Steven and Mina Shulz

Steven and Mina Shulz were taken from us suddenly and tragically on Thursday, August 18, 2022. Both were 51 at the time of their passing and were enjoying a golden time in their lives in their home in Olalla, Washington.

Steven was born to Pete and Heidi Shulz in Germany and later moved to Clinton, Utah where he was raised before enlisting in the US Air Force immediately after graduating high school. He was stationed on Yokota Air Base in Japan, where he met Mina Saito. They hit it off immediately and after a few years, married on May 1, 1993. They lived in Edmonds, California where they raised a rabbit, “Kuro” and an iguana lovingly called “Mo-chan” while Mina carried a future daughter. After returning to Yokota Air Base they gave birth to Alicia Shulz on December 8, 1997.

After being honorably discharged from the US Air Force, Steven had dreams of starting a computer business with Richard Torgeson in Washington and moved to Gig Harbor in 2001. Due to 9/11, they were unable to follow through with their dreams. Over the next few years, Steven dabbled in many different fields, including real estate, credit, and other small business ideas. Mina strongly urged him to re-enlist, and he joined the Air National Guard in 2008 where he enjoyed an amazing career surrounded by amazing people until retiring as a Chief Master Sergeant in 2018.

Mina Saito was born to Takehisa and Setsuko Saito in Japan where she was raised loving the sea and rock concerts. She enjoyed a multitude of different job fields until she met Steven in a club and bonded over 80’s rock and entered a courtship, visiting him in America and eventually getting engaged and married. They lovingly talked and laughed about how “dirt poor” they were in their younger days and how much fun they had figuring life out. After moving to Washington, Mina focused on raising Alicia while enjoying art classes at TCC, where she created many beautiful works. She and Alicia would visit Japan every year to reconnect with friends and family and many wonderful memories were made over those visits.

Starting around 2014 or 2015, Steven and Mina started enjoying 7 Sea’s craft beer where they met a wonderful group of friends nicknamed the “brew crew” where they experimented in brewing their own beer. Steven tried it first and after a couple of okay attempts, Mina gave it a try and found her true calling. Since then, they have focused on brewing their own beer, slowly increasing their equipment and knowledge of brewing. They eventually decided to make a name for themselves and after many different ideas, settled on “East 2 West Brewing” to signify Mina from the East and Steven from the West. Since then, they started putting their beer on tap at local restaurants and entered beer fests throughout Western Washington. Their lines were always the longest at the beer fests. In 2021, their flagship beer, Shogun IPA, took 1st place and their Watermelon Ale took 2nd place. In 2022 their Strawberry Ale won 1st place and once again they had the longest line by far and many people raved over their beer. People would always assume Steven was the brewer, but anyone who knew them knew that Mina was the real mastermind behind the beer and her approach shook the male dominated field.

In the last few years of their lives together they truly had a wonderful time brewing beer, drinking beer, playing with their fat cats Milo, Otis, Smokey, and Blackey, and making lasting memories with friends and the community. They had just gotten their permit to open their dream brewery 3 weeks prior to their passing, something they had been working hard on over the past few years.

A Memorial and funeral will be held on Sunday, August 28th at 12:00 pm at the Haven of Rest and anyone who knew them is welcome to come. A celebration of life will be held after the funeral at their brewery, East 2 West where their beer will be poured one last time for anyone who would like to enjoy something that you can taste the love and dedication in. Please bring some food and fun stories to share. A preorder for East 2 West t-shirts will be available at the celebration for anyone who would like to have lasting memories of them and would like to support the family.

Please Note: Media is NOT welcome to the funeral, please give family and friends the right to grieve in peace.

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