04/08/2026
Walter Barclay Seibly was born on 8 September 1938 in his maternal grandmother’s farmhouse on the Whetstone in Columbia County, Washington. He died 31,983 days later – on 2 April 2026 – at home, in the Clarkston Heights, in the house he shared with his wife of 64 years, Bonnie Jean Seibly.
At his birth, baby W. B. Seibly was surrounded by a gaggle of girls. His mother Maxine Onita Seibly, his Grandmother Ina Mae, and his maternal aunties, Thelma Lou, Evelyn and Aluerdine. His maternal grandfather, Edgar “Papa” Barclay, who was blessed with five daughters, but not a son in sight, called him “Edgar Barclay Boy”. The rest of the family just called him “Barc”. On his deathbed, Barc was comforted by his spouse, children and their husband and wives, grandchildren and their husband and wives, and great grandchildren. A full life, filled with family.
Barc moved with his parents, Walt and Maxine, and his siblings, older sister Renee’ and younger sister Tamie, to Clarkston, Washington in 1946. He graduated a proud Bantam in 1956. He continued his education by attending Walla Walla College in College Place, Washington, Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Loma Linda University in San Bernardino County, California. Barclay graduated as a Doctor of Dental Surgery in 1965. He established his dental practice on 6th Street in Clarkston in 1966. He remained in his office, cleaning, filling, extracting, crowning, bridging, and implanting the teeth of the good citizens of Eastern Washington and North Idaho for the following 30 years.
Barc was an outdoorsman of the first and highest order. He preferred to carry smooth bolt action rifles made by Wi******er before 1964, chambered for fast cartridges; ride slow, careful mountain mules; sit in slick-fork, roughout saddles; throw diamonds on Deckers; sleep in canvas wall tents, on green egg carton foam; chop with single bitted axes; eat early big breakfasts of hotcakes, fried eggs with hashbrown potatoes swimming in sweet maple syrup; and, play hearts late, to the hiss and soft light of Coleman lanterns while the temperature outside dropped and the laughter inside rose.
Barc handloaded Speer hot-core bullets into Wi******er Western brass with CCI primers, and he frowned on anyone that suggested Nosler Partitions might hold together a bit better on big bull elk. He’d say, “dead is dead”.
He loved travel vacations -- when taken on horseback, by way of pack train, to exotic locations with intriguing names like “Bull P**s Springs”; “Wet Ass Creek”; “Maude and Lattie”; “Sheepeater”; and “Sugar Loaf”. He enjoyed catching Brook Trout in high mountain lakes, Bull Trout in deep canyon creeks, and Steelhead in big river tail outs. He was an enthusiastic mushroom hunter – chasing Morels up the mountains as snowlines receded. He picked Huckleberries and Thimbleberries by the bushel full, but generally only on horseback while navigating high ridge switchbacks on backcountry trails in the Summer.
Barc had a passion for hunting. He was a harvester of both meat and antler. He cut a wide swath. From Northern British Columbia to Southern Wyoming no Big Horn Sheep, Pronghorn, Mountain Goat, Mule Deer, Whitetail or Black Bear was safe. He had an obsession for Elk -- a Wapiti wizard. From Barc, they could not hide. On his stomping grounds of the Wenaha and Frank Church Wildernesses, he knew where the herds were, where they had been, and where they were going. He knew their bedrooms, their breakfast tables, and their escape routes. He spoke their language: big bulls in the rut guarding a harem, small bulls in the rut wishing they could sneak a little something on the side, cows comforting, or looking for, their calves – He was fluent in it all. His favorite day was any cold morning in a saddle, under a steel grey sky, with the fog rolling in, on his way towards, engaging in, or returning from an elk hunt.
Barc was a church going man, raised a Seventh-day Adventist. He remained true to his faith. He served as a deacon, an elder, and a school board chairman for the Lewiston and Clarkston congregations. He practiced what he preached by bringing food to the hungry through the Asotin County Food Bank, fresh water to thirsty orphans by developing wells in Honduras, and sharing knowledge of biology and woodworking to young students through a Lewis-Clark Valley homeschool network.
Barc’s roots in the Valley ran deep. But, in 1975, he moved Bonnie and their children, Matt, Holly and Tim, to rural Asotin County. From that moment onward, if he was asked where he was from, his answer never wavered – “Anatone”. He loved the people and the land of the high flat. He loved the connections hardy families had forged over generations by blood and marriage. He loved the lines of transition where fields of wheat and hay met thorn-brush and timber. He loved buttercups, blue bells and shooting stars. He loved to watch Nighthawks, with white circles on their wings, chasing insects at dusk – he called them “Jap Zeros”. He built houses for mountain bluebirds and mounted them on fence posts and telephone poles just off every county gravel or dirt road he could traverse. He loved blue Ford tractors and blue Fords trucks. Barc loved his mountain log home.
Barc was dedicated to his patients, kind to children, neighborly to those in his community, and fiercely loyal to his friends. He was not a man of frivolity or fiction. He lived his life directly, oriented to a daily goal -- like a black bear climbs a ridge -- straight up the fall line. He lived 31,983 days, and his lead right foot never left the throttle.
Walter Barclay Seibly is survived by his wife Bonnie; his sisters Renee’ and Tamie; his children: Holly and her husband Larry; Matt and his wife Lisa; and Tim and his wife Jo; his grandchildren: Mitch (and his wife Amanda), Levi (and his fiancée Shalynne), Luke (and his wife Savanah), Cedric, Robert, Wyatt, Jake (and his wife Layla), Austin (and his wife Nallely), Brandon (and his wife Chanell) , Justin (and his wife Jessica), Elizabeth (and her husband Kevin), Jack and Mollie; and his great grandchildren: Declan, Deagan, Teagan Rose, Darren, Carter Dean, Lyla Jean, Bennett, Shayla, Kaliegh, Dawson, Leah, and August.
Some may wish to send flowers to the Seibly family in honor of Barc. Thank you for your kindness. Barc asked that you consider a charitable donation to the Lewiston, Idaho Chapter of Union Gospel Mission, or Leading the Way, or Samaritan’s Purse water development as an alternative. Thank you.
A Funeral Service will be held Saturday, April 11, 2026 at 2:00pm at Mountain View Funeral Home Chapel 3521 7th Street Lewiston, Idaho. A Graveside will follow at Lewis-Clark Memorial Gardens. Pastor Marshall McVay will be presiding.
Click the link below to view Barc’s Memorial Tribute: https://www.tributeslides.com/tributes/show/NYGY465FS8596XX7
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