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Clifford Raymond Bartlett of Ritzville, Washington passed away peacefully in his sleep early on the morning of November 16, 2019 after a 3 1/2 year battle with brain cancer. Cliff was 70 years old.
Cliff was born in Ellensburg, Washington but soon relocated to Palouse, Washington with his father Clive Bartlett who raised him and his younger brother Ernie and sisters Lucille and Christie. As a young man, Cliff worked farms, played basketball and baseball and learned many vocations from farming to logging and mechanics.
At 17 years old, Cliff went to Vietnam where he served in the Army during the Vietnam War. He trained as a Machine Operator at Ft. Leonard Wood Missouri for 8 weeks in 1966 after completing basic training. In the fall of 1968, he shipped out to Vietnam by way of the Pacific Ocean in the belly of a ship in the 93rd Engineering Battalion for the U.S. Army. He came home January 2, 1969 by way of Oakland, California. Cliff received the National Defense Service Medal, The Vietnam Service Medal and two purple hearts for his active duty service in the Vietnam War.
After returning home, he'd fall in love and marry Clydena Nancy Gibbs of Spokane, Washington on March 18, 1970. 9 months after the honeymoon they'd have their first born, a daughter, Connie Rae Bartlett Kerbs on December 28, 1970. Their second born, a son, Cory William Bartlett was born June 14, 1976. Cliff spent many years working at various jobs, Kaiser Aluminum, the Presto-Log Company, Darigold, and as a logger, millright, mechanic and salesperson. In the mid-80's, Clifford moved to Manhattan, Kansas and helped operate a computer store with his brother Ernie Bartlett. He'd work here until the late 1990s when he retired and returned to Palouse, Washington to live with and care for his father who passed in 2001.
In his later years, he was employed as a salesman, a cashier, and briefly as a cab driver in Spokane. He retired for good in 2011 where he and his wife relocated to Chewelah Washington from her long-time home of nearly 30 years in Elk, Washington. In 2016, Cliff was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, and he and his wife relocated to Ritzville, Washington to be in the care of his son Cory and his wife Melody Bartlett. Family cared for Cliff daily during chemo/radiation, physical therapy and recovery. Cliff was under the care of Cory and Melody Bartlett in Ritzville for the past 3 ½ years. In January 2019, it became to difficult for his son to care for him at home and he was transferred to East Adams Rural Hospital for long-term care.
Cliff was a lover of baseball, Louis Lamour books, country and western music and anything to do with the old west. A self-described redneck, Cliff had two degrees he earned from night school in the 70s, one in business and one in diesel mechanics. He was adept at math, enjoyed reading and had an infectious spirit, laugh and energy everyone around could feel.
Cliff was interred at Fairmount Memorial Garden in Spokane, Washington after a public service at Danekas Funeral Home in Ritzville. He is survived by his wife Clydena Gibbs Bartlett, daughter Connie Bartlett Kerbs (Clayton, Washington), son Cory Bartlett (Ritzville, Washington), brother Ernie Bartlett (Rathdrum, Idaho), sisters, Lucille Abbott (Manhattan, Kansas) and Christie Jane Bartlett-Newby (Conroe, Texas), his Aunt Norma Bartlett (95 years old of Potlatch, Idaho) many nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews, 19 grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
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