Carl V. Reinbolt

Carl V. Reinbolt died May 12. He was 96.

He was born on Oct. 22, 1912 in Quincy as the fourth of five children of Vincent and Grace Reinbolt. He lived in Eastern Washington and Idaho, graduating from Lewiston High School in 1929, where he was a member of the football team and played clarinet in the school orchestra.

In 1932, he enlisted in the U.S. Army. He was in the 35th Infantry Division, stationed in Hawaii and later the 6th Engineers at Fort Lawton in Seattle, where he met his future wife, May.

They were married for more than 70 years, until her death in 2007.

At the end of his Army duty, Reinbolt worked as a brakeman for the Great Northern Railway and as a streetcar driver for the city of Seattle. In 1941, he became part of Class Seven of the Seattle Police Department, one of the largest hiring groups in the department’s history. He is survived by only one remaining retired officer from that class. He spent 29 years in the Patrol and Traffic Divisions, retiring as a captain. His personnel file contains letters from traffic violators praising his courteous “carside manner.”

Reinbolt’s No. 1 passion in life was his family: wife May and daughters P.J. and Nanette. He also loved building houses, including three family homes in Seattle and one in Poulsbo, as well as a vacation cabin on the Washington coast.

Reinbolt’s final years were spent at Clearbrook Inn in Silverdale. He is survived by one brother, Fred Reinbolt of Ocean Park, Fla.; daughters P.J. Wickstrom and Nan Heffner (Walt); granddaughters Sandi Buchanan (Ted) Suzi Wickstrom and Sunny Houmes (Scott); great-grandchildren Abbie and Jack Houmes and Emily and Blain Buchanan.

A celebration of his life will be planned in the near future.