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Lloyd E. Whitaker ( Redding 1966 )

posted: Apr 21, 2020

Lloyd,77, died March 7, 2020, at the University of Kentucky Medical Center. Lloyd and his twin brother, Floyd were born at Carmel-by-the-Sea in Monterey County. They lived in Monterey, California and graduated from Monterey High School in 1960. In 1961 they began working as permanent, year-long employees for the USFS on the Los Padres NF.

As a member of the "retread smokejumper program" that started in 1963 at the Redding, California Smokejumper Base, Floyd began smokejumping at Redding in1965 and Lloyd followed his brother in 1966. They took their smokejumper training in the spring, returning to the Los Padres NF to their regular positions as Engine Operators until they were needed for smokejumping assignments during the summer at Redding. (The Retread Program ended in 1974.)

Lloyd was a smokejumper for five years at Redding, from 1966 through 1970. He transferred to Missoula and jumped there in 1971, 1972, and 1979. From 1979 to 1981, Lloyd was the Lolo NF Helicopter Foreman in Missoula, Montana.

In 1981, Lloyd transferred to the Daniel Boone NF in Kentucky working as a District Fire Crew Foreman on the Redbird Purchase Unit.