Thomas Sayre, 85

Tom Sayre, born Dec. 17, 1938, passed away in Ashland, Ore., on July 10, 2024. He was 85 years old. His life is over, but what an over; the life of a lad from the East who, lured by love and the Idaho pine forests, became a man of the West. 

Born in Worcester, Mass., to Russ and Det Sayre, he spent his childhood at 10 Tory Fort Lane among the maple trees and hardwood forests of the Northeast. He played ice hockey on Cook’s pond in the winter, fished for brook trout in the spring, and swam it in the summer. Tatnuck Square was at the center of his neighborhood and almost all the stories of his youth. Lifelong friendships with neighborhood pals Mike, Dick, Pete and Eddie endured.

After high school graduation, he did basic training and a stint in the National Guard, then enrolled at UMass where he developed his interest in forestry and silviculture. In the summer of 1958, he headed west for the first time to help eradicate white pine blister rust in the Kootenai and Kaniksu National forests. He loved every minute among the fir, pine, ponderosa, and tumbling trout creeks of North Idaho and western Montana. 

He ventured west again the following summer (hitchhiking no less), and met Marsha Buroker at the Priest Lake resort just west of her hometown of Bonners Ferry, Idaho. She was a lifeguard and nanny at the resort, he was a pine-cone-scented Forest Service timber cruiser. They drank Schlitz, dated, and fell in love. They married two years later in 1961. 

With her estimable help, he finished his forestry degree at the University of Montana, then began his career working for the U.S. Forest Service. Tom and Marsha had a life together of love, laughter and mutual respect. They were true partners in life, and caring, pragmatic, level-headed parents to their two high-energy sons, Michael and Matt. 

Tom, as he was promoted in the Forest Service, took his young family to live in places like Troy, Mont.; Trout Creek, Idaho; Elk City, Idaho; Bishop, Calif.; and finally, Olympia, Wash., where he retired from the Olympic National Forest as the public information officer. Every town was an adventure, and Tom and Marsha garnered close friends in each locale. 

During Tom’s last two decades with the Forest Service, he was instrumental in the facilitation and logistics of western Washington’s national forests; he was one of the primary media contacts during the Mt. St. Helens eruption, organized meetings with senators and proponents of spotted owl preservation, and refereed disputes between loggers and Earth First! activists. According to his longtime friend and Olympic National Forest Supervisor Ted Stubblefield, “Tom was part of my four-person strategy team charged with turning the Olympic National Forest into the great entity it is today. He had so many ideas that we turned into action. I’ve always credited him with that internal turnaround.”

At home he was adept at fence building, nerf-ball throwing, son wrestling, shed framing, woodworking, scotch drinking, tractoring, gardening, genealogy, reading history, copper pot collecting, trap lines with his grandkids Dubs and Sheesh, wine drinking and embellished storytelling. 

His skill in the kitchen was well known among family and friends. As one of his favorite authors Angelo Pellegrini, put it, “A man who loves good food has a way of making it gravitate toward his kitchen.” He could produce a Pad Thai, Irish colcannon, sourdough hotcakes, or pasta with gravy and sausages to feed a household of teenage boys. He could also make a Caesar salad or fresh pesto from his garden to please his Marsha. It was a great misfortune to miss one of his meals. He loved to travel to places where food was the central attraction, and watch movies with a similar theme. Italy, Thailand, Austria, Mexico, "The Godfather," "Big Night," "Babette’s Feast," and "Goodfellas" were among his favorites.

Along with places he’d lived, meals he’d eaten, and cars he’d driven, he remembered periods in his life by the dogs and cats he loved; most notably, Kimmy, Jake and Molly, Missy, Gretchen, Daughter, Mister, Howard and Joan. He loved his dogs, but was a cat man at heart. 

After moving to Medford, Ore., in 2002, he volunteered for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (to procure tickets for Marsha), and at the Jackson County Genealogical Society, and was a season ticket holder for all Southern Oregon University Athletic events. He was also a lucky Rogue River steelhead fly fisherman.

On Aug. 7, 2023, after 63 years of marriage, Marsha passed away, which broke his heart. He dreamt of her often in his last weeks, and would wake sparkle-eyed to recount where they’d rendezvoused and what they talked about. They will be laid to rest together in Bonners Ferry, alongside her mother and father, Faye and Harold Buroker, and brother Steve.

A small ceremony honoring Tom and his recently deceased brother-in-law, Steve Buroker, will be held at Grandview Cemetery, overlooking Bonner’s Ferry, on Sunday, Sept. 1, at 10 in the morning. 

Tom is survived by his two sons, Michael and Matt; his sisters, Johanna Sayre and Christine DeRidder; niece Jessica Cohen, her husband, Ron, and daughter Sayre; daughter-in-law Kouba Sayre; grandchildren Rieger and Koura Sayre; and Mister the cat.