Daily Archives: August 1, 2013

Roethke died in a Bainbridge swimming pool on this day 50 years ago

RockGarden

Roethke

Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning poet Theodore Roethke died in a swimming pool on what is now Bloedel Reserve on August 1, 1963.

Oddly enough, the reserve is throwing a sellout garden party this evening. It’s doubtful Roethke’s name will receive official mention.

There’s nothing marking the spot where Roethke died of an apparent heart attack while visiting his friend, Prentice Bloedel, the son of a Northwest timber baron.

The pool was filled in after Roethke’s death and is now the reserve’s popular zen rock garden (above).

For more on Roethke, head over here.