Clyde Hill Surgeon Dies In B.C. Climb -- Father Of 5, Colleague Fall Off Glacier Into Crevasse

CLYDE HILL

Dr. John Stone of Clyde Hill, a cardiovascular surgeon at a number of Seattle-area hospitals, an experienced climber and the father of five children, was one of the two men killed Monday when they fell down a glacier in British Columbia.

His wife, Sue-Erin Stone, said she was told by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police that her 51-year-old husband and his hiking friend, Joseph Dejames, 48, of Ocean Park, N.J., fell some 660 feet down Joffrey Mountain north of Pemberton, B.C., when the snow bank they were crossing gave way on the northeast side of Anniversary Glacier.

The RCMP said the pair landed in a crevasse, making recovery of their bodies a slow and dangerous operation.

"He has been mountain climbing for 10 years and was an experienced climber," Sue-Erin Stone said today. "He's climbed in British Columbia several times, but his biggest climb was in the Andes in Ecuador last year."

Stone was associated with the American Alpine Institute in Bellingham.

Sheilagh Brown, assistant director of the institute, said Stone was a longtime client of the organization, which trains mountain climbers.

"When different guides here who worked with Dr. Stone heard about his death they were really upset," she said. "He was well-liked, a vibrant and wonderful guy."

Brown said Stone and others climbed three of the highest mountains in Ecuador last year - Cotopaxi, Chimborazo and Cayambe.

Stone has lived in the Seattle area for 17 years and worked at Swedish Medical Centers and Northwest Hospital. He is orginally from Springfield, Mass.

Dr. Roman Wong, one of Stone's partners in Vascular Associates in Seattle, described him as "an excellent surgeon, very charismatic, very straightforward, very caring. He will be hugely missed by a lot of people at the hospitals and by his patients."

"He really loved the Pacific Northwest," his wife said. "He was involved in many outdoor activities here - fishing, hunting - and he was a licensed pilot. He lived life to the fullest."

Besides his wife, he is survived by five children: Mary, Erin, John, Michael and Kathryn.

A vigil service will be held tomorrow at 7 p.m. at Green Funeral Home, 1215 145th Place S.E., Bellevue, and a funeral Mass will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Sacred Heart Church, 9460 N.E. 14th St., Clyde Hill. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Louis T. Corsaletti's phone message number is 206-515-5626. His e-mail address is: lcor-new@seatimes.com