IN MEMORIAM
DR. ROBERT R. KELLEY, ORTHODONTICS CLASS OF 1959
Dr. Robert R. “Bob” Kelley passed away peacefully on May 16, 2020. He was 90 years old.
Dr. Kelley was born in Fort Benton, Mont., on Sept. 9, 1929, the youngest of six children. He grew up in Montana, moved to Seattle in 1959, and lived in the Puget Sound area for the rest of his life. As a young boy, he walked to school with his brother and received his primary education in a one-room schoolhouse. He was a proud Fort Benton High School Longhorn. An accomplished athlete, he lettered in football, basketball, and track, while maintaining high academic marks. During the summer, he worked the wheat fields for his sister, driving a tractor on their family farm. He earned his undergraduate degree from Montana State University. In April 1947, he married the love of his life, Altha Frieling.
The couple moved to Seattle so he could attend dental school. He served in the Navy for four years before opening his dental practice.
An innovative professional with a keen interest in business, Dr. Kelley experienced many successes throughout his 40-year career in orthodontics. He was one of the founders of the Northgate Professional Building, and was the first dentist to incorporate in the state of Washington. Motivated to give back to those in need, he made it an annual tradition to waive treatment costs for financially struggling patients with significant orthodontic needs. He was an avid Husky football fan and Tyee member for over 50 years. He delighted in tailgating with his family, friends, and grandchildren for many seasons. The Kelleys enjoyed golf and were members of the Inglewood Country Club in Kenmore, Wash., for over 60 years. In their retirement, they spent many winters in Palm Springs, enjoying golf, bridge, entertaining family, and socializing with friends.
Dr. Kelley was interested in politics, business, reading, and music. He was often seen putting a sharp No. 2 pencil to a yellow legal pad, planning daily, monthly, and yearly goals. His industrious nature allowed him to achieve many of them. He spent many afternoons taking his grandchildren for golf cart rides and walking them through proper putting strokes.
He is survived by his children, Lori, Debbie, Tami and Craig, and Mike and Lisa; 10 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his beloved wife of 66 years, Altha, in 2013.
<
DR. ERIK PIHL, ORTHODONTICS CLASS OF 1959
Dr. Erik “Bill” Pihl passed away at home in Mount Vernon, Wash., on Nov. 30, 2013. He was 85.
Dr. Pihl was born on July 24, 1928 to Hildur and Hilding Pihl, who had immigrated to Seattle the previous year from Lule, Sweden with son Per Ivar. The household was steeped in Swedish culture, values and faith, which became guideposts for Dr. Pihl’s life of service to others. The family lived in Seattle’s Sandpoint neighborhood before moving to a farm on Pontius Road in Bothell, Wash. Through his high school years, he spent long hours before and after school working on the farm. After graduating from Bothell High School, he worked as a commercial fisherman to fund his college tuition.
Dr. Pihl received his undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate degrees in Dentistry and Orthodontics from the UW. He was an ardent Husky fan and supporter of UW athletics. After dental school, he served as a captain in the U.S. Air Force, providing mobile dental services for remote bases in the Pacific Northwest. He married Louise Edholm on Aug. 12, 1956. They moved to Mount Vernon, Wash., in 1959, where he established an Orthodontics practice that spanned more than 40 years. He was a member of the two oldest Swedish Lutheran parishes in the state: Gethsemane in Seattle and Salem in Mount Vernon.
Dr. Pihl loved the Skagit Valley and hiking, climbing, skiing and hunting. He was especially fond of fishing in Alaska with Louise and his brothers and sisters. He helped many organizations with his philanthropy and his time. He was actively involved with Holden Village, served in the Lutheran Church on America’s national World Hunger task force and was an active member of Mount Vernon Rotary. During the last decades of his life, he spent many hours with a shovel and backhoe moving trees and plantings for the Western Washington Fruit Research Foundation near Mount Vernon. He also loved to visit his Swedish cousins.
Dr. Pihl is survived by his wife, Louise; children Erik, Andrea, Arne and Paul; brothers Ernest (Zora) and Martin (Darlene); sisters Elsie Soule and Karen Leander; sisters-in-law Joan Pihl and Hazel Edholm; nieces; nephews; grand-nieces; grand-nephews; and his faithful hunting dogs, Mocha and Flicka. He was preceded in death by his parents, his sister Rose Ann and his brother Ivar. (Skagit Valley Herald)
DR. JACK RICHARDSON, ORTHODONTICS CLASS OF 1959
Dr. Jack Richardson of Beaumont, Texas, died on Feb. 6, 2013. (No further details were available.)