It was so much fun to travel with Grandpa all over the place, from Hawaii and England to fossil hunting in Oregon. He always insisted on having his little disposable camera with him. 

He had pictures of everyone in the family on his walls in the kitchen. He loved going through his photo albums with us. It always seemed to make him happy to explain the photos and answer questions. It seemed that he was always finding some more photos.

I remember one trip with him out to Pullman and his amazement at the piles of excess grain and wheat that couldn’t fit into the silos. These piles were multiple stories high and he said having grown up dry land wheat farming that this much wheat was unbelievable. He took a picture of it.

I always appreciated the puzzles and gadgets he had on the kitchen table. There was always something to fidget with, as well as the newspaper. I remember those grape sodas they had in the fridge and the Little Debbie oatmeal cookies.

Their camper was always so much fun to play in. I’m still not sure how they managed to sleep in the very small space over the cab. I remember them taking that all the way up to Alaska and Grandma saying it was mostly tree lined roads the whole way.

He showed me my first Rubik Cube. He showed me how to whittle and was always making those little ducks. The first hummingbird I saw was outside his kitchen window. First time we went looking for gold was along the river with him, didn’t find any. First time playing pool was on that table they made in the basement. First pinball machine I saw was also in the basement. My first fossil hunt actually started when I realized he had put fossils from South Dakota at the corner of their house under the gutters. That was very exciting to find. I also remember him telling us about those curled ammonite fossils they would find in South Dakota. At the time they didn’t know what they were but knew that if you lined them up on the hilltop and shot them that they broke up in cool ways. 

My earliest memories of Grandpa are playing with the blocks kept in the corner drawer of the living room. As well as trying to brave the stairs down into the basement (There was a pool table, swing, and pin-ball machine down there). When he wasn't watching the birds by the window, he might be found in the garden. I loved when he grew some pods, I think snap peas and shared them with us.

Going to Grandpa's house was always fun.  You knew exactly what to expect.  When we pulled up, we knew he would be sitting at the kitchen window, with his trucker hat, flannel shirt and suspenders ready to greet us.  We would give our hugs and head on down to the basement to play some pool and swing on the swing and when we got hungry, we knew where he stashed his cookies.  Grandpa traveled with us on quiet a few family vacations and I remember waking up super early a couple times to go pick Grandpa up with my Dad and Stuart and go out fishing.  Grandpa loved carving those little tiny ducks he seemed to have laying around in random spots.  Grandpa will truly be missed by all. 
We love you, miss you and tell Grandma Hi :)

Grandpa was an amazing carpenter and craftsman. I remember him working with us on numerous projects as we were growing up in Richland from constructing a basketball hoop to reroofing the house. It was always so exciting to have him and Grandma come and visit with the camper that he built. I was very surprised to find that the china cabinet that he built to fit in the corner of their kitchen was not actually square but rather shaped at an odd angle to perfectly fit the non-square corner. It will never fit another corner as well as that.

OBITUARY

Earl Thomas Ibsen

September 13, 1919 – December 27, 2020

Evergreen Funeral Home & Cemetery

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