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From Double D Meats FB post:
The Man, the Myth, the Double DD Meats Legend. If you shopped at Double DD Meats between 1958 and 2014, you (or your parents, or your grandparents) might have been helped by the store's owner, Lester Palaniuk. He went to heaven on Father's Day this year and words can't describe how much we will all miss him.
He was the owner of Double DD Meats from 1961 before selling the business to his daughter, Kim, in 2014. That's 53 years of cutting steaks for his family and his community.Lester Palaniuk, 85, passed peacefully on June 21, 2026, surrounded by family in Stanwood, Washington.
Lester was born on April 13, 1941, to Nick and Polly Palahniuk in Elmira, Idaho, as the youngest of 18 children. In 1959, he married Barbara Dallman and together had their son, Lester Palaniuk Jr. They moved to Mountlake Terrace, Washington, where he started working at Double DD Meats as a clean-up kid. Lester later began additionally working for Florence Pack in Stanwood where he met and was remarried to his second wife, Bonnie Stensaa, in 1965. Together they had children Kurt, Kim, Kevin, and Kelsey.
For the next five decades, he took over Double DD Meats and worked alongside most of his kids and his wife Bonnie, who stocked shelves on the weekends. On his time off from the family business, he enjoyed fishing, camping, and mowing his lawn. He was known for his quick wit, his ability to carry a quarter of beef over his shoulder like it was nothing, and his unwavering devotion to his family.
He is survived by his 5 children, 13 grandchildren, and 4 great grandchildren. We already miss you, Grandpa!
