Although Tanner was born in Spokane, his family moved to Arlington when he was 6.  His father and mother both were with Sears.  They opened a Sears Catalog store initially at the Smokey Point Shopping Center but it later moved to a location near Safeway in Smokey Point.  His mother was also an area Sears representative in northwest Washington State.  After the catalog store closed, his father became a stay at home dad and coach. 

 

His father, who he described as his mentor, died of Melanoma before Tanner graduated from high school.  Because it was initially misdiagnosed, it led Tanner to initially lean towards becoming a medical doctor and he has been active in promoting skin protection and early detection. His father also instilled in Tanner a love for sports.  While at Arlington High School his sophomore project was teaching golf, he played football and golf (after a football injury), and took sports medicine classes.

 

 

After graduating from Arlington High School in 2010, Tanner attended Eastern Washington University.  It allowed him to spend more time with his grandmother who was still living on the family farm in the Spokane area.  After he decided chemistry wasn't his friend, he changed from pre-med to pre-law/government.  He toyed with playing football.  Eastern was the national champion in its division in 2010, but turned to rugby instead.  

 

While at Eastern, Tanner worked for a family member's  landscaping firm and for the City of Spokane's Riverside Park during Bloomsday and Hoopfest.  He also did an internship with the Washington State Senate.  He was influenced one of his intern friends to check out Michigan State College of Law.  He visited there and fell in love with the Michigan State University campus.  The College of Law at the time was private but affiliated with MSU. Of course Tanner loved a school with a major college football program.  When College Game Day came to the campus it gave Tanner an opportunity to meet the celebrities.  Here he is pictured with Kirk Herbstreit:

 

 

Tanner also participated in the Croatia-Intellectual Property Law Institute summer program abroad before graduating from law school.  He spent time immediately after graduation taking bar refresher classes specific to Washington State.  He passed the bar exam the first time he took it and then went to work for the Tacoma law firm of Dickson Frohlich.  His practice areas with that firm were property law, estate planning, probate and contract law.

 

Tanner wanted to come back to the Arlington area to practice and toyed with going into the Bailey, Duskin & Peiffle firm to talk with them.  As it turned out his mother, Tammy Olson, told Bryce Duskin of Tanner's desire and Bryce called Steve Peiffle and told him about Tanner.  Tanner and Steve connected and now he is an associate with the firm.  His practice areas are essentially the same as with the larger firm.  

 

In his personal life, Tanner married Maggie this past March.  They had meet before but hadn't dated through school.  By chance they re-met and started dating, resulting in an engagement and eventual marriage.  They have acquired a couple of dogs--Yeti and Denali. They both look forward to getting involved in the community.