Carl Nathaniel Collier III

Published 8:18 am Thursday, July 5, 2018

November 11, 1944 – June 27, 2018

Nat Collier passed in his Sunriver, Oregon home June 27, 2018 after a courageous nearly seven year battle with metastatic prostate cancer. He was surrounded by family and his faithful canine companion Wicket. His family is forever grateful for the loving hospice care provided by Partners In Care of Bend, Oregon.

Nat was born in Paducah, Kentucky to Julia Gilliam Collier and Carl N. Collier, Jr. He was raised in Colorado where he loved fishing, hunting and trapping. He graduated in 1963 from Englewood High School in Englewood, Colorado and from Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, Colorado in 1967. Nat pledged Alpha Tau Omega fraternity at Colorado State where he made many lifelong friends. It was at an Alpha Tau Omega and Tri Delta mixer where Nat met his partner Linda. After graduation they moved to Linda’s home town of Seattle, Washington. They were married June 17, 1967, at Church of the Redeemer Episcopal Church in Kenmore, Washington. In 1971, Nat graduated from University of Washington dental school.

Nat started and maintained a dental practice in Bothell, Washington for over 35 years. He was active in the Bothell community serving on the local YMCA Board of Directors during the planning and construction of the Bothell YMCA pool and facility. He enjoyed nearly twenty years with the Connecticut Dental Study Club, to continue his education and also ski throughout the west with that group.

Nat and Linda were very generous with their time and talents. Nat was a man of great faith and served the community in many capacities, starting with church. He served on the vestry at Church of the Redeemer, Kenmore, Washington and St. Stephens Episcopal Church, Seattle, Washington. Nat was grateful for and proud of his long leadership with Linda in Episcopal Marriage Encounter where they served as National Team Enrichment Couple training other couples to lead Marriage Encounter weekends. Their leadership and training took them throughout the United States, Canada and even to Ecuador.

Nat’s passions were his family, skiing, fishing and boating. He actively skied with his wife, children and grandchildren both at Mt Bachelor and during vacations around the country. He enjoyed fly fishing at the many lakes and streams in central Oregon. Nat and Linda took up boating in their 30s eventually living aboard their 61’ Tollycraft Reflections for 14 years. They joined both Roche Harbor Yacht Club and Seattle Yacht Club. In 2006, Nat served as Commodore of the Roche Harbor Yacht Club. Each summer Nat and Linda would join friends on cruises into the San Juan Islands, British Columbia and Alaska. Nat realized a lifetime goal of cruising their boat from Seattle, Washington to Glacier Bay, Alaska.

He is survived by his loving wife, partner, and first mate Linda, his daughter, Meris, his son and daughter-in-law, Ryan and Holly, his grandsons, Austin, Jacob, and Sean, and his sister, Cherye – not to mention his mother-in-law, in-laws, nieces and nephews who he loved dearly.

Services will be held at 2pm July 15, 2018 at Christian Fellowship in Sunriver, Oregon and at 2pm August 17, 2018 at St. Stephens Episcopal Church, Seattle, Washington. A celebration of life will follow each service, first at Sunriver Christian Fellowship church and the second at Seattle Yacht Club.

Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to our beloved hospice angels, Partners In Care, Bend, Oregon or Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, prostate cancer research.