Judging from the comments of his daughter, Bothell’s Kathy Ellis, her father David Powell didn’t exactly fit what people might think of as the mold for a retiree.

After stepping down as an engineer at Boeing, Powell continued to enjoy skiing. At one point, he had taken a trip to Switzerland just to test the hillsides there.

He also tested a few other local “hills,” though in a different way, climbing Mt. Rainier twice and Mt. St. Helen’s once.

Still, Powell had a passion for his family, as well.

“He loved, absolutely loved, to spend time with his grandkids,” Ellis said. “He was a great father and a great grandfather.”

Two years ago this month, Powell died of brain cancer at 76. Last year, in his memory, Ellis, her two daughters, sister and niece took part in the annual Seattle Brain Cancer Walk. With at least one or two additions, “Grandpa’s Gang” will be at it again this year when the event takes place 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. May 30 at Mercer Island High.

For this year’s walk, Ellis said her mom, Mary, 77, is going to try a few laps around the track.

“Mom is going to walk at her own pace, but she is going to walk,” Ellis said.

According to event spokesperson Camille Carette, 100 percent of the proceeds from the walk go to support the Center for Advanced Brain Tumor Treatment at the Swedish Neuroscience Institute. Last year’s event attracted 550 participants and raised $120,000. The goal this year is $200,000.

“It just made me feel good to do something in my dad’s memory,” Ellis said. She added it was a Sunday in December 2006 when her dad noticed his hand felt funny. Then his mouth went numb. In what can only be said to be a sad note, he spent what would be his last Christmas dealing with doctors who told him he had five to seven months to live. Even after undergoing an aggressive round of chemotherapy, Powell died six months later.

“He went pretty fast, we were all very surprised and very sad,” Ellis said. “One day he was fine, the next day he was using a walker and the next he was in a wheelchair.”

One seemingly favorite memory Ellis has of her father is the time he spent working with her son on building their own boat.

Then still a youngster, Jeff Ellis once announced he wanted to build a boat and his grandfather assumed he meant a model boat, like one in a bottle. Not so, but no matter apparently. The small craft with the big sail that the two worked on for a couple of years still sits at the Ellis home.

Jeff Ellis and his grandfather also took pilot lessons together, which led directly to the grandson’s current job as a flight instructor.

According to information provided by Carette, about 200,000 Americans are diagnosed with a brain tumor every year. Some growths are primary tumors, growing uniquely in the brain, while others represent cancers that started elsewhere and spread to the brain. In any case, Carette said brain cancer is the most malignant cancer known. Most patients have a life expectancy of about two years. All in all, about 22,000 people yearly will be told the tumor in their head is terminal. About 1,200 of those live in the Northwest.

For whatever reason, progress toward a cure seems slow. Carette said brain-cancer rates have not changed much in about 100 years. Only two new treatments for brain tumors have been approved in the last 25 years.

The last day to sign up to participate in the Seattle walk is May 22. For more information or to make a donation, visit the event Web site at www.braincancerwalk.org.

To help out Ellis and the rest of “Grandpa’s Gang,” go to the walk Web site, follow the donation links and finally search for the team by name.