Alan B. Southwick

Alan Bruce Southwick, age 78, of Merlin, died suddenly July 3, 2026, of cardiac arrest while riding his e-bike on a mountain trail between Fish Lake and Lake of the Woods.

He married his beloved wife of 46 years, Kathryn Watt, on July 12, 1969. The following year, he graduated from the University of Puget Sound with a degree in elementrary education.

Al and Kathy moved to Grants Pass, Oregon, shortly after he graduated, where Al took a job at Riverside Elementary School as a 4th-grade teacher. Al taught 4th, 2nd, and 1st grades at Riverside for 30 years. He loved children and had sympathy for children who learned by manipulating things, as he did. He was renowned for his school craft projects, especially using wood and wax. He loved to talk about the praying mantis he had in his classroom and the kids who learned to play cribbage. He created a wooden picture frame project for many classrooms at Riverside and Parkside Elementary, where Kathy taught in later years. He took it to each of his grandchildren’s elementary classes as well. He believed school should be fun, but he was also a disciplinarian. His students loved him, and for years he could not walk downtown Grants Pass without a former student greeting him with “Mr. Southwick.”

Al had an old button accordion that he played at the beginning of each day, as the children came into the classroom. He said it was the best $75 he had ever spent at a thrift store. The seal on the bellows was damaged, so he repaired it with duct tape. He taught himself to play by ear and loved to play it at family gatherings and campouts.

During those teaching years, he and Kathy purchased a piece of forested land near Merlin where they raised their three children. With summers off, he built a home using wood from trees on the property that he felled and milled into lumber using a portable sawmill. A beautiful feature of the house is the octagonal third floor that has a cedar-shake tile ceiling. He loved to tell how he and his brother, David, cut the tiles from a cedar log that they fished out of Puget Sound using a “froe”. Al loved old tools.

After he retired in 2000, Al took over 70 raft trips down the Wild and Scenic Rogue River with friends and family. He cut down trees for firewood at home and to maintain a healthy forest. He assisted Kathy in her classroom with Freaky Friday appearances. He took most of his 17 grandchildren on a “special trip” as they entered their teenage years.

Following Kathryn’s death in 2014, Alan married Carolyn Layton on December 10, 2016. Carolyn and Alan had 10 years of adventures, including bike riding, scuba diving, kayaking, hiking, and traveling. They dived all over the Caribbean, went on an African safari with friends, and traveled to Costa Rica with their favorite club, Slopes & Trails. They RV camped all over Oregon and took a trip across the US to the East Coast and back. They loved morning coffee and evening wine, making dinner and having movie night with popcorn.

Alan was a member of Newman United Methodist Church and Slopes & Trails Club.

His hobbies included growing roses and other flowers, collecting axes, chain sawing, and music with his clarinet and accordion.

Alan is survived by his wife Carolyn Southwick; children Kristine Lynn Southwick and husband James D. Dimmick; Philip Michael Southwick and wife Emily Bulmer Southwick and Alan Craig Southwick and wife Leslie Boies Southwick; stepchildren Jon Layton, James Layton and wife Kristina Grandby, and Jesse Layton and wife Hannah; 17 grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.

In addition to his first wife Kathryn Janet Southwick, he was preceded in death by brother David Lee Southwick and his parents David Henry Southwick and Irma Elizabeth Shouse Southwick.

A celebration of life will be at 10:00 a.m., August 22, 2026 at Newman United Methodist Church.

Please share a memory of Alan in the guestbook~