death_place death_date birth_place birth_date article_title name occupation alma_mater
mccall , idaho , u.s. 18 march 2012 lena , wisconsin , u.s. 13 december 1936 ron klimko
 ronald james klimko bassoonist , author , composer , teacher , performer milton college university of wisconsin & ndash ; madison
ron klimko

ronald james klimko -lrb- december 13 , 1936 -- march 18 , 2012 -rrb- was an american bassoonist , author , composer , teacher , and performer .
he was editor of `` the double reed '' , the publication of the international double reed society , for thirty years -lrb- 1982 -- 2012 -rrb- and a professor of music at lionel hampton school of music , university of idaho , for thirty-two years -lrb- 1968 -- 2000 -rrb- .
ron was born on december 13 , 1936 in lena , wisconsin , the second son of robert louis klimko and evelyn rosera klimko .
he graduated from oshkosh high school , oshkosh , wisconsin and then went on to study choral music on scholarship at milton college , in milton , wisconsin , where he received his bachelor 's degree in music education in 1959 .
ron began his teaching career at the university of wisconsin -- madison as a teaching assistant while studying for his master 's degree in music .
in about 1960 he was drafted for a two-year term in the u.s. army , where he was posted to the army element of the navy school of music in norfolk , virginia .
after his discharge , he spent several months abroad in germany , where he hoped to study music .
opportunities were better back home in wisconsin , so he returned to study for his ph.d in music at madison .
while in graduate school he married kathleen sorenson -lrb- now , kathleen rathbun -rrb- and they had two sons , karl nicholas and christopher anthony .
while writing his dissertation , he was hired at minnesota state university moorhead , in moorhead , minnesota , to teach bassoon theory and composition .
the next year he was hired at indiana state university in terre haute .
his daughter julie marie was born in terre haute .
he finished his dissertation and received his ph.d. in 1968 .
from there , he went to the university of idaho , where he taught bassoon , theory and composition , and music history for 32 years until his retirement in january 2000 .
his youngest child , benjamin andrew was born in moscow in 1969 .
in 1986 he was invited to teach at national music camp , interlochen , michigan , and he taught at the school music , indiana university , for the summer of 1980 .
during his career at the university of idaho , he contributed to the world of music in a variety of ways .
he played bassoon in the spokane symphony for 20 years from 1969-1990 .
he also played bassoon with the yakima symphony , walla walla symphony , tri-cities symphony , and lagrande symphony .
he played solos with symphonies in alaska , and the lower 48 , as well as in europe .
he gave master classes in bassoon at lawrence university , ithaca college , and several other schools .
he was conductor of the spokane youth orchestra for one year .
he was constantly performing in orchestra and chamber music , and if no events were going on , he would organize a concert , a group , or an event .
while at the university of idaho , he received three sabbatical leave grants .
on the first leave , he was in london , england , from january to august 1976 , to study with world-renowned bassoonists , william waterhouse and cecil james .
on the second leave , he was in paris , france , from september 1983 to august 1984 , to study french bassoon privately with the `` maitre '' , maurice allard of the paris opera and paris conservatory .
on his third leave , he was visiting professor of bassoon at the university of colorado , boulder , from 1990 to 1991 .
he was until his death a member of the north american wind quintet , where he played the french bassoon .
he authored the well-known book `` bassoon performance , practices , and teaching in the united states and canada '' -lrb- 1971 , rev. 1992 -rrb- , the first such study of its kind for double reed players .
he was the editor of the `` the double reed '' , the professional publication of the international double reed society , from 1982 until his death in 2012 .
he regularly wrote a column and reviews of recordings for that publication .
in 2011 he was honored by the idrs with a lifetime honorary membership .
he has traveled around the world to visit with and interview bassoonists for publication in the `` double reed '' .
his original compositions are now archived at the university of idaho .
in his early years of composing he was interested in choral music and opera .
he composed an opera to the huxley work `` brave new world '' but could not publish or perform it due to copyright restrictions .
perhaps someday it will be performed .
over the years he experimented with harmonies and wrote works for woodwind instruments .
his own work `` passages , '' for clarinet and bassoon , was performed at the concert for the celebration of his life held in moscow , idaho in june 2012 .
in retirement , he and his family lived in mccall , idaho , from 2003 to 2012 , where he was president and director of the mccall chamber orchestra .
every year for the last several years he organized a summer concert of the mccall bassoon band , now called the ron klimko bassoon band .
ron arranged many popular and classical works for bassoon quintet and bassoon band .
following a decline in health in 2011 , he and his second wife , kathryn george , relocated to issaquah , washington to be nearer to children and better medical care .
in 2011 and 2012 he played in the sammamish symphony and the microsoft orchestra .
he reconnected with his old milton college friend , glen danielson , who had recently retired principal english horn with the seattle symphony .
they enjoyed many hours of reminiscences and collegiality in the microsoft orchestra .
ron 's last performance was with the microsoft orchestra , sitting near glen when they played the dvorak new world symphony .
throughout his life , ron was an avid sports enthusiast and participant .
his efforts began at oshkosh high school , where he was a miler on the track team for three years and lettered in the sport .
ron returned to running in his thirties , where he began competing in fun runs , 10k runs , and marathons .
in the mid-1970s , he and kathleen also began learning to ski and taught his children to ski .
in 1995 he took up snowboarding with his son chris acting as sometime instructor .
for many years while teaching at university of idaho , he ran 6 miles every noon hour with a group of friends , fondly known as team demoura .
he ran many local 5ks , 10ks and fun runs .
though seldom a first place winner , he usually placed high in the finishers .
he ran bloomsday in spokane for over a decade .
a member of palouse roadrunners , he helped organizers of the snake river marathon and ran the marathon itself more than once .
over the years he ran many other marathons , including oregon , seattle , vancouver , coeur d'alene , twin cities paul , avenue of the giants ca , marathon de bezons , paris , and the boston marathon in 1979 .
for his fiftieth birthday , he ran the 50k ultra-marathon in green lake , washington .
ron was equally enthusiastic about mountain climbing .
he climbed a great many of the volcanoes in the cascade mountains of washington and oregon , including mt. rainier -lrb- multiple times -rrb- , mt. adams -lrb- many times -rrb- , mt. st. helens -lrb- both before and after eruption -rrb- , mt. hood -lrb- many times -rrb- , mt. shuksan , and sahale peak .
in the tetons of wyoming , he and kathleen climbed the grand and middle tetons , teewenot , and mt. owen .
he also later climbed symmetry spire .
he climbed with his family in the selkirks of idaho and wrote an article on chimney rock for `` off belay '' .
also , in idaho , he summited the he devil in the seven devils , and he climbed the matterhorn , sacajewea , and twin peaks in the wallowas of southeastern washington .
while in europe , he climbed rimpfischhorn , pollux peak , liskalm , and mt. blanc in switzerland .
of all his climbing treks and tours , his most memorable was a trek to mt. everest base camp in october 1999 , where he reached the summit of 18,600-ft kala patar , an altitude personal record .
the roundtrip trek started at lukla in nepal and took about ten days .
in his sixties and seventies , his favorite sports were snowboarding and mountain biking .
he began skiing in 1970 and while in europe skied the french , swiss , and austrian alps .
while on a tour of new zealand with his second wife kathryn , they skied the tasman glacier on the south island .
he climbed and skied many of the cascade volcanoes in the west , skied most of the major areas in colorado , montana and idaho , and lake louise in canada .
he was an avid back-country skier until age 70 , spending a week in may with friends and his sons at the kokanee glacier in british columbia every year for over a decade .
in 1995 , he took up snowboarding and enjoyed most of the major areas in idaho , especially tamarack resort and brundage mountain resort near his home in mccall , idaho .
while on a tour of south america , he snowboarded -lrb- while his second wife skied -rrb- at valle nevado in chile .
his love of the terrain park for snowboarders led him to enter competitions , and he was 2007-08 idaho state champion in superpipe for his age division -lrb- methuselah ! -rrb- .
he was a nationally ranked methuselah division snowboarder in slopestyle and superpipe .
ron loved snowboarding so much that he bought lots of new boards , and his friends call him the `` ron klimko doll , wind him up and he buys a snowboard . ''
ron died on march 18 , 2012 at his favorite ski resort , brundage mountain in mccall , idaho .
he left this earth just as he always said he wanted to go : he had finished a beer or two with his wife and son chris , was laughing and talking with friends , having done a couple of snowboard runs the day before , left for the car and then turned back for his credit card .
while in the bar talking with the area manager , he collapsed suddenly and apparently without pain .
perhaps he is climbing and snowboarding the highest peaks of all now .
ron seemed to live every moment as if it were his last with an unmatched passion for music , running , biking , snowboarding , climbing and every other thing he could do .
in his prime he had the energy of a light beam and his wit and love of people was infectious and endearing to all who knew him until the end .
the ronald j. klimko memorial endowed scholarship was established by his colleagues and friends and gives scholarships to music students at the university of idaho .
