Obituaries

Clark Casebolt, age 69, of Seattle, Washington, passed away comfortably and peacefully on Sunday, 2/6/2022 in his home, surrounded by his supportive, cohesive, and loving three brothers, Jim Casebolt, Jeff Casebolt, and Steve Casebolt, and his loving wife of 20 years, Mary Schlater. He died of respiratory complications of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). He had enjoyed a really good quality of life up until his ALS diagnosis about 8 months ago.

Clark was born and raised in Tacoma, Washington. He was the second of four brothers and always expressed a tremendous amount of love and respect for his siblings. He attended Washington State University in Pullman, WA where he studied elementary education and graduated in 1974.

He loved a good adventure and exploring other cultures, spending the next several years after college traveling. He hitchhiked up to Alaska, camped at Denali National Park, and had his first and only grizzly bear sighting. Next, he hiked the Pacific Crest trail over a 5 month period of time from Mexico to Canada accompanied by Bob Erskine who has remained a lifelong friend. After that, he got a temporary 6th grade teaching position in Western Samoa, living with a Samoan family of 8 in a one room cinderblock house.

His next job lasted for about 3 years, teaching at an elementary school in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. He also spent 3 months in Mexico studying Spanish and living with a Mexican family. Teaching allowed for summers free, so he did several memorable trips, including cycling with his brother Jeff through England, Ireland, and Scotland; working on an archeological dig in Israel; and working on a purse seiner (fishing boat) where he said, “I knew we were in trouble when the ‘cook’ asked how to scramble eggs!”

After his time as a teacher, he spent a short time at the American Cancer Society and then at the Wellness Center (a physician-based practice) where he marketed preventive health services to the Greater Seattle and Bellevue area. But the idea of striking out on his own came increasingly to the forefront.

In 1987, he decided on “a wing and a prayer” to start his own outdoor adventure company, Outdoor Odysseys. He initially offered cross country ski trips, which was short lived, but sea kayaking trips in the summer in the San Juan Islands and in the winter in Baja, Mexico were more successful. One of his more important early client relationships was a contract with REI running sea kayak tours, which endured for 21 years. He had created his dream job and, in the summers, lived in a yurt on a 10 acre property on San Juan Island with views of the Olympic Mountains and Haro Strait.

Creating Outdoor Odysseys was a remarkable achievement that has at its core an ancient lineage (Aleuts of Alaska) where people kayak under their own power and paddle in one of the most striking ecosystems in the world. He believed that by exposing his clients to the beauty and wonders of the natural environment that it might inspire them to become more active stewards of the wild places he so loved. And the sense of “family or community” that he fostered at the company made him proud and endures today under new ownership.

The memorial service will be held July 21, 2022. The outdoors and natural areas enriched and informed so much of Clark’s life. He felt strongly that wild places should be protected for future generations and for the health of the planet. Therefore, we are encouraging those who want to send a gift to make a donation, in lieu of gifts or flowers, to any of the following organizations that he particularly liked: American Rivers, The Nature Conservancy, Natural Resource Defense Council, Friends of the Columbia Gorge, Washington Trails Association, and Best Friends (bestfriends.org, a large animal rescue organization in Utah). Inquiries about the memorial can go to [email protected]