Myles Wayne Dahmer

Myles Wayne "Mike" Dahmer passed away on March 16, 2025, at the age of 89. He was born on February 10, 1936, in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, to John and Ida (Pinnecker) Dahmer.

Mike was preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Mary Dahmer, in 2009; his brother, Conlon Dahmer; and his stepson, Adam Cowan, in 1997. He is survived by his sister, Karen Dahmer of Wisconsin; his two sons, Douglas Dahmer and his wife, Kathleen, and Michael Dahmer and his two children, all of California. He also leaves behind his stepdaughter, Patricia (Patsy) Hauser of Port Angeles, as well as step-grandchildren Matt Garrett and his wife, Darcy, and their two sons, Given and Holden of Bothell, and Lory Garrett of Port Angeles.

As a child, Mike enjoyed going to baseball games with his father, always looking forward to getting ice cream. He had a strong work ethic from an early age, earning money by picking cherries, mowing lawns, and shoveling snow. He loved fishing and riding his bike everywhere. In high school, he excelled in shop and printmaking, even winning an award for a program pamphlet he designed and printed.

On February 13, 1952, Mike enlisted in the U.S. Navy, where he was accepted into the elite Underwater Demolition Team (UDT) and later the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit. His service took him to Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, and even North Korea, where he worked as an EOD instructor as part of the Paris Peace Treaty. Mike completed two tours in Vietnam, working alongside specially trained Vietnamese personnel to locate and disarm explosives. Over the course of his distinguished career, he served with Navy SEALs, Marines, Green Berets, and the CIA on various missions. One of the most notable was Project Azorian, a top-secret CIA operation to salvage a nuclear-armed Soviet submarine that had sunk off the coast of Hawaii. Also known as The Jennifer Project, this mission saw Mike as one of the first divers to enter the recovered submarine.

After 28 years of service, Mike retired from the Navy and settled in Quilcene in 1979, where he started his own construction business. For the next 30 years, he built decks, gazebos, and completed remodeling projects throughout the Olympic Peninsula. He and his wife, Mary Jean, were well known in the community and often spent time with friends and neighbors at the Whistling Oyster Tavern in Quilcene, where he enjoyed sharing stories from his adventures around the world.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Mike’s memory may be made to the Wounded Warrior Project at the following link: https://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/