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This week’s obituaries – August 30

Robert R. Kindschy Jr.

May 28, 1935 -August 19, 2017

Robert R. Kindschy Jr. was born May 28, 1935, in Puyallup, Washington, the only child of Robert R. Kindschy Sr. and Ethel Seaver Kindschy. The family lived in Yelm and Tumwater, Washington during Robert’s childhood, where he tormented his very proper mother by becoming an avid trapper and outdoorsman. Muskrats were bad enough, but young Robert did occasionally, accidentally, trap a skunk.

Robert graduated from Olympia High School in 1953. He attended the University of Idaho, graduating with degrees in range and wildlife biology.

During college, he worked summers for the Forest Service in Montana and the Bureau of Land Management in Burns, Oregon and on the Aleutian Island chain of Alaska. He especially loved the Aleutian Islands and had many fond memories of his time there.

Upon graduation from college, he took a job in Range Management with the BLM in Vale, Oregon in 1958. During the Vale Project, which started in 1962, he moved from Range to Wildlife Resources. Because of his extended time and expertise on the Vale Project, he was invited to lecture in many different forums.

He was an accomplished amateur photographer, processing his own film and printing his own photos, which aided him in his career. He retired in 1994. Although, for the next few years, he continued to do riparian surveys for the BLM and Forest Service.

He married Ann Laurance, oldest daughter of Herman and Maria Laurance, of Vale on August 24, 1961. They raised a few orphaned bobcats, one of which found a home in the Portland Zoo and one who was known by the school children in Vale. Bob would take Tiger to the grade school to be a visual aid when he would give talks about wildlife and habitat.

He is survived by his wife of almost 56 years, Ann; daughter Maria; son Rob; grandchildren Hannah and Scott Lovelady, and Emma and Gabe Kindschy; sisters-in-law Nancy Levanger and Mary (Steve) McBride; numerous nieces and nephews; and cousins in Washington, Montana, and Colorado.

In honor of his request, there will be no services.