Bertold Karl Gerhardt PUCHTLER 

Bert Puchtler of Seattle, Washington took his life on
April 18, 2008. He was 71 years old. Bert grew up in
and near Berlin during World War II, and immigrated
with his mother and brother, Wolfgang to the USA at
age 14. He attended high school in Binghamton, New
York, where he played football and started a
marksmanship club. He studied political science at
Wesleyan University and received a master's degree in
history from the University of California, Berkeley.
He was part of the first Peace Corps group toNepal,
serving in the town of Pokhara from 1962 to 1964,
where he taught, helped build the local school, and
made lifelong friends. His time inNepal further fueled
his interest in mountaineering; years later Bert would
return to Nepal to climb peaks higher than any in the
US. He married Catherine Howe in 1965, and they had
two sons, ShantaArmstrong Puchtler and Joel Scobie
Puchtler. Bert worked for the US Agency for
International Development in Vang Vieng, Laos, where
the family lived for five years. Inspired by the
mountains he had climbedduring college summers
spentworking on the Alaska Railroad, Bert moved his
family to Fairbanks. There he worked for the US
Environmental Protection Agency and the Alaska Area
Native Health Service for over 25 years, traveling
extensively to native villages throughout the state.
Bert's independence and industriousness flourished in
Alaska, where he built the family home by hand, and
became an accomplished wood worker, glider pilot, bush
pilot, hunter, fisherman, and mountaineer. Bert read
widely and voraciously, and spoke English, German,
Spanish, Thai, Lao, and Nepali. After retirement in
1996, Bert made Seattle his base camp for exploring
new interests. Over several summer trips to Europe, he
put 16,000 miles on his Vespa motor scooter, relishing
the smallest switchback roads, and cresting every high
mountain pass in the Alps. Each fall, he migrated to
windsurfing sites in Baja, Mexico,refining his skills
with each trip. In winter, he joined a younger
generation snowboarding on the slopes at Powder
Mountain in Utah and at Kicking Horse in British
Columbia, where he became a Canadian-certified
snowboard instructor at age 67, and taught
professionally thereafter. He could tear up the slopes
and his most recent passion was hard boot carving on
long boards. Bert will be deeply missed by family and
friends from around the world. He struggled with
depression,alcohol, and drugs, but will surely be
remembered for his fiercely independent spirit,
focused mind, playfulness and athleticism. He is
survived by his younger brother, Wolfgang Puchtler of
Puyallup, WA; his two sons and their families, Shanta
and his wife Sarah Lord of Cambridge, MA,Scobie, his
wife Sarah Felstiner, and their son Brayden of
Seattle, WA; as well as by his former wife, Catherine
Short of Lee, N.H. To contact the family for
information about services or donations, or to share
memories or photos, send an email to
bertmemorial@gmail.com 

Published in print on 4/26/2008. 
Seattle Times