PLSO The Oregon Surveyor March April 2020

10 The Oregon Surveyor  | Vol. 43, No. 2 Featured Article T he typically smiling face of the late Don Karsch, whose consistently affable demeanor and jovial atti - tude always seemed to shine through, under all circumstances, will long be re- membered by his many friends, as well as those who were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work with him on survey projects of many kinds. I met him in 2010, at which point in time he had not yet grown his enormous beard, and although he was nearing the age of 60, his aspect still ebullient- ly radiated vitality and vigor, because he never lost one of the most precious attributes of youth—the ability to view life as a journey, to be spent exploring both the world and the essence of hu- manity itself. As I worked with him on a regular basis over the next several years, I learned what a kind and genu- ine person he really was, and as fellow surveyor I viewed him as the kind of surveyor every one of us originally set out to become, always bringing forward thoughtful ideas, yet entirely respectful of the divergent views of his colleagues. I never liked the beard he wore during the last years of his life, because it seemed to hide his wonderful glowing smile, but now I look back on it as an emblem of the wisdom he had acquired along the way, with gratitude that his life path and my own intersected. Quite ironically, Don passed away just hours before the 2020 PLSO Conference got underway in Portland, and it was through his friends in attendance there that I learned I would never see himagain. Widely respected veteran surveyor Mike Cooney, now retired, indicated that he felt some degree of regret, for cheating Don out of his retirement, because he was the one who called Don out of retirement about 10 years ago, to work in the private sector, after Don had completed his long tour of service in the public sector, as a federally employed surveyor. Had Mike not done so however, my life would have been less fulfilling, because I never would have met Don, so I would never have had the chance to witness his wisdom in ac- tion, and to observe his dedication to his craft. Don was not a Northwesterner by birth, he grew up in rural New York, but after being introduced to land survey- ing while attending Paul Smith’s College in that state in the early 1970s, the lure of the Great Northwest beckoned to this region, and he fully embraced the Pacific Northwest for the remainder of his life. 1971 OIT graduate and retired survey- or Tim Kent, who has also long served as an educator at OIT and Clark College, and worked with Don for many years, remembered him as “gracious… the con- summate friend and professional,” noting particularly that Don was always willing to help foster the learning experience of the next generation, by showing them how to achieve the joy of making a key discov- ery, through both survey research and survey field work. None of that was a bit surprising to me, given the fact that Don was a proud OIT alumnus, who graduated from that superb educational institution in 1975 and went on to become licensed as a surveyor in Oregon and Washington during the early 1980s. In addition, Tim informed me, Don was among the many illustrious OIT graduates immortalized on a large stone obelisk, which has been Remembrance of a Great Surveyor and a Better Man His aspect still ebulliently radiated vitality and vigor, because he never lost one of the most precious attributes of youth— the ability to view life as a journey. By Brian Portwood, PLS