Roy M. Percival (North Cascades ’57)
Posted: April 30, 2026
Roy died April 19, 2026. He was born March 10, 1938, at Sacred Heart hospital in Spokane, Washington. He grew up in several small towns in eastern Washington until they moved to Wenatchee. Roy graduated from Wenatchee H. S. in 1956. He worked for the state of Washington during the summers of 1955-56 at Ahtanum doing forestry work.
He jumped at Winthrop in 1957-58 and then moved on to Fairbanks and jumped there 1959-61 and 1963-65. He was drafted into the Army in 1961 and served until 1963. He was stationed at Fort Richardson in Anchorage where he met his future wife, Betty Baarstad. They married in Delta Junction, Alaska, in March of 1963. He got an “early out” from the Army so he could jump in Fairbanks the summer of 1963.
During the winters he attended Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, and graduated in 1965 with a degree in Forestry. Roy became a BLM dispatcher in Fairbanks until 1969 when he transferred to Boise BLM District as a forester. In 1970 the call to fire was too strong and he transferred back to Fairbanks as Fire Management Officer. In February 1976 he moved to the Washington DC office as Fire Management Officer for BLM. In October 1977 he transferred to Reno, Nevada, as the Nevada State FMO for BLM. He was there until 1982 when he moved on to BIFC (now NIFC) as the BLM Associate Director. Roy retired in 1990.
