Obituary of Russell Ryker

Russell Allen Ryker, Jr. slipped quietly from this earth on Sunday, May 5th. He was born on October 28, 1932, to Gertie Lee Eddens Ryker and Russell Allen Ryker at Montgomery City, Missouri, at the height of the Great Depression. He was the seventh of eight children. He would later move with his family to Foristell, Missouri, where he lived until graduating from Wright City High School in 1949 at age 16. He then went on to the University of Missouri in Columbia, where he graduated in 1954 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry. Russell had joined the Army ROTC his freshman year of college and earned the rank of Second Lieutenant upon graduation of summer camp in 1954. He became a member of Xi Sigma Pi, the Forestry Honor Society, and Scabbard and Blade, the Military Honor Society, during college. Russell was a resourceful young man, who worked at various and sundry jobs to pay for his college education. In December 1954, Russell began his active duty with the Army at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He was assigned as the Gunnery Officer in the 2nd FA Rocket Battery for the Honest John rocket program in addition to duties as the Training Officer, Intelligence Officer and Battery Pay Officer. He was promoted to First Lieutenant in June 1956 and honorably released from active duty in December 1956 whereupon he began his career in forestry. He worked for the U.S. forest Service at Kaskaskia Experimental Forest in southern Illinois from 1956 until 1963. During that time he become the superintendent of the experimental forest and completed his Masters of Science at the University of Missouri in addition to managing the antics of his young daughters. In April 1953, he met Mary Alice Stephens of Maplewood/St. Louis, Missouri, on a blind date; they married in November 1954 at Wright City, Missouri. The couple would move their young family from the Midwest to Idaho in 1963, where Russell worked at the U.S. Forestry Laboratory in Moscow, Idaho, until transferring to the laboratory in Boise in 1967. His office and laboratory were the expansive Idaho forests; he not only studied but nurtured the forests in the state. Russell was the author or co-author of a number of important publications during his forestry career as a sivilculturist. He earned a number of awards including Forester of the Year in March 1983. In January 1986, Russell retired from his position at the Boise Intermountain Experimental Station. For a few years thereafter, he worked as a consultant for the Washington, D.C. office. Russell was a man of many talents and enjoyed fishing, hunting, hiking, wood working, photography and especially gardening. He was a quiet giant; his words, though few in number, were carefully chosen and impactful. Russell is survived by his wife, Mary Ryker; daughters, Claudia Shade, Carrie Jackson, Amanda Fleming and Michelle Gorham; grandchildren, Barton L. and Allen F. Jackson, Brittany Brazzle, Russell and Nick Gorham; his great-grandchildren, Dante and Kaylee Brazzel; as well as his sisters, Esther Carlson, Emily Rufkhar and Joyce Gaylord. A memorial service will be held to celebrate his life on Saturday, May 10th at 10:00 a.m. at the Eagle United Methodist Church in Eagle, Idaho. Pastor John Grimsted will preside over the service. There are not many men who walk the earth who are not self-seeking and of unwavering character - Russell A. Ryker was such a man.