Obituary of James Stephen Conrad

James Stephen Conrad

Vancouver, Washington

February 14, 1941 ~ July 1, 2019

James Stephen Conrad (Jim) of Vancouver, Washington, passed away peacefully on July 1, 2019, at the age of 78. Jim was born in Madison, WI, on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 1941, to Edwin C. Conrad, a former Madison City Attorney and Alderman, and Phyllis A. Conrad nee Legler, a surgical nurse originally from New Glarus, WI.

Jim attended Shorewood Hills Elementary and West High School. He lived in Syracuse, NY, his senior year in high school while his father worked as a visiting law professor. Jim studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin, and spent his summers in ROTC training courses and fighting fires with the US Forest Service in Idaho. After graduating from UW in 1964, he was commissioned into the US Army as a Second Lieutenant and earned a Bronze Star serving a combat tour in Vietnam in 1966 and 1967.

Following his discharge from the Army, Jim joined Crown Zellerbach as a pulp and paper engineer in Eureka, CA. He would work for CZ and later incarnations James River, Fort James, and finally Georgia-Pacific, for the next 32 years at the Wauna mill in Clatskanie, OR, in corporate engineering in Seattle, and in Camas, WA. In 1969, he married Nancy Conrad nee Johnson and the union resulted in three children.

James retired in 2000 and rededicated himself to his lifelong hobbies: skiing, golf, cribbage, model railroads, gardening, backyard wildlife, woodworking, cheering on his beloved UW Badgers, and of course, spending time with his growing brood of grandchildren.

James is survived by his brother, Joseph (Jan) of Salt Lake City, UT; his children, Andrew (Laurie) of Sammamish, WA, Nathan (Emily) of Vancouver, WA, and Rebekah Bhansali (Vineer) of Laguna Beach, CA; his cherished grandchildren, Johan, Jillian, Arif, Jacob, Kieran, and Ara; and numerous nieces, nephews and extended family members.

Jim will be laid to rest at Willamette National Ceremony in Happy Valley, OR, at 2pm on August 2, 2019. A gathering for friends and family will follow.