Kevin Paul Exline “walked on” on November 12, 2018. He was born to Pete Williamson and Jessie Exline on July 2, 1959, in Eureka.

Kevin was raised in McKinleyville, where he attended school and made many lifelong friends. He graduated from McKinleyville High School in 1978. As a gifted athlete, Kevin excelled in sports throughout his youth. He enjoyed playing football, basketball, baseball and wrestling. His talents were such that he was chosen to represent the McKinleyville Panthers on the Rotary All Star football team in 1977. Following high school, he began a career in the timber industry, where he was known to many as a skilled high climber and timber faller.

As a member of the Yurok Tribe, Kevin was proud of his native heritage and learned to speak the Yurok language. He enjoyed spending time hunting and fishing with family and friends on the Klamath River and at the cabin he built with his good friend and fishing partner, Antonio Padilla. Anyone who knew Kevin would agree that he was a generous person, always willing to help however he could, often putting the needs of family and friends before his own.

Kevin was preceded in death by his parents, Pete Williamson and Jessie Exline Van Pelt, his sister Joyce Thrasher, his brothers Lloyd “Jake” Van Pelt, Harvey “Butch” Marks, Ralph “Dean” Marks, James “Indio” Marks, Harold “Bradley” Muller, and David Exline, brother in law Bobby Thrasher Sr., and his nephews Bobby Thrasher Jr., Garland Thrasher,and William Einman.

Kevin is survived by his son Christopher Bilderback, his sisters Leona “Ann” Curtis, Brenda Thompson, and Carol Saulisbury, nieces Kimberly Thrasher, Elisabeth Stamos, Valerie Reed, Larissa Simurdak, and Rebecca Notbohm, nephew Bradley Thrasher, and many cousins, great nieces and nephews too numerous to mention.

Kevin is also survived by his longtime friend and partner, Theresa Barker, as well as lifelong friends Kevin Lockhart, Jim Richardson, and many others.

Kevin was loved by all who knew him, he will be greatly missed. Family an friends are invited to a celebration of life in honor of Kevin on January 20, 2019, at Azalea Hall in McKinleyville at 2 p.m.