Ford Quitslund died July 23 at Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle after a brief hospitalization.

Quitslund had deep local roots and a lifelong commitment to the well-being of Bainbridge Island.

Born July 7, 1909 on the family farm in Port Madison, he was the third of five children of Johann Olaf and Sigrid (Petterson) Quitslund.

When he was a teenager, the trip by horse-drawn wagon to deliver farm produce to the Country Club at Restoration Point took the whole day.

He attended public schools on Bainbridge. Thanks to his mother’s activism, the island’s Olympic Union High School was fully accredited by 1927, when he graduated as valedictorian in a class of seven students.

He attended Washington State College, earning a degree in business and economics in 1931.

After working in the Seattle office of a farmers’ cooperative association, he boarded a bus to New York City, carrying a letter of introduction that would lead to a job in the city produce markets.

His New York employer encouraged him to attend Cornell University’s School of Agricultural Economics, where he earned a master’s degree in 1935.

During the next 10 years, he worked in New York, Maine, and Washington, D.C.

He and Eva May “Eve” Kitchel met in 1937 in Washington, D.C. They were married the same year, and had three sons by 1945, when they returned to Bainbridge to build on waterfront property that had been in the family since 1894.

A fourth son was born in Winslow in 1952.

In 1964, Ford and Eve moved to a second family home on the water, which he expanded over the years to provide for extended stays by returning children and grandchildren.

He was proud, too, of his conversion of much of the family farm on Torvanger Road into timber-producing open space.

In his thoughts about this project, his personal satisfaction, the interests of his children and grandchildren, and the common good of the Island were indivisible.

In his 90s, he was still planting and tending seedling trees, cutting firewood and keeping the roadways clear.

From 1945 to his retirement in 1973, Ford worked in the Seattle office of the farmers’ cooperative that became Western Farmers’ Association, serving in many capacities from office manager and supervisor of computerized accounting to controller and labor negotiator.

At home on Bainbridge, he was active in Rolling Bay Presbyterian Church, various civic associations, and project-related task forces. He served for several years on the Kitsap County Planning Commission and the Bainbridge Island Comprehensive Plan Advisory Council; he was deeply committed to the long process by which the island’s Comprehensive Plan was created.

Ford Quitslund is survived by his wife of 66 years, Eve; his sons (and daughters-in-law) Jon (Toby), James (Sabine), Dana (Nancy), and Gary (Linda Whitehead); his brother, James O., all of Bainbridge; and by six grandchildren (Jesse, Beth, Philip, Gabriel, Sarah, and Signe) and one great-grandchild (Garey).

There will be a family gathering for inurnment at Kane Cemetery; a memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Aug. 4 at Rolling Bay Presbyterian Church.

Remembrances can be made to either Helpline House (282 Knechtel Way, Bainbridge Island 98110) or Rolling Bay Presbyterian Church (P. O. Box 131, Rolling Bay, WA 98161).

Arrangements are under the direction of Kass Funeral Home.