John S. Hillestad, 85, of Lynden, died peacefully on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016 with his wife of 60 years, Helene, at his side.
John was born on a farm in North Dakota. During his career as an Immigration and U.S. Customs agent, he moved his family to Falfurrias, Texas; Blaine, Washington; El Paso, Texas; Anchorage, Alaska, and back to Lynden, where he retired as the Lynden port director in 1986.
John and Helene enjoyed traveling together and took many trips, including driving across the U.S. in a motorhome, visting Japan, Germany and the Panama Canal. He also loved aviation, and he built and flew his own ultralight airplane, Yellow Bird, around Lynden, occasionally crash-landing in a field.
John enjoyed outdoor activities with his family, including hiking, camping, canoeing, fishing, cross-country skiing and motorcycling. He was a handyman extraordinaire and did beautiful woodworking projects, sometimes teaming up with Helene, who would paint them.
He is survived by his wife, Helene; and his children and grandchildren: Jolene and Dennis Clyburn (John) of Anchorage; John and Kate Hillestad (Katie-Grace, Isabelle) of Buffalo; and Jan and Yuki Fujikawa (Kazu, Kayla, Kai) of Nagasaki.
