Robert and Lorna Dittmer | Passages

Lorna Dittmer 1935 – 2020, Robert Dittmer 1933 – 2013

Bob and Lorna have been gone for a while now. It’s time to celebrate their well-lived lives.

They both began life in the east and migrated west, Lorna at 14 and Bob at 18. Lorna paused in Phoenix to finish high school before heading to Claremont, CA where she attended Pomona College. Bob was, unsurprisingly, also at Pomona! From there, they pursued different paths between Southern California and Seattle. Berkeley became their commonality.

After serving in the Army Security Agency, Bob returned to Claremont, finished his undergrad degree, and then an MFA in Ceramics at Claremont Graduate School. Bob showed his ceramic work in the late 50’s to early 60’s, and became UC Berkeley’s Art Department’s lead technician, often working with students. He always had his own shop where he worked with and for well-known artists, bringing their projects to reality, and even manufactured brake parts for the first BART trains. After Pomona, Lorna attended Claremont Graduate College. Her work as an editor took her from Script’s Lang Gallery to UW Press in Seattle to UC Press in Berkeley, and finally to the Art History Department at UC Berkeley, where she spent the next many decades.

In July of 1977, they bought 80 Web Street (now Lisa and Rex Guard’s beautiful property, The Web Suites) where Bob started Great Circle Marine, a metal fabrication shop. In June of 1979, Bob, Lorna and Katy made the final move from Berkeley to Friday Harbor. Lorna continued her editing work for UCB, remotely, until her retirement, and then freelanced for authors, universities and museums around the country, and even the world for another 15-years. Bob enjoyed a variety of professional adventures: Professional photography, including film developing; ceramics; growing produce for some of the island’s restaurants; and, of course, metal fabrication.

Bob and Lorna were very civic-minded: Bob was a founding board member of The San Juan Preservation Trust, whose mission it is to: conserve and care for special places throughout the San Juan Islands. They led the drive for the jet ski ban, prohibiting jet skis from operating on all county marine waters and inland lakes. They also formed the non-profit “People for Parks” in 1997 in an attempt to stop the filming of Practical Magic, which closed San Juan County Park to the residents of the island during filming.

We’re hosting a casual Celebration of Life at the Friday Harbor Grange on September 12th beginning at 3 p.m. Bring a story to share! Please drop us an email to BobAndLornasParty@gmail.com if you’re able to attend so we can plan for plenty of food! Memorial donations can be made to the San Juan Preservation Trust.