Obituary: Elmer Kinder

On July 30, 1983, Elmer married Brenda Speer. The Kinder family was then completed with the birth of their daughter Jessica in 1984.

After graduation from Toppenish High School class of 1966, Elmer had a strong desire to be a PE teacher or coach, but the draft was going on so he joined the army and ended up stationed in Germany. This allowed for some exploration of his birthplace and the home of his mother. Elmer started his law enforcement career while in the military, serving as an MP. While serving he earned the Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Expert Medal for Rifle and Marksman Medal for Pistol. Although Elmer was proud of his military service, he, like many other Viet Nam era veterans, didn’t talk about it much for reasons history has well documented. After his honorable discharge from the Army, Elmer started working for Toppenish Police Department followed by a brief time with Yakama Tribal Police Department, as their token white guy (if you worked for tribal in the late ‘70s, this will make you chuckle) under his lifelong friend and Chief Joe Young. In 1980, Elmer found his “forever police home” with Klickitat County Sheriffs Office.

As a loyal and dedicated employee of the Sheriff’s Office, Elmer wore many hats, including handling the county’s drug dog Nicki, investigating major crimes, and acting as lieutenant under Sheriff Jim Gleason. Elmer loved technology and once declared to his friend and co-worker Brad Lowrey that the computer would change the way the police worked. He was right — it did. After the computer, he could generate a search warrant in minutes instead of hours right in his home office. Elmer was involved in setting up the first West End Office (where the West End Annex for Klickitat County now sits) and worked tirelessly to help get the county’s first 911 system up and running. He politicked for the county to acquire a drug dog, which was used frequently and with much success around the county. Elmer believed most, if not all, altercations could be handled with words, not weapons, and lived that belief. As a young deputy, people would say “he would arrest his own mother” and you know what, he would have. Treating all people fairly under the law was so important to him that blood or friendship didn’t garner anyone special treatment.

Elmer lived a life of service to his country, his community, and his family. Apart from his professional law enforcement career, Elmer served on the White Salmon city council for nearly 20 years, and he coached football, track, and girls basketball over a span of decades. When his coaching career came to an end, he started refereeing basketball at all levels. It seems his first dream of being a PE teacher or coach came to fruition, although not in the traditional sense. In addition to his job, his hobbies and other duties as assigned, Elmer was the bookkeeper for Sandy Dean and all of her real estate adventures for 20 years and also for Todays Chalet, the salon Brenda was a partner in. Writing this today, I wonder how he found the time to do everything he did.

When the camera and the computer came together, Elmer fell in love with photography, digital photography, and all that it entails. He was always looking for the perfect action shot, whether that was at a 4-year-old's soccer game, in the rodeo arena shooting the bull riding, searching the banks of the Columbia for eagles, or cruising through High Prairie and Centerville looking for red tail hawks and other raptors. He would frequently say, "I’m going fishing" or "Do you want to go fishing," and of course that meant going fishing for photos, usually of eagles.

Elmer loved his girls but was very happy to finally get some boys when they each married and had families of their own. He was supportive of his kids and grandkids in all areas but especially their sporting events and made it to as many games as he possibly could.

Primary nervous system lymphoma changed our life forever in 2017. Despite the insufferable daily pain he experienced, Elmer never lost his love for life. You could see him on the sidelines with his camera at whatever sporting event the school had to offer up, at his grandkid’s games, or working in the yard and doing honey dos around the house with Brenda. We miss him.

Elmer was preceded in death by his parents and his best friend Al, he is survived by his wife Brenda; children Mindy (Carl) Rude, Marcy (Josh) McDonald, and Jessica (Collin) Sullivan; grandchildren Brandon, Aleigha, Taylor, Conner, Turner and Byren; and great-grandchildren Easton and Avalyn; siblings Alan (Sharon) Kinder, Margot Rach, and Marlene (Gary) Bounds. In lieu of flowers please consider a donation in Elmers’s name to The Bruins Club.

Celebration of life will be Feb. 24, location to be announced.