentine Louis, aged 57 years, of 3223 Fairview Ave. N., beloved husband of Bertha; father of Mrs. Verona Harris, Mrs. Marion King and Edgar Vassar; brother of Mrs. Daisy Smith, Mrs. Sue Keeton, Albert and John Vassar. Also three grandchildren. Member of Security Benefit Association, United Brothehood of Carpenters, Joiners and Shipwrights, 1184. Services Thursday, 2 p.m. Bleitz Funeral Parlors, Interment Lake View.
(The Seattle Daily Times, February 11, 1941, Page 23)

Motorist Held in Hit-Run Death; 2 Week-End Fatalities
Traced by a license number obtained by witnesses, William F. Gerwig, 32 years old, a house painter, was held without charge in the city jail today, accused of being the hit-run driver whose automobile fatally injured Valentine L. Vassar, 57, a boatbuilder, about 1:15 o'clock yesterday morning in Eastlake Avenue near the University Bridge.
Traffic Investigator Charles C. Murphy, who obtained the number, waited at 14737 31st Ave. N.E., the address of the owner, and arrested Gerwig when he drove to his home a few hours after the accident. He said Gerwig readily admitted being the driver of the car which struck Vassar.
Gerwig told him, Murphy said, that he has had "no end of trouble, and this seemed to cap the climax." Gerwig said he was too frightened to stop.
Wife Describes Scene
Gerwig's wife, a passenger in the car, said her husband did stop at the scene of the accident, but drove on when he saw aid was being given to the victim.
"I'll admit that was a mistake." Mrs. Gerwig said. "He should have waited and given his name to authorities, but he was so upset he just drove on home. He got out of the car and saw the man was being taken care of, then went on. We had no idea the man was hurt seriously. He hit us, we didn't hit him. He walked right into our car."
In a long conference with Coroner Otto H. Mittelstadt and deputy Prosecutor John A. Needggaard today, Gerwig said he fled the scene in confusion because he believed his automobile had decapitated Vassar.
"He walked into the side, toward the rear, of my car," Gerwig, deeply moved, declared. "He was in a stumbling fall. I swerved so I would miss him, but he caught me in the back. He was stumbling with one hand stretched out.
"I was ten or twelve feet away when I first saw him. I never expected to see a pedestrian there. I was going between 25 and 30 miles an hour.
Mistake Admitted
"As I started to get out of my car, I saw a sedan run over him. I sort of lost my noggin there.
"I should have stayed there, but . . ."
Gerwig's voice broke and he stopped to compose himself. Continuing later, he said:
"I saw the man's hat and thought it was his head and thought it was off his body. I can't describe it. I was stunned."
Gerwig is the father of four small children.
Friends in Gerwig's car, both when he struck Vassar and when he arrived home, were not held, but were listed by Murphy as witnesses.
Gerwig was in jail before his victim was identified. Taken to Harborview County Hospital as "John Doe," Vassar died several hours later and his body was removed to the county morgue.
Identification was made yesterday afternoon by Vassar's son, Edgar, who became worried when his father failed to return to his home at 3223 Fairview Ave. N., during the night after leaving a note reading, "Gone to the drugstore for tobacco. Back soon. Dad."
Vassar's death, the tenth in Seattle this year from traffic accidents, was the second fatality during a week-end which saw injury to many other persons.
. . .
(The Seattle Daily Times, February 10, 1941, Page 5)

Vassar, Valentine Louis--3223 Fairview Ave. N., 57, February 9.
(The Seattle Daily Times, February 12, 1941, Page 23)

Inquest Jurors Visit Death Spot
At an "on-the-scene" inquest at the south end of the University Bridge, two witnesses told how three occupants of a car that struck and fatally injured Valentine L.Vassar, 57-year-old boat builder, last Sunday, fled from the scene of the accident.
The witnesses were E.R. Gardner, Jr., 929 18th Ave. N., and Miss Gale Nixon of Edmonds. Gardner told the jury he was driving south across the University Bridge, when he saw an object lying in the street. He said he drove around it and halted the car about 100 feet beyond it. He said as he was getting out of the car three men leaped from another car and started back to the injured man.
License Number Taken
"One of them said: 'He ran into the side of our car,'" Gardner said. He said the three then got in their car and drove away. Miss Nixon said at this point she told Gardner to get the license number of the car.
It was through this license number that Traffic Investigator C.C. Murphy went to the home of William F. Gerwig, 32 years old, a house painter, of 14737 31st Ave. N.E., and arrested him as the hit-run driver of the car that struck Vassar.
Passengers in Gerwig's car who were to testify at the inquest are:
Doris Metz, 927 W. 60th St.; Graham Moore, 1614 Fourth Ave., and Mrs. Gerwig, wife of the driver.
Pedestrian Walked Into Car
Murphy said he believed the pedestrian was in the crosswalk. He said marks on the machine indicated that Vassar walked into the side of the car. He said that none of the occupants of the car had been drinking. He also testified that on the night of the accident witnesses told him the pedestrian walked into the side of the car.
Gerwig, he said, told him that he went about 150 feet after the accident, before stopping his car and then became frightened and fled.
Victim's Vision Defective
Called from duty at Harborview County Hospital, where he is an interne, Dr. James E. Galbraith testified that Vassar had a defect of his right eye which obscured his vision.
The car which struck Vassar was approaching from his right. Questioned by the coroner, the interne told the jury that there was a "distinct" odor of alcohol on Vassar's breath when he was taken to the hospital.
J.K. Farrow, a friend of Vassar, testified he, Vassar, and another companion had been drinking wine together about two hours before the accident and had consumed most of a quart.
Glen McCall, a tavern operator, told the jury he had refused to sell Vassar liquor before the accident. He said he believed at that time Vassar already was affected by liquor.
(The Seattle Daily Times, February 14, 1941, Page 27)

VICTIM BLAMED IN AUTO DEATH
After an at-the-scene inquest, a coroner's jury yesterday afternoon found that Valentine Vassar, 57 years old, killed in a hig-run accident Sunday morning, was responsible for his own death. The jury's verdict read:
"Valentine Vassar came to his death by reason of his own negligence in crossing a busy street while under the influence of liquor and walking in an erratic manner.
We, the jury, believe William Gorwig, driver of the car which struck Valentine Vassar, is to be censured for leaving the scene of the accident and failing ot render aid and assistance."
Gerwig, 32 years old, driver of a car that fatally injured Vassar at the south end of the University Bridge Sunday morning, testified at the inquest that he left the accident scene without rendering aid or identifying himself because he wanted to "spare my wife the shock of the ordeal."
Vassar, a boatbuilder, died at Harborview County Hospital a short time after the accident. Questioned by Coroner Otto H. Mittelstadt, Gerwig said he was unnerved when he "saw a car run over the body."
"I didn't want my wife to see a thing like that," Gerwig said. "I wanted to get her home first. I thought I had twenty-four hours to report it."
(The Seattle Daily Times, February 15, 1941, Page 3)