| Graduation Year | Class of 1973 |
| Date of Passing | Apr 11, 2020 |
| About | After one heck of a battle with cancer, Clifford Plath, with grace and courage passed away peacefully, surrounded at his home by his family, dogs and cat on April 11th, 2020. A most loving and devoted husband, father, brother and dear friend. He is survived by his wife of 31 years, Janie Gilbert Plath, his children Gilbert (Amanda) Plath & Sarah Plath, brothers Peter (Bea) Plath, and Rick (Lisa) Plath, and a grand multitude of dear nieces, nephews and in laws! Cliff was born September 3rd, 1955 in Yakima, WA, third & favorite son of Fred & Dorothy Plath. He attended Wide Hollow and Gilbert Elementary, Wilson Jr. High, and Eisenhower High School before graduating from the University of Washington (member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity) with a major in Business. Growing up farming in our bountiful valley he was no stranger to hard work and appreciation of the land we call home. A prodigy of Pickens Rd., his childhood adventures with friends rivaled the tales of Huck Finn or Tom Sawyer. The family took summer vacations water skiing and boating on Priest Lake with friends, eventually making their way to the salt water and boats with windshields. His lifelong love of boating and water brought him challenges mechanically and navigationally. Ohhhhh the stories! One being, at 15 he and 3 friends took the 27’ Slickcraft for TWO WEEKS to explore the San Juan and Gulf Islands. It’s a wonder they all lived to tell the tales of this adventure! Upon graduating the travel bug bit hard. True to the 1970’s Kevin Hoonan and Cliff toured Europe in a Volkswagen Bus as their transport with 8-tracks of Jefferson Starship, Brian Auger, etc! Followed by a road trip across the U.S. with Mike Shafer… kicked out of New Orleans for life is quite the accomplishment! He settled into Sunnyside upon his return and began work at Independent Foods in fieldwork & operations. Combining his interest of challenges with machinery and love of farming & producing. This led to fieldwork management at Washington Fruit & Produce where alongside his brothers Pete, Rick and father Fred led a fruitful career as owner and operator. Cliff wasn’t like his father, he WAS his father. He always made time to listen to problems and offer sensitive solutions. When dealing with his partners, family, employees or friends, his sense of humor, honesty, pure kindness, complete and common sense of fairness shined. A spirited bachelor, with numerous “BOYS sailing trips” as captain & excursions on his resume, until his 30’s when he met his match for a lifelong loving mate. Harvest of 1987 Janie Gilbert came home from the U of O to help with the then bumper crop. Though old family friends it was a call from Aunt Carol Anne that got Janie and Cliff to meet again. Fireworks flew! FUN and friendship that followed was infectious and just like that they were married May of 1988 at Sno Mountain ranch. They produced two of the finest people, Gilbert and Sarah. Cliff rarely ever went a day without saying “We have GREAT kids!” A loving, caring father, he always woke with a smile no matter what the time. The four together were blessed to travel with adventures including the South Pacific, New Zealand, Central America, Croatia, Hawaii and boat trips to the Caribbean. They share a family cabin on Lopez Island where many memorable, festive gatherings have taken place. Cliff’s interests besides farming included local geology that started on trips with Grannie Annie, skiing, fishing, shrimping, boating, duck and pheasant hunting, anything with engines or remotes and of course traveling! Forever the student, any trip always included at least a day of getting a professional guide to educate and bring to life the history and story of our surroundings. His friendships were legendary… Mark Sammuelson, Dave Hargreaves, James Naughton, Charlie De La, Brad & Steve Snyder, Roger Johnson, Dave Rankin, and Steve Barnett to name a few. They will be busy with stories & memories of utter shenanigans of laughter & love. His best friend and brother Rick will be correcting them along the way… As Cliff ripened with years on the farms he began seeing the value of early childhood education. A family trait from his grandfather, A.C. Davis, he became so passionate about providing a quality preschool experience for the farm industry’s children that he began the quest to build a schoolhouse in Royal City. After 8 years of operating in a church basement he found the right organization and place to operate this dream. A brand new schoolhouse, provided & funded by Cliff, Blossoms Royal City, opened its doors to children this last fall under the operation of Inspire. While all this was evolving… he built 2 other “schoolhouses”… Blossoms on 4th street and Blossoms Race St. here in Yakima successfully operated by ESD 105… at this writing there have been over 1400 children served. He remained grateful & humbled by all those who helped orchestrate these projects. Jane Gutting and Jenny Hunter along with the bright & brilliant from ESD & Inspire! Cliff’s interest in making his community a better place for all did not stop with early learning but he also valued the YMCA, Children’s Village, The Yakima Greenway, Cowiche Canyon Conservancy, Washington Apple Education Foundation, Catholic Family Charities and was MOST helpful to the development of the Pegasus Project Therapeutic Riding Center. After complications swallowing, Cliff was diagnosed with esophageal cancer at Virginia Mason Seattle almost two years ago. The intense professional and heartfelt care by the doctors and crew there as well as North Star Lodge and Cornerstone was phenomenal. A very special thanks to Dr. Misho Hubka, Dr. Joseph Rosales, Dr. Andrew Ross and Dr. Joanna Law plus a plethora of others. Also a very special thanks to Dr. Gabriel Lascar who has been caring, available and respectful through all of Cliff’s medical adventures the last 20-plus years. He was happy to call him friend. hey all epitomize the vision of what medical care should be for all. THANK YOU! As for a gathering to celebrate this very special, dynamic, intelligent, genuinely kind, clever FUN of a human life, we will wait until the time is right and healthy. TBA. Until then please remember & celebrate with a smile. Remember that Cliff saw children like fruit trees… Investing, caring and educating in the first years of development in hopes of maximizing future potential. One of his final thoughts being… “Go read to a preschooler, you’ll be glad you did!” In his honor please support local business and charities of your choice that impact. Thank you Yakima! |
