Robert Louis Hatfield, a Wishkah Valley resident for 55 years, died at Grays Harbor Community Hospital on Dec. 26, 2003 from complications of pneumonia and Parkinson’s disease. He was 86.

He was born on Aug. 6, 1917, in Steele, N.D. to George and Anne (Johnson) Hatfield. In 1932, the family moved to the state of Washington and settled in Woodland, where he attended school.

In 1937, he worked on the Grand Coulee Dam project.

In 1942, he joined the U.S. Navy, serving with the Pacific Fleet as a machinist’s mate aboard oil tankers and destroyers, from the South Pacific to the Aleutian Islands. He was honorably discharged in 1945.

He married Margaret Roberson on Aug. 10, 1943, in Longview, Wash. During World War II, they lived in Seattle and in San Diego and Monterey, Calif.

In 1946, the couple moved to Westport, Wash., and in 1948 they settled on 10 acres in the Wishkah Valley, where he raised chickens and sold eggs to local stores. He also worked at Firland Dairy in the early 1950s.

In 1952, he began working as a leveeman for the Port of Grays Harbor on the electric dredge Robert Gray. He retired from the Northwest Labor Union Local No. 252 in 1977.

He began commercial fishing in 1926 with the troller Patty Lou. In 1956, he purchased F/V Leonard and trolled for salmon off the Washington coast until 1982.

He continued to fish on Grays Harbor with his gillnetter until 1996.

He was a member of the Wishkah/Wynoochee Grange, West Coast Trollers Association, Grays Harbor Gillnetters, Wishkah Valley Community Church and Northwest Labor Union Local No. 252.

He also enjoyed digging razor clams, bowling, golfing, deer and elk hunting, gardening, and watching his children and grandchildren in their school activities.

He is survived by his wife Margaret; two sons, Steven of Wishkah Valley and Douglas of Bainbridge Island; and daughter Evelyn (Hatfield) Hansen of Shoreline. Also surviving him are four grandchildren, two step-grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and two step-great-grandchildren.

Two brothers, Pat and Harry, both of Woodland, and a sister, Edith (Hatfield) Schurman of Ridgefield, preceded him in death.

Services and burial were held Dec. 27, 2003, at Fern Hill Cemetery, with military honors provided by the Grays Harbor All Service Honor Guard.