Rupert E. DeFries

Rupert Earl DeFries has reached to end of the trail. Just short of his 92 birthday, he passed in the early afternoon of September 3, 2024. 
He is survived by his loving wife, Joan, and his three sons, Steve, Mike (wife Patsy), and Clint. He had nine grandchildren, 24 great grandchildren and five great, great grandchildren. 
He is preceded in death by his parents Phillip and Hazel, his brother Phillip, his sister Irene, and his daughter Vicki. 
As a young man, he worked with his father as a commercial fisherman and then in private security at the Bellingham Merchant Patrol (the first private security company in the area). Later he operated his own businesses in auto repair, auto body repair, and hauling logs. Working for a time as a machinist at Uniflite, he then joined the Whatcom County Sheriffs Office in 1968 as a patrol deputy advancing to Patrol Sergeant and retiring as a detective in 1996. 
An avid outdoorsman, when he wasn't hunting or fishing (or working), he was fixing or making something to aid in hunting or fishing. In the woods or on the lake was his happy place.