Just before noon on May 25 ^th , 2022, Roger Day Hurd left his earthly body to enter the presence of his Saviour, Jesus Christ. Roger joined his sister Marilyn when he was born to Merrill and Ruth (Walton) Hurd, near the Snake River in Asotin, WA, on April 21, 1939. The young Hurd family would move several times given Merrill's calling as pastor of several Methodist churches during his short walk on this earth, one of them being the Avon Methodist Church at the bend in the Skagit River. Some of Roger's earliest memories are centered there, in spite of it being during WWII, and the Hurd grew with the addition of Sharon, Robert and Melvin. He would spend nearly 40 beautiful years of his life in Avon.

Roger lost his father at the age of 9 and became the patriarch of the Hurd tribe. He was fortunate to take refuge on his grandpa Lee Hurd's farm in South Dakota, not having to worry about baths or bedtimes…just lots of work and time to explore. He would lose his other father, nearly 40 years later when James R Hurd passed away. His life was shaped in different ways by these 2 men from the same family, which he is eternally grateful to The Almighty for. Another refuge at that time on the plateau SE of Omak, has a small lake aptly named for him by his cousin Madelon, where she caught him skinny dipping…Roger's Lake is still there today.

His grandpa would later sell that farm and buy a house in Des Moines, WA for his daughter-in-law's young family to live in with him in. This lined Roger up to become a Highline Pirate, graduating in the class of 1958, which prepared him well for his time later in the US Coast Guard and Cuban Missile Crisis. Not one to sit about, he went to work to earn money for college, hoping to become a shop teacher. Roger and Sharon decided to enroll at Seattle Pacific College in the fall of 1959, which their mother had attended to get her Washington Teaching Certificate, thanks to the generosity of an anonymous Methodist pastor who paid her tuition. Two life events were foreshadowed during the next year. First, he met the love of his life, Linda Faye Moen, whom he married in November of 1961. The second was a friend, Ron Montgomery from Orcas Island, which Roger had never heard of…but would soon.

Roger worked at The Boeing Company at Plant 2 after they were married, but quickly became bored waiting and waiting for parts to be delivered for his jobs on the 707. Together with newly born son Mark, they returned to Skagit County, and Roger, Linda and Mark moved to Big Lake to live in the Marchant house with the Moens on Lakeview Blvd. While working as a box boy at Thrifty Foods and cutting firewood on the McEntyre Ranch for extra money, Roger seriously working for IBM, but God intervened. He put his US Coast Guard electrician skills to work at the Carnation Plant as a maintenance electrician. It was during this time in 1965, that daughter Ruth joined the Avon Hurd tribe and kept him on his toes. Soon after in 1966, his in-laws, the Moens, moved from Big Lake to Orcas Island, which provided the perfect excuse to get his pilot's license and skip the ferry. He partnered with Don Morrison in a Stinson 108 and happily flew many, many trips to the Enchanted Isle…to cheerfully visit his mother-in-law! His arrival notification was to honk his handheld airhorn out the window while on final for runway 34…right over his mother-in-law's house. This love for flying, his love for the gospel of Jesus Christ and one of Linda's best friends, Elaine (Dalseg) Bakke, led him to a lifelong friendship with Gordon Bakke, whom he maintained a close pilot bond with for nearly 60 years.

His creative mind designed and made tools to fit his purpose, one of which was his infamous "buzz-saw" which originally was a 1948 Merc repurposed into a drivable logging/sawing/truck filling machine. Some of his closest friends, Bob Sheets, Dave Lohman, Larry Solver, Asa Pearson and others would add fuel to his fire with their contributions to his creations!

When Carnation closed in 1975, and during his short stint at the Bendix Plant in Sedro-Woolley, a childhood friend, Bob Denham suggested he partner with him in machining logs for log houses. Bob gave him the confidence he needed, and together they formed Treehouse Log Homes. Roger built all of the machinery from scratch and they shipped many home kits all over the PNW, with this period of Roger's life being one of the most fulfilling.

His other passion was motorized two-wheeled vehicles…he put his Pirate Band trombone training to use by repurposing one as a muffler on his scooter in high school. He always had an ear for music, and played in the Emmanuel orchestra much later. In 1978, his friend Roger Trucker sold his Honda 305 Dream and bought a Daytona Orange, BMW R90S. Dad had to have one, since his Honda CB160 was so grossly underpowered he couldn't keep up with Roger! He found one at Bent Bike in Lynnwood and rebuilt it of course. (He once arrived at The Farm in Yelm, with Mark, Ruth and Linda all on his 160 just to hear his mom say, "Oh my stars"). Together with Roger Morrison and Roger Dalseg, the 4 Rogers, and many others, would ride more than once around the Cascade Loop, a favorite trip, even when HWY 20 was just a gravel logging road. Linda would join in the future fun when he bought an R100S with a full fairing, water injection and a salvaged and repurposed Carnation truck air horn.

After double digit interest rates had taken a toll on Treehouse, Roger reached back to his electrician skills and worked electrical construction at Cherry Point, Bellingham, and Prudhoe Bay, retiring in 2005. Prior to retirement, he was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer, and thanks to proton treatment at Loma Linda University in 2003, he was able to keep it at bay for over 18 years. During that respite, Roger and Linda would travel to Israel, visit family in Virginia, Florida, Rhode Island, South Dakota and California, stand through their grandchildren's soccer games and spend time riding motorcycles with family and friends to Banff, all over the PNW and even sail the Salish Sea with Haron and Shank.

To say Roger is a doer is an understatement…there is not a doubt in my mind he has been employed by the author of our salvation even now to continue to use his gifts for the Kingdom, but probably not in an experimental airplane…Roger's favorite saying became "but God" as he witnessed God shape his life so many times at a fork in the road, into a beautiful tapestry of family and friends. He credited his ability to care for Linda as God's gift to them as he remained pain free until the last 6 months of his life when he especially looked forward to Tuesday burrito night with Gordon and Wednesday Whopper lunch with Roger, as well as Nancy Davis' soup delivered by Glen.

Special thanks to the men's group of Emmanuel Baptist Church together with his family for reaching out and caring for him as his body weakened. His brothers, sister and sister-in-laws, Eben, Steve, Steve, Virge, Will, Roger, Glen, Gordon and Pastor Herb and others I surely missed, were such a great encouragement during his time of pain and he and we are deeply grateful for your lifelong commitment to the principles of the Christian life.

He leaves behind his sister Sharon (Hank) Matthews, brother Bert (Patti) Hurd, Brother Melvin (Diane) Hurd, son Roger Mark (Suzan) Hurd, daughter Ruth (Doug) Jacobson, grandson Jonathan (Tori) Hurd, granddaughter Annalyse (Lanz) Lipana, grandson James Hurd, grandson Jonah (Alicia) Jacobson, granddaughter Claire (Ethan) Last, and great grandson Jayce Alexander Day Lipana.

His memorial service is planned for August 19 ^th , 2022, at 1pm, at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Mount Vernon, WA. Memorials can be made in his memory to Hospice of the NW.

Please visit www.hawthornefh.com to share your thoughts and memories and sign the online guest register.

Arrangements are under the care of Hawthorne Funeral Home, Mount Vernon, WA.