Ken retired in June of 2016 and passed away in November of 2017. I first met him almost 30 years ago and worked with him for 11 years. He was known locally as a very good and exacting surveyor. He knew his $hit and loved the profession of surveying. A surveyor's surveyor.
He struggled with ill health most of his adult life and because of persistent Crohn??s disease worked with a lot of pain most of the time.
A bum rap. As he told it to me, he came down with Crohn??s in his early 20s. Severe and debilitating intestinal problems that led to hospitalization and numerous intestinal resections throughout his life. At the time of his diagnosis (early 1970s) they tried a treatment of massive doses of steroids. It seemed to help, but a side effect was that it settled in his hips and deteriorated them. He had two hip replacements, per hip, four replacements all told, by the time he was in his early 60s. He moved to the drier climes of central Oregon in the late 1980s because the wet weather of the Willamette Valley wreaked havoc on his joints.
The Crohn??s persisted, and he never took any real vacations as he had to save his time off pay for the one to two weeks at a time he??d be bedridden and sick as a dog with a severe attach of Crohn??s. He would never grouse about it, but you could tell when he was ailing.?ÿ
He died at home in his sleep, likely of some cause related to the above. He had a long road to hoe. May he rest in peace.
Ken's last corner restoration card?ÿ
Thank you Mike for posting this.?ÿ Ken was held in high regard by his peers for his
knowledge and application of proper surveying procedure and statutory law.
I was also impressed by his work ethic - every time I entered his office unannounced
he would be poring over one of the many plats on his desk.?ÿ ?ÿHe also had a 2 foot tall
stack of surveying magazines on his work table that he never seemed to take any time
to read, apparently due to his devotion to work.
RIP Ken Grantham
That Corner Record Card is a lot more informative than most surveyors' records of surveys.?ÿ I didn't know Ken, but from what you guys are able to say of him, the profession and the community lost one of its best.
Woodsman, Surveyor, Friend
Your spirit walks before the wind
Where once we stood on Mountain high
Wildflowers grow and warm winds sigh
A stone with notches made before
A weathered post, Surveyor's lore
Your mark you left on yonder tree
The scribe cut deep for all to see?ÿ
Last month members of the PLSO set a monument honoring Ken's contribution to land surveying here in Central Oregon. See the attached pdf.
Criminy, this is my 3rd visit to the survey catacombs today - Doug Crawford, Eric "BigE" White and Ken. I think I'm going to go down by the river, sit in the?ÿshade with a beer and enjoy the feel of the cool breeze tousling my rapidly graying hair.
Oh man, very sorry to hear this. Too many of these kinds of posts going on lately. 🙁
Ken was only a few hundred license numbers older than me.
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Excellent tribute Mike. ?ÿThank you for posting this.