Robert Forest Sutphen

Robert (Bob) Forest Sutphen took his final hike and reached his final mountain peak where he stepped through the gates into heaven June 8, 2012 at age 91. His family was with him at his side. Bob was born at home June 23, 1920 in Creston, Iowa to Ray and Emma Sutphen.

He spent his boyhood in Villisca, IA, then attended Parson’s College and Iowa State College.

On May 5, 1942 Bob was drafted into the Army and served in WWII. While stationed for training in Moscow, Idaho he met his future wife, Patricia Ann Bowlby. They were married November 12, 1944 in Moscow, ID. Following his honorable discharge from the Army, the couple made their home in Moline, IL where Bob was employed by the John Deere Plow Company as a metallurgist. In 1947 Bob transferred to the Yakima Facility of John Deere. When the Yakima Branch closed in 1954, Bob and Pat chose to stay in Yakima. He then went to work for the Zellerbach Paper Company as an office manager. He worked there until his retirement in 1979.

As a kid Bob loved the outdoors and was always stealing off to go fishing or rock hunting. When he was transferred to Yakima, he immediately fell in love with the Cascade Mountains and the lakes and streams around the valley. He was an enthusiastic camper, hiker, and fisherman and always considered the weekends spent with family exploring the trails and lakes of the Cascades as his heaven on earth. He was a member of the Cascadian’s Hiking and Climbing Club. Upon retirement, the couple chose to make their home in the Nile Valley where they could be closer to nature and the mountains they loved.

Bob was an early member of St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church, was a founding member of St. John Episcopal Church, and later a member of the Nile Valley Community Church. He enjoyed studying the history and times of the Bible.

During his retirement years, Bob became interested in tracing his family’s history and became relentless in his search for information on the family tree. He was eventually able to trace the Sutphen name back beyond when Dirck van Zutphen came to America in the late 1600's. His notebooks of research on his family will be treasured by his entire family.

Bob was preceded in death, and has now joined in heaven, his wife Pat of 50 years; his brother Paul with wife Helen; his mom and dad, Ray and Emma Sutphen, and his cat Midnight.

He is survived by his daughters, Gwen Kruger (Ken) of Centralia and Carolyn Levno (Chris) of Long Beach, WA.; sons, Steve Sutphen of Edmonton, Alberta and Bert Sutphen (Patty) of Gleed; nine grandchildren: David and Tom Kruger, Katy Turkell, Peter Levno, Julie Everett, Elizabeth Kerstetter, Rebecca Wandler, Josh Fendall and Chris Sutphen; and eight great-grandchildren. He had been looking forward to meeting his new great-grandson in August.

Thanks to all the caring staff at Landmark Care Center for their warm and friendly care when he could no longer care for himself, especially to his friend and helper Raul and his roommate Bob and thanks to Memorial’s Hospice for walking with him on his final journey.

A celebration of life will be held at the Nile Valley Church at a later date. Keith & Keith Funeral Home has been entrusted with the arrangements. To share a memory of Bob, please visit www.keithandkeith.com.