Seward Bart Kip Bartley

Seward Kip Bartley, better known as Bart or Bartley, was born in Tannersville, New York, in the Catskill Mountains on July 7, 1939. Towards the end of World War II his family relocated to Albany, New York. In 1949 his family put down roots in Haines Falls, New York, where Seward’s father built a family home. At Hunter-Tannersville Central School, he was known best as a scholar but also played the saxophone, was the top sprinter on the track team, and could tear it up on the dance floor. Seward graduated from high school in 1957, 3rd in his class. He then pursued his love of literature and writing at Union College in Schenectady, New York. After earning his BA in English from Union, he went to graduate school at University of Florida in Gainesville where he earned his Masters in English.

Seward then joined the Air Force, where he started as a First Lieutenant. During his seven years of military service, he was awarded a Bronze Star for his involvement in the Tet Offensive and reached the rank of Captain. Besides being stationed in Da Nang, Vietnam, as an Information Officer, he was also stationed in Turkey and the United Kingdom. He was one of the privileged few to be taken on a tour of East Berlin, traveling through Checkpoint Charlie. During his military career he visited many places including Israel, India, Greece, and France. After his time overseas, he was stationed in Wichita, Kansas, where he manned the Titan II Missiles doing shifts of 36 hours below ground, and then 36 hours above ground. At this point he was honorably discharged, and truly started to pursue his love of writing.

He started his writing career on the news desk at the Wichita Eagle Newspaper. After growing up in the cold winters of upstate New York, he quickly realized he wanted to live someplace warm, so he packed up and moved to California. In June of 1971, he landed a job in Hollister, California, at the Hollister Evening Freelance Newspaper where he was the Sports Editor, a photographer and later ran the city desk. In his role as journalist he met Former President Richard Nixon, Former President Gerald Ford, Former President Jimmy Carter, Former first lady Betty Ford, Senator Ted Kennedy, Ansel Adams, Clint Eastwood, Bing Crosby, Carrie Fisher, and many other political officials and celebrities. Soon after moving to Hollister, he met Susan Biermann at the San Benito County Fair. In July of 1972 they married. Together they had three daughters, Patricia, Vanessa and Rebecca.

In 1982 Seward and his family began a transition phase, first relocating to Coalinga, California, where he took a job on the Coalinga Courier Newspaper and then moving to Sanger, California, where he was Editor of the Sanger Herald Newspaper. In 1984, the family made one last big move to Portland, Oregon, where his family settled down for good. The first few years in Portland where tough, but Seward worked hard to provide for his family and made many sacrifices to make sure his daughters thrived. He worked at the family liquor store in NW Portland, the IRS, and the Barbur YMCA. Looking for long term career stability he took a job as a temporary employee for the US Postal Service. After working tirelessly for a few years, he became a permanent employee as a mail handler where he held the record for overtime worked. In 2002, he retired from the US Postal Service and focused on his true passion - his family. He was very active in his daughters’ lives, stepping in and helping where he could including babysitting his grandchildren who affectionately called him Papa.

He will be remembered for loving his family above all else, being someone who always made others feel like their lives were as important as his own, remembering the smallest detail, being outgoing and friendly to everyone, always having a scheme to improve his family’s life, meddling in his daughters’ lives, and being king of the garage sale.

On April 7, 2011 Seward passed away unexpectedly. He was predeceased by his parents Seward and Ruth Bartley and his sister Patricia Addesso. He is survived by his daughters, Patricia Gaughen (Michael), Vanessa Oquist (Edward) and Rebecca Ayers (Michael); his grandchildren, Julia Ayers, Jessica Ayers, Lily Oquist and Dylan Gaughen; his sister Sondra Hull and his former wife and friend, Susan Bartley. In his memory, donations may be made to Oregon Food Bank.