Kenneth Walter Hillman

Kenneth Walter Hillman, 63, of Ashwood, Ore. died Monday, April 24, 2000, at the St. Charles Medical Center in Bend, Ore.

The memorial service was held at 2 p.m. Monday at Central Kitsap Presbyterian Church, 9300 Nels Nelson Road NW, Silverdale, Wash. There will be a memorial service at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 4, in the Ashwood Community Church in Ashwood, Ore. Donations may be made to the Hospice of Kitsap County, Harborview Hospital for Spinal Cord Injuries or your favorite charity.

Mr. Hillman was born Sept. 12, 1936, in Albert Lea, Minn., the son of Kenneth Willard and Virginia Lowry Hillman. He married Jeanne Marie Doehne on Aug. 19, 1994 in Bremerton, Wash. They lived in Hansville, Wash. before moving this past year to Ashwood, Ore. At an early age he moved with his family to Mt. Pleasant and graduated from Mt. Pleasant Community High School. He attended Iowa State University in Ames, graduating in 1959 with a degree in Forestry. During his college years, he worked summers for the Department of Interior in Alaska and in logging camps in Washington and Oregon. His forestry has taken him to Weyerhaeuser in Tacoma, Wash., Ketchikan Pulp in Alaska, and the U.S. Forest Service. He worked for a time with his parents on their ranch in Colorado after which he owned and operated the Everett Boathouse in Everett, Wash. He started the reforestation nursery for Pope and Talbot in 1974 and then leased the facility to become Hood Canal Nurseries from 1988 to present. In 1998, his dream was realized when he and his wife purchased a ranch in Ashwood, Ore. to raise bison and still continued his nursery operations in Washington. He was a member of the Central Kitsap Presbyterian Church. In his youth, he was a Boy Scout and attained the Order of the Arrow rank and continued to work with young people in scouting as his son was growing up. He was a member of the Society of American Foresters and was elected as a Fellow in 1993. He was a 30-year retired member of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxillary and belonged to the National Rifle Association. He worked with plants, soil and water conservation his entire life, teaching classes in water safety, forestry restoration and environmental issues. His hobbies include trap shooting, fishing and fine woodworking.

Survivors include his mother Virginia Hillman of Poulsbo, Wash.; his wife of Ashwood, Ore.; two sons, Steve Hillman of Silverdale, Wash. and Josh Doehne of Fullerton, Calif.; and two sisters, Jacquelyn Otero of Alberquerque, N.M. and Sharon Duncan of Hansville, Wash. He was preceded in death by his father.