Whitman County Gazette - Serving Whitman County since 1877

On October 31, 2023, Ted Deerkop (65) of Garfield, Wash., ended a brave and gritty fight against cancer. He was surrounded by family on a sunny day in his favorite month. He embraced October because of the annual occurrence of his life-altering passion project, ELK CAMP; and Halloween, with endless memories of pumpkin carvings, painting his kids' faces, and stealing all of their hard-earned candy (unless it was an Almond-Joy).

On March 9th, 1958, Ted was born to Donald "Bud" and Betty (Brooks) Deerkop. He and his three siblings (Dale, Dona and Lori) grew up chasing each other on a family fa...