Obituaries

William Hazen Kline died February 20, 2013 at the age of 93 after a long illness. Bill was born June 5, 1919 to Clair Lewis Kline and Lucile Hazen in Snohomish, Washington. Bill told many tales about growing up in rural Washington with his three younger siblings. Many of these stories centered about mischief on his paternal grandparents farm in Welcome, Washington, in the shadows of Mt. Baker and the glacier fed forks of the Nooksack River.

Bill graduated from the University of Washington with a B.S. in Forestry in 1941. He was a CCC crew supervisor during college, then upon graduation enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1941 and was discharged in 1946 as a master sergeant, serving as a weatherman. After the war, Bill helped his parents on their farm in Blaine, Washington while earning a B.S. in meteorology and climatology in 1953. Bill began his 34 year career with the USGS in 1954, working as a surveyor. He met his wife Jimmie, a cartographer, in the USGS office in Sacramento, California. Bill and Jimmie lived and traveled throughout the US with their first three children Brian, Marie, and Daniel. The family settled down in Fremont when their fourth child Norma was born. Bill retired in 1989 with his final position in the Menlo Park office as the Deputy Chief of Photogrammetry.

Bill loved to collect seeds, grow and propagate plants of all kinds. He had a special knack for cultivating cactus and succulents, visitors were hard pressed to leave without a potted tree or a spiny cactus. Bill was proud to have visited all 50 states and many National Parks ? he thought his golden eagle pass to the national park system was a terrific deal.

Bill is survived by his four children, granddaughter Resha Shenandoah and husband David Mayhew, great grandson Ellery, and son-in-law Jon Souder. The family would like to extend special thanks and appreciation to his caregiver Richard Choo.