Anthony David Ickes

attack while at his favorite place in the world, the wilderness of Ontario, Canada.

Tony’s spiritual home was this small wooded island that he, his brother, Peter and his sister,

Alison (Dalton), inherited from their parents. Tony was taken to the island as a 3 month

old and continued to go there every year, summers and winters for his entire life.

Spending as much time as he possibly could at his family’s island and his father’s boys

camp, it was there that Tony’s curiosity, ingenuity and sense of self were honed to a fine

point. He died there October 15 in the place most dear to him with the those most dear to

him, his wife, Susan Holland, and their basset hound, Ernie.

Growing up in Winnetka, IL, Tony had the ability and curiosity to fix or tweak most

anything, starting with his first car at age 7 ~ a gas driven child-sized model-T he drove

through the neighborhood wearing a top hat. His mechanical and fix-it abilities came

honestly from his father and his own love of discovery. By the age of 8 Tony was

figuring out electrical circuitry. The first house he built was a 2-room club house/fort

with a veranda on the side. Five or six friends could fit inside with admission being a bag

of malted milk balls. By age 14, Tony had become a constant presence at the local

hardware store. Since he was already directing other customers to the correct bin of nails

or screws, the owner hired him and employed him throughout high school. Summers

were spent in Ontario working for his father's camp; meeting supply and mail trains,

fixing outboard motors, and learning carpentry skills by fixing cabins and docks. After

graduation he took off in his VW bus for an adventurous trip to Alaska. It was during this

trip he developed his love for driving the smallest roads on the map. Tony never lost the

love of following those roads.

In 1973 Tony came to Bellingham to attend WWU and naturally gravitated to Fairhaven

College. He became a roadie for a belly dancing troop, a juggler and fire swallower, bus

driver and college audio/visual guru. Needing to earn a living he launched his building

business, Icarus Construction. Together with his faithful and skilled crews he built and

remodeled many houses throughout Whatcom County.

Tony was a much loved husband, father, brother, brother-in-law, uncle, proud member of

the BBBBC book club (and their spark plug), and friend to many. He met his wife Susan

after she saw his picture and wrote him saying he was “quite possibly the most attractive

man” she had ever seen. After marriage, Tony and Susan’s lives oriented around the 49th

parallel border with Canada as they traveled between Bellingham, Washington, Tony’s

Ontario Island, and the state of Maine where their sons, Jamin Brown and Will Brown

live.

Tony was also an avid and excellent skier. He went on several heli-skiing adventures

with his brother-in-law, Matt and spent many years going to his favorite ski area: Red

Mountain, BC where he made many life long friends. He was a paddler (including Mt.

Baker Sea to Ski), an intuitive mechanic, a self-taught contractor, and a friend always

willing and able to help. Tony was a wonderful balancing act - reverent and irreverent,

private and public, hopeful and skeptical, idealistic and realistic, tender and tough, and

compassionate (though he did not gladly suffer fools). A craftsman, an engineer, a

tinkerer, a deep thinker, a reader, a faithful companion to Susan and Ernie, a caring &

committed father to Jamin and Will, brother-in-law to Matt, Laura, Mary, Chris and

Hudson, uncle to Gwennan, Julia, Austin, Amelia, Robin, Lane, Alysa, and also Sadie,

Christopher, John and Tucker. Tony was a man with a heart of gold and a loyal friend

with a wicked sense of humor. His friends all knew to call 911Tony, not just to fix things

(faucets, air conditioners, cars, etc.) but also help with life problems. He was always

willing to help and give his opinion - that was, in his own words, “worth exactly what

you paid for it”. He was a pony-tailed wiseacre with penetrating insights, a polymath,

builder, businessman and bon vivant. His death leaves a huge hole in the lives of

everyone who knew him.

Tony was incredibly charming and engaging; the sort of man who could introduce

himself to someone and form a fast friendship in just minutes. With his compassion and

helpfulness he touched the lives of all who knew him. His intellect and curiosity came

from the core. When Tony talked, you knew he cared, and cared deeply, about almost

everything. He was a keen and informed observer of politics and the natural world. Tony

loved to argue and never stopped learning. He was not always right, but rarely in doubt.

Even though Tony made his living with his hands, he could also make sense of most of

the society that surrounded him. No matter how complex and complicated something

became, the more he dove in and strove to understand it. That said, he never did

understand why so many Americans did not gladly seek out the Covid vaccine. Whether

it be Covid 19 or Climate Change, Tony's compassion did not extend to those who

willfully ignored the science and asserted their freedom to endanger the lives of other

people.

Due to the continued prevalence of Covid-19 and the inadvisability of holding a large, indoor gathering, the celebration of Tony’s life will be held at a future date, when it can be held safely and largely outdoors. Should you wish to make a contribution in Tony’s name before then, please make it to a cause dear to his heart such as the Camping & Education Foundation (campingedu.org), Whatcom Land Trust (whatcomlandtrust.org), NPR or the (preferably left leaning) charity of your choice.