Powers helped start ROOTS Young Adult Shelter and worked on housing-related issues with United Way of King County
Housing advocates, friends and Seattle City Council members used the same words to describe Neil Powers.
Kind. Gentle. Dedicated.
But there was more. Powers was quietly but fiercely committed to helping the less fortunate. “He was Peter’s pit bull with a ponytail,” said Stephanie Pure, who worked alongside Powers in former councilmember Peter Steinbrueck’s office.
Powers could be “stubborn as hell” about his beliefs, said Steinbrueck at an Oct. 6 memorial service for his aide and friend who died after a brief illness in Toronto on Sept. 11. ...