I too have many stories of Ken. He graduated from high school 3 years ahead of me in my home town of Healdsburg down in California wine country, but I never knew him then (wrong school.) The Rio Lindo Adventist Academy was at the end of my dad's rural mail route, and I sometimes joined him after lunch on Saturdays (until about age 9) to hand him bundles of mail from the back seat; Ken wasn't there yet. I mention this because my dad also suffered from the effects of Parkinson's.



Through the years I've marveled over exceptional hearing from three generations: Charlie Wright, Cindy McCormack, Ken Knittle.



Ken's stories occasionally lasted too late in the evening, but even the 1000' elevation gain the next morning was completed without much complaint when we went looking for Spruce Grouse west of Yakima about 25 years ago. But he missed the Acorn Woodpecker that flew over his head and landed on a tree behind him; it forgot to call!



I'll miss him. I think we'll all miss him, but not his contributions that elevated birding in Washington.



Randy Hill

Ridgefield



From: Tweeters [mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman11.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Wilson Cady
Sent: Tuesday, January 7, 2020 10:59 AM
To: birder4184 at yahoo.com
Cc: tweeters at uw.edu
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Ken Knittle



I am very saddened to hear of the loss of Ken Knittle, he was a true leader in the Washington birding community. He and his spouse, Laurie, published the Washington Birder newsletter and compiled and maintained all of the county checklists. The WOS field trips that Ken led were legendary and a great experience for those wishing to explore different areas of our state, one of his lasting contributions is the concept of county birding lists and in 1993 he was the first person to list at least 100 species in each county and encouraged many others to attempt this challenge.





Wilson Cady
Columbia River Gorge, WA



---------- Original Message ----------
From: B B <birder4184 at yahoo.com>
To: "tweeters at uw.edu" <tweeters at uw.edu>
Subject: [Tweeters] Ken Knittle
Date: Tue, 7 Jan 2020 18:33:44 +0000 (UTC)

I just had a call from friend Floyd Murdoch who knew Ken well. He told me that Ken Knittle has died. Others know him well and I am sure will report. Wonderful man. Sad loss for Washington birding community.😥

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