Daniel Kencke 1960-2026

Daniel Kencke

Daniel Lee Kencke 1960 -2026

Celebration of Life

October 25, 2026
1:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Lake Forest Park Civic Club
17301 Beach Drive NE, Lake Forest Park, WA

Explorer, photographer, collector of curiosities, asker of questions, one-of-a-kind Dan Kencke passed away suddenly while on his weekly Friday neighborhood litter cleanup walk. His wife, Karen, was by his side when he journeyed on to what he surely would have called his cathedral in the forest. 

Dan was born to Gerald and Naomi Kencke and was raised in Mountain Home, Idaho, where adventure was never far away and chores became character building exercises. 

At a young age Dan knew the grit, rhythm and occasional absurdity of hard work, helping to raise sheep, tending vegetable and rock gardens, building cabins and working as Grandma Kencke's self-proclaimed lawn slave at their Pine cabin. 

He camped, fished and backpacked, and quickly learned to swim in the efficient family style when his dad tossed him in a river or lake for bathing. On family trips he explored National and State parks. He walked the beaches in Ketchikan, Alaska searching for shells and sea life. 

In middle school and high school he went tubing in Canyon Creek. He joined a bowling league. He ran track and played football at Mountain Home High. He played the trumpet in the high school band. 

After graduating in 1978, Dan enlisted in the Marine Corps. He served for five years, two of which were spent in Okinawa where he learned to scuba dive then taught scuba to families from the U.S. Department of Defense. 

In 1983 he enrolled at the University of Idaho, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Wildland Recreation Management, taking several courses in photography along the way that fueled a lifelong passion for seeing rather than just looking, persuading the world to pose. 

His photography garnered awards over the years, both national and international, including several Prix De La Photographic Paris placements, Images of the Year and Best in Category placements in many competitions. 

He lived a life of kindness, empathy, curiosity and creativity, usually with a camera close enough to make the rest of us stand taller. As he was preparing for an adventure in Nepal, he met Karen Mullen. On his trek from Katmandu to Mount Everest a palm reader told him that he'd already met the love of his life, a dancer. As it turned out, the palm reader was right. Dan and Karen became one, the "Daren Unity." 

After college they spent a glorious summer tending a remote U.S. Forest Service property on the Snake River. In 1990 they moved to the greater Seattle area where they married and made their home. They were inseparable, happy and fulfilled in every way. 

Dan worked for the City of Redmond Parks Operations where he earned the nickname, D'Pot Pie, a name mysterious and memorable enough to stick forever. Karen became lovingly known as Mrs. Pie. 

Over thirty-six years he formed strong emotional bonds with his colleagues, instilling in them his love for public lands. He and Karen were long time caretakers of the Farrell-McWhirter Farm. He retired from the Parks Operation in April, 2025.

He was an avid reader, a member of the British Cloud Appreciation Society, which made perfect sense as anyone who knew him knew that he often had his head in the clouds and, somehow, his feet firmly on the trail at the same time. 

He and Karen took long hikes on the coast and Mount Rainier. Most recently they completed a 150 mile trek in Ireland. He regularly walked the Edmonds' beach looking for anything that would be a good art project. He called these his treasures. In Dan's eyes even the discarded had the potential to be a possible masterpiece. 

He found beauty in the discarded and weird, seeing the value in things, places and people that others overlooked. He genuinely believed that everyone's life and work had dignity. He had a deep capacity for empathy. He was a listener. Strangers were comfortable sharing their life stories with him. 

To know Dan was to love him and quite possibly leave a conversation with a new appreciation for clouds, driftwood or some oddly shaped rock.. 

Dan is survived by his dear wife, best friend and soulmate of forty years, Karen, his loving sister Klea, eight adored nieces and nephews, his aunt Shirley and a scattering of first and second cousins. He was preceded in death by his parents, Jerry and Naomi, and his brother, Lauren. 

In his memory he would wish you to perform an unexpected and unsolicited act of kindness or, if you wish, make a contribution to the Nature Conservancy. 

Please join us when we celebrate and honor Dan's spirit and the extraordinary life he lived with gatherings of family and friends on Saturday, September 26, 2026 from 1:00 to 5:00pm at the Elks Lodge, 325 S. 3rd West Street, Mountain Home, Idaho, or on Sunday, October 25, 2026, 1:00 to 6:00pm at Lake Forest Park Civic Club, 17301 Beach Drive Northeast, Lake Forest Park, Washington.