July 3, 2024

All Aboard Washington regrets to announce that AAWA's former executive director, Lloyd Flem, passed last evening. His family asks for no calls.

The funeral service is set for 10 am on July 15 at Funeral Alternatives of Washington, 455 North Street Southeast, Tumwater, WA 98501.

Tributes to Lloyd Flem

Luis Moscoso

It is with deep regret and sadness that I announce the passing of Lloyd Flem, Executive Director Emeritus of All Aboard Washington.

He was my friend and mentor these past 11 years. Lloyd’s longtime influence in Olympia has been key to giving AAWA, the only nonprofit representatives of intercity rail passengers in Washington State, a voice in the discussion of our state’s rail planning process.

Brendan Read

Please pass on my condolences to Lloyd's family and loved ones on behalf of myself and Transport Action Canada. It was an honor to have known and worked with Lloyd for over the decades on both sides of the border. That we are able to cross the border on a train and travel through the U.S is a testament to his efforts, leadership, and yes persistence and determination in his cool, calm, affable demeanor.

Photoguy Jason

I remember when I interviewed Lloyd for a KELA Evergreen Journal years ago in studio and got to spend a bit mote time with him on Operation Lifesaver trains here in Centralia.

Erik Griswold

Thank you for sharing this sad news. AAWA and before that WashARP owe so much of its existence to Lloyd H Flem.

Praise and Push.

Aorta - Association of Oregon Rail and Transit Advocates  ·

Lloyd also helped represent Aorta - Association of Oregon Rail and Transit Advocates in the Oregon Legislature. He will be missed …

Jeff Schultz

Lloyd H Flem was one of those rare people who was friendly, authentic, focused, and generous. He was gracious and provided solid information for me to apply in a variety of situations. We trusted each other and shared the goal of improving rail passenger service in Washington. I will miss him. It's our job to continue this quest and see Amtrak Cascades reach it's full potential.

Mary Kay Pemerl Nelson

I remember his love for trains when he worked with us in Lewis County. May he RiP.

Tim Gillespie

Sorry to hear about Lloyd, he was a great guy!

Kathleen Wallace

Lloyd, charming man, loved so much he did to advocate for rail travel.

Sylvia Getzendanner

Thank you for honoring my dad. He loved his years with AAW!

Loren Herrigstad

As someone who met him soon after he arrived at WashARP, now All Aboard Washington, and worked closely with him for decades as both a colleague and close friend, I don't quite know where to begin or go with regards to Lloyd.

I was expecting to have another phone chat with him this month, and expected to see him and introduce him to my wife, Monet, in person before too long, as we have both talked with him by phone several times since I have been in the Philippines.

Now, instead, he will just have to look down and see us . . . until we join him ourselves when it is our time.

Lloyd and I have gone so many places, met so many politicians and others, and done so much over the years and decades. I can only pray all of it has made a difference for rail, and for the people of Washington State and the Pacific Northwest that he wanted to see and worked so hard for, for so long.

Having fully expected to talk with and see him again, it will take me a while to process his passing.

Live well, Lloyd, on the Other Side . . . and maybe take up the violin, as you've repeatedly told me you wanted to in another life. Now would seem like a good opportunity to take up both new things and interests postponed.

Take care, my friend, and thank you.

Loren Herrigstad
former board member and past president

Chuck Mott

December 14, 2019

Today I celebrate Lloyd Flem’s 35 years of faithful, tireless and exemplary service, as
Executive Director, ALL ABOARD WASHINGTON. It was my privilege, as President, to
hire Lloyd Flem, with then the Washington Association of Railroad Passengers
(WashARP), in Board Member Tom Martin’s home, December, 1985. I doubt there is
anyone here today, other than perhaps Rocky Shay, and of course, Lloyd, who were
at that board meeting, to witness one of the best decisions our fledgling passenger
rail advocacy organization made, in those halcyon days; which was to hire Lloyd as
our full time Executive Director. No other state rail passenger advocacy organizations
had an executive director. But to expand state transportation interests to include
passenger trains services, we needed a gavel-to-gavel, presence in Olympia,
because this was where the power and money resided.

Lloyd was the man! He had the credentials having served as Executive Director,
Washington State Farmers Market Association. He lived in Olympia and we could
afford him – which wasn’t a whole lot of money at that time. In those early years, he
supplemented his income working at his one acre organic vegetable garden,
supplying local restaurants with garden fresh vegetables in the morning and putting
on a suit and working the legislative halls in the afternoon, advocating state
supported rail passenger train services. His first job was to get the State and Amtrak
to return passenger train service, between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C., to serve the
1986 World’s Fair. We didn’t get our Vancouver, B.C. train, but Lloyd had already
drawn favorable attention to our organization and mission, which was to bring more
passenger trains to Washington State. It would be a steep grade ahead but he had
already established a rail passenger advocacy presence in Olympia!

So what were some other reasons why we needed Lloyd in Olympia? Before I answer
this important question, let me briefly digress. It was nearly fifty years ago Congress
passed legislation, creating Amtrak, a new government corporation, tasked to
remove the nation’s freight railroads from their public need and necessity obligations,
operating their dwindling number of money losing intercity passenger trains.
However, the folks in the Nixon Administration, and most legislators, saw Amtrak as
the designated undertaker, tasked to mercifully handle the demise and burial of the
remaining passenger trains, leaving only fading memories of a bygone golden era.
But the American passenger trains refused to die! Amtrak began refurbishing badly
worn passenger train rolling stock, inherited from the freight railroads, and putting
them back into service. As a result, more people began riding passenger trains again.
Following the 1973 fuel shortage crisis, Congress decided maybe we needed
passenger trains after all. So beginning in the mid- 1970’s and into the early 1980’s,
they funded the purchase of new passenger train equipment. Ridership rose and new
intercity passenger train routes were added. Some of the states, such as California,
Illinois and some Eastern States, were now looking into setting up state supported
regional passenger train services, to supplement Amtrak’s scanty intercity passenger
train network. But Washington State was then not one of them. Our then Washington
State Highway Department had only one employee doing railroad work. He was Jim
Jackson, whose half time job was to keep track of all rail line track abandonments
occurring in Washington State, resulting from the passage of the 1980 Staggers Act,
which deregulated the railroads and allowed them to abandoned unwanted tracks.
Lloyd’s mission was clear. The “state highway only” culture in Olympia needed to
change, but it wouldn’t be easy. There was a legislative proposal to consider running
a passenger train to Vancouver, B.C, but the proposal was derisively considered
during a Transportation Committee hearing. Fortunately, a couple or three
courageous legislators hung in there and were able to get a study approved and
funded. The conclusion was that trains were nice, but not many people would ride
them and, besides, they would be too costly. However, “More studies would be
useful”.

The strategy for success was simple and straightforward. It was to be bi-partisan,
work equally well with both sides of the aisle and recognize the importance of a
“Praise and Push” agenda, a phrase Lloyd himself coined, that describes his success
in working with elected legislators and transportation decision makers. He worked
tirelessly in support of legislation to support the creation of the Rail Development
Commission. When it was determined the Commission would address regional, transit
and freight railroads, but not intercity passenger trains, thanks to then revered
Seattle Council President and WashARP member George Benson, Lloyd and I were
asked to give a “short course” to the RDC on intercity passenger trains. We did so
and intercity passenger rail was added to the work plan.
The old State Highway Department became the Washington State Department of
Transportation (WSDOT). A Rail Division was established and it was blessed with a
very capable, competent and dedicated management team that included Jim Slakey,
Jim Toohey, Ken Uznaski, Ray Allred, Jeff Schulz and others. Lloyd met regularly with
these men and other members of WSDOT, and key rail passenger proponent
legislators in the early years, such as Senator Jeanette Wood, Representative George
Walk and the late rail transit and leading legislative passenger rail advocate,
Representative Ruth Fisher. Lloyd and I will never forget our journey over the
“Bridge,” between the WSDOT Building and the House Office Building, to meet with
Representative Ruth Fisher, to discuss our concerns the WSDOT’s rail passenger
program was not on track! The chain smoking, fiery Representative listened to us for
about 30 seconds and then said she had heard enough! She slapped her hands hard
on her desk and said she would take our concerns from there. And indeed she did!
Right after we left she had a meeting with WSDOT officials that very afternoon! We
know because we heard about it the very next day, when Lloyd was greeted by
some very red faced folks! But good changes came quickly. Gil Mallory was brought
in to spearhead the fledgling, developing state rail office. His contributions to the
state rail passenger program and later, Amtrak, are now legendary!

Lloyd was a key person in the development of the Olympia/Lacey Centennial Station.
He served as the Amtrak Depot Committee’s secretary and liaison with WSDOT,
Amtrak and BNSF Railway. This extraordinary privately funded grass roots passenger
train station building project, under the leadership of the late Maurice “Buck” Harmon,
along with strong commitments from WashARP members George Barner and Rich
DeGarmo, all made it happen. In 1993, Lloyd’s efforts resulted in a very special, quite
unique and happy reward! Immediately prior to the opening of the Olympia/Lacey
Centennial Station, the temporary wooden boards covering the windows were
removed, the station’s night lighting was turned on for the first time and the doors
were opened, also for first time use, to host Lloyd and Darleen Flem’s wedding!
Following their nuptial ceremony, with loud cheers, exclaimed well wishes and
vigorous hand clapping coming from happy wedding guests, including yours truly,
Lloyd and Darleen boarded an Amtrak train at the station to go on their honeymoon.
Perhaps the crowning achievement of Lloyd’s long, industrious and eventful career
was his important role in bringing modern passenger trains to the Amtrak Cascades
Rail Passenger Train Corridor. Thanks to the efforts of the late Hal Cooper, Jr., PhD;
who was able to convince ABB, a Swiss-Swedish manufacturer of high-end, high-tech
tilting X-2000 passenger trains, to bring their train, then touring in America, out to
Washington State. I personally hosted ABB Traction Inc’s, Joe Sillien, VP Business
Development, to meet with state legislators and WSDOT officials and talk to them
about the advantages operating this mechanically tilting passenger train on the curvy
tracks in the Pacific Northwest. On very short notice, Lloyd was able to persuade the
chairpersons of both the Senate and House Transportation Committees, then
currently meeting in session, to show a 20 minute video of the X-2000 train
operating in Sweden and invite Mr. Sillien to explain the many features and merits this
train could bring to Washington intercity passenger service. Subsequently, the State
Legislature approved legislation, authorizing the WSDOT to issue a request for a
quotation, for the purchase of a new tilting passenger trainset. Both ABB and Talgo,
Inc. bid on the trains, with Talgo getting the winning bid. That was the beginning of
Washington State’s participation, along with the State of Oregon, in the development
of the very successful Amtrak Cascade Corridor, now providing multiple daily
passenger train services between Vancouver, B.C. and Eugene, OR and serving
Seattle and Portland in between. Subsequently, Lloyd worked with Bob Bregent,
manager of the Centennial Station Project, and Secretary of State, Ralph Munro, to
help bring the Spanish built Talgo to Washington State. Mr. Munro was also
instrumental in inviting, then Spanish Crown Prince Philip VI, now the King of Spain, to
Washington State, to thank state officials, and also Lloyd and myself, for buying the
Spanish-built train and bringing it here.

In conclusion, I suppose a book could be written describing Lloyd Flem’s unfailing,
loyal and exemplary efforts devoted to the Washington Association of Railroad
Passengers, now All Aboard Washington’s mission, which was successfully supporting,
growing and thriving rail passenger train services in Washington. Lloyd would very
modestly credit so much of his success to many other people who helped
contributed to his efforts. But in reality, he was the one who inspired, pushed and
directed the efforts to get things done! Some of those people included his wonderful
and very supportive wife, Darleen, the late Jim Hamre and Zack Willhoite (who were
both killed in that horrible December 18, 2017 DuPont passenger train accident), Loren
Herrigstad, Bob Lawrence, Bruce Agnew and myself – as his boss and colleague for
23 years. Other people, who helped in Lloyd’s success, in addition to people already
reference herein, include the late Hans Mueller, State Senators Pat Patterson, Mary
Margaret Haugen and Dan Swecker. Also, the late Representative, Al Swift, former
Leavenworth Mayor Rob Eaton, who is now with Amtrak, Mark Foutch, Olympia Mayor
and former WSDOT Secretaries Sid Morrison and Paula Hammond. Other folks, who
Lloyd worked closely with, include railroad painting illustrator, J. Craig Thorpe, and
Tony Trifiletti, Past President AAWA, BNSF, rail labor, Amtrak, WSDOT and Talgo.
Now nearing retirement, Lloyd Flem works with AAWA President, Harvey Bowen; John
Carlin, Treasurer; Rocky Shay, Secretary; Robert Lawrence, Membership; Patrick
Carnahan, Newsletter Editor, Charles Hamilton, Communications Director, and Warren
Yee, E –Newsletter. Lloyd will pass his mantle on to Government Affairs Director, Luis
Moscoso. We wish Luis great success as he now carries on the work into the future,
that Lloyd so ably accomplished in the past!

Lloyd’s achievements have been widely recognized over many years with receipt of
numerous awards and accolades from numerous public, civic and private
organizations and corporations. Among them was the national Rail Passenger
Association’s prestigious John R. Martin Award, personally awarded to Lloyd in
Washington, D.C. May 1, 2007, in national recognition for his stellar work in promoting
passenger train travel. BNSF Railway’s, D. J. Mitchell, VP Passenger Rail Operations, has
stated Lloyd’s work, in cooperation with his company operations in Washington State,
is the best in the country!

It has been my great pleasure, special privilege and distinct honor to work with Lloyd
Flem, as All Aboard Washington’s President and Chairman, December, 1985 to
November, 2008 and to be a close personal friend, as well.
I propose a toast to Lloyd Flem and his wonderful wife, Darleen, for their many
happy, healthful and fulfilling years as they move toward well-deserved retirement.

Bon Voyage!

Chuck Mott
Past President/Chairman, All Aboard Washington
Past Director, Rail Passengers Association.
President, All Aboard Arizona