Richard William Ingraham III May 28, 1957 - December 19, 2013

Richard passed away at the age of 56 on Thursday, December 19, of natural causes after finishing a perfect day of skiing at Mt. Bachelor. Fittingly he passed in the Deschutes National Forest, the same wilderness he had devoted his entire life to working and playing in.

Born May 28, 1957 in San Francisco, California, he had his early schooling in Napa.

His family moved to Bend, Oregon, in 1970 where he graduated from Bend Senior High School in 1975.

He studied fire science at COCC and began a 28-year career with the Forest Service. He served many of those years in the Sisters Ranger District as a firefighter and later in the cache at the Redmond Air Center.

He was an accomplished skier and mountaineer. Among his accomplishments were ascending the Three Sisters in one day and trekking The Pacific Crest Trail from Mt. Bachelor to the Canadian border. He taught countless nieces, nephews, friends and strangers to ski and to love the alpine environment. In recent years he channeled his love of skiing and his passion for teaching into becoming an instructor for the Oregon Adaptive Ski program (OAS).

He spent countless days, weeks and months fishing, hunting and enjoying the Central Oregon lifestyle. Whychus Creek was his favorite fly-fishing experience, often retelling of catching and releasing trout. He was the quintessential "local" and surpasses the label of outdoorsman.

Brought up in the Bay Area and Oregon, he was fiercely loyal to the San Francisco Giants and 49ers, the Portland Trailblazers, and the Portland Timbers.

He will be dearly missed by his mother and father, Dick and Jan Ingraham of Burns; sister, Katie (Kathy) Rowles and husband Charlie, of Bend; brother Jeff Ingraham and wife, Jennifer of La Pine; nephews Scott Rowles and wife Amy of Bend, and Andrew Ingraham of La Pine; nieces Kiersten Rowles and Heidi Freisen and husband Daniel of Bothel, WA; and several aunts, uncles and cousins in Portland and California.

A celebration of Richard's life will be held on Saturday, March 15, at 11 a.m. at Christian Life Center Church, 21720 E. Hwy. 20, Bend, Oregon.

In lieu of flowers, please send your donations to the Oregon Adaptive Ski Program, 63025 OB Riley Rd, #12, Bend, OR, 97701, in memory of Richard Ingraham.