Submitted by a fellow Firefighter
Paul K. Bjorklund, age 25, died July 4th, 1992, as a result of an accident fighting fire on Jump Off Joe Butte near Kennewick. He worked for Sonshine Auto and was a volunteer fireman. He was a former Pendelton and Athena resident. Survivors include his parents, Ken and Dorothy Bjorklund of Athena; Brothers David of Kennewick and John of Athena; sisters, Mary Bjorklund of Athena and Karen Bjorklund of Breckenridge, Minnesota, and John McDonell of Milton-Freewater, and his aunts, uncles and cousins. Recitation of the Holy Rosary were Wednesday, July 8th, at 8pm at the Sacred Heart Parish Hall in Athena, Oregon. Funeral Mass with Christian Burial were Thursday July 9th at 10:30 am at the saint Mary;s Catholic Church in Pendelton, Oregon. Internment followed in the Athena City Cemetery in Athena, Oregon.
A local resident plead guilty to second-degree reckless burning for starting the grass fire July 4th in which Paul Bjorklund was killed. He died when the fire truck on which he was riding careened down a steep hillside on Jump Off Joe Butte, overturned crushing him.
rest in peace brother
– Sean Martineven 330 years later you will never be forgotten