Frederic Larry HATFIELD Obituary (2025)

Our dad, Frederic L. "Larry" Hatfield, was born November 22, 1934, to Cal and Norma (Grunewald) Hatfield, and peacefully passed away in the early morning hours of Monday, August 25th, 2025, with his loving and devoted daughter, Ruth Barnhart, by his side. Dad had a very full, colorful and eclectic life filled with amazing facets that he brought to our family! We will be eternally grateful for his knowledge and invaluable advice, support and epic experiences over the years, and the stories....including walking uphill both ways to school in 42 feet of snow in the summer and leaving home at 13 to drive truck, with a stick shift. He tried to convince us that he mowed in the "H" at the front of Highland High School for his last name, Hatfield. Ha! He was a legend! Dad and Mom married young and had an amazing 65+ years together before her passing in 2019. How many kids in their teens were treated to French Onion soup and Port Wine at a sidewalk cafe in Pioneer Square or experienced the food courts and music associated with Bumbershoot and the Seattle Center and shopping at Bellevue Square? We can raise our hands! How many of you received his endless music links on Facebook for artists ranging from John Prine to Jimmy Buffett to Loudon Wainwright III to Tom Waits to We Are The World, Leonard Cohen and so many more?! Bless you! In 1963 they took a chance and purchased a farm/homestead and 10 acres in Ahtanum and moved us from city life into the best rural environment and lifestyle that we could never have imaged would be so awesome! The day the Shockley girls' rode horseback into our driveway selling tickets for Kristi to become Queen of the West Valley Fair was a life changer for all of us. Rodeo's, Cattle roundups, working cattle followed by some whiskey and dancing in the living room or our favorite run to the Ding Ho for dinner, picking and grinning parties, neighborhood families celebrating weddings and the grange hall dances that followed and mourning together as neighbors took their last ride, was all done as a rural "family". 4-H became a way of life for us as a family, raising and showing chickens, pigs, steers and sheep, to learn the valuable lesson of profit and loss that comes with a rural lifestyle and farming. We also had horses and lived our best lives riding around the pastures, creeks, Native American graveyards, etc. Dad worked as an Orchard Manager in Parker Heights, a mechanic at Hahn Motor Co., followed by his employment at Howatt Archery in 1963. Starting as a hand sander in a shed behind Howatt's house in Gleed, he worked his way up and was promoted to manager as they moved to a new location on Fruitvale Blvd and continued through the acquisition by Martin Archery. When they moved all operations to Walla Walla, dad drove there up into his 80's, until the day he didn't! (if you know, you know) During these years dad competed in and became a World and United States record holder in several events, including the Longbow Flight competition at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Dad got a kick out of the event where he set a new distance record and broke it during the same event. Dad, via Martin Archery, also built the bow and flaming arrow used to light the Olympic Flame for the opening of the Barcelona Games. He received a beautiful letter from the Olympic Committee thanking him and stating, "the bow & arrow shot straight and true"! He met the most amazing people, from all over the world, at the competitions in Utah, who became life-long friends. These bonds were filled with so much mutual admiration, love and respect for each other, it was amazing to witness. Thank you to Jaap Koppendrayer and his wife Kay for the amazing bows you sent to dad and to Kay for the article that makes me cry with pride every time I read it, "One Shot, One Arrow, Published in Primitive Archer in 2017. Also, thank you to Ron Palmer in England for the beautiful long bow commissioned by Pete Day. During this time Dad also belonged to the Appaloosa Horse Club and through this he met Martin and Grace Forry. Dad rode their horses in competition's and spent many weekends at their Forry's Simcoe Stables in Goldendale, breaking foals to lead and assisting on the ranch. I used to go with dad on many weekend trips and learned the hard way that dad taught the foals to come to him with a hand gesture, so you could command them from across the pasture, as long as they made eye contact with you. What I didn't know was that he taught them to come to him and put their forehead on his chest, so I was knocked over on my first effort! As his parents aged, Dad assisted and eventually took over running their apple orchard with the help of his son Doug, who ultimately ran it full time. Ruth and I picked many apples "over on the hill". Dad also served on the Filipino American Society board of directors in Wapato and cooked at their hall weekly for a number of years. We golfed in their scholarship fundraiser and thoroughly enjoyed the members and their hospitality and friendships. A chance stop for lunch at Famous Burger turned into a deep bond and a call to us kids telling us we had a new sister. This meeting took dad on a journey with Steve and Lee Som to Cambodia to meet the rest of his new family and memories to last a lifetime. Thank you so much, brother, sister, grandkids and great grandkids for coming into our lives! He loved you so much! Dad worked the lunch shift at the restaurant for a while and really enjoyed it! Neither Dad nor Mom could have remained at home to the very end without the selfless efforts of Ruth. She was there day and night, and around the clock when needed, for years. Her efforts were filled with love and laughter, and she treated them with dignity and understanding along with a few F bombs thrown by her and dad (let's be real here) but it worked, and he was in the best hands ever! Dad is survived by his daughters, Ruth Barnhart and Cristi Burgess (Rick), Grandchildren Morgan Tennant (Jason), Jarrod Bates, Sheridan Bates, Nicole Dobbins (C.J.) and Matthew Hatfield (Jen); Great grandchildren Gwen and Jacob Tennant, Katie and Ray Dobbins, Niece Kelly Ramil, and numerous cousins, along with friends who became family, including Sue Shockley Myra, Ginia and Cliff Olney and Steve and Lee Som and their families. He was preceded in death by his wife, Virginia Hatfield, his parents, his brother, Jack Hatfield, son Doug Hatfield, granddaughter Lauren Hatfield and grandson Cory Barnhart. Per dad's wishes, no formal services will be held. Rest well, Dad!