Prentice Bloedel
May 26, 1926 – Aug. 18, 2016
Prentice Bloedel, known in the Northwest as Prentice Bloedel II, died Aug. 18, 2016, in Port Townsend, Washington.
He was born May 26, 1926 in Bellingham, Washington. In between, he traveled just about everywhere. He loved to be on the move. One of his favorite things was driving across the country, preferably in a pickup truck, with a dog or two, pulling a horse trailer, having a blast while kids in neighboring cars shouted with glee, “Horses! Horses!” and a serious motorist flagged him down from 70 miles an hour on the freeway at night to tell him one horse had its tail stuck out over the gate.
From 1949 to 1977, he was married to Flora Blauvelt Howell Bloedel and with her raised their three children, Carla, Ellen and Lawrence, known as Luke.
There was nothing he wouldn’t try to eat at least once, nothing he wouldn’t drink except water, nothing he wouldn’t be interested in and learn something about.
He found all manner of occupations: airman/lifeguard, zoology graduate student, desert museum specimen gatherer and taxidermist, cowboy, rancher, horse trader, land trader, hotel owner, pilot, carpenter, builder, environmental lobbyist, sailor, boat captain, whale watch guide, NOAA biologist on foreign fishing trawlers, naturalist, jazz aficionado, bicycle tourist.
He was a voracious reader, prolific talker and thinker, an affable gentleman who made friends easily. He loved animals. He loved his wife Heidi more than life itself, his children, grandchildren and relatives like best old friends. He held as cardinal virtues: humor, curiosity, knowledge, kindness, generosity, love and tolerance.
As ranch and boat owner, Prentice mentored many young people, hiring them to work summers and teaching them what he knew of crafts and life. He loved to see kids, including his own, develop skills and a sense of the world. He modeled compassion, as when driving one hot day in Navajo country he stopped for an old woman walking in full traditional garb along the highway under the cruel sun and gave her a ride to her destination, while growling about the indifference of those who passed her by. He once lamented that even vegetable farming disturbed small creatures, “destroying their little houses” when fields were tilled.
When Flora was dying in 1999, he traveled to New Mexico to offer comfort and help to their children and grandchildren.
With the last shreds of his great mind he remembered bits of cowboy songs and other music heard long ago. In his final days he knew whom to trust, never mind if names were long gone. For most of his 90 years he lived a big life.
He will always be missed and lovingly remembered by Heidi, April, Jake, Pam, Adria, Carla, Douglas, Philip, Elena, Ellen, Kay, Scott, Luke, Nicola, Malcolm, Madeline, as well as cousins and multitudes of friends and well-wishers.
