Jack Kintner passed away on June 15, 2026 from complications arising from congestive heart failure. He was 81.
Jack’s name may be familiar to readers because for many years he wrote for several local publications including The Northern Light, the Mount Baker Experience, and the Bellingham Herald. His news stories and features were frequently accompanied by the photographs he made, with commercial photography becoming an independent offset of his writing experiences.
But Jack’s 20-year venture into journalism and photography was in fact a second career. Inspired in high school by meeting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and buttressed by his own family’s warm experience with their Lutheran church in hometown Port Angeles, Jack received a Master of Divinity degree from the University of California (Berkeley) in 1971.
Jack was a Lutheran pastor for 30 years, with experiences wide and varied. He served as a chaplain at Western Washington University, supplementing his income by working as a commercial airline pilot. Engaged by a Canadian association, he flew bush planes deep into uncharted territory on the British Columbia coast to serve far flung and remote native communities. Here the ministry was indigenized by local people but with vast needs, ranging from literacy training to, in Jack’s words, “visiting isolated and lonely individuals hungry for a human visit and a word of God’s grace.” Jack next turned his considerable people and ministerial skills to developing parishes on San Juan, Lopez and Orcas islands, flying a small Cessna airplane from island to island to serve his flock. He was featured in a good many Washington newspaper and magazine articles telling this story, the highlight being a two page color spread in People Magazine (1999) entitled “On Angels’ Wings.”
Jack is survived by his brothers Tom and Bill, his sister Susan and by his beloved partner of many years, Jackie Braverman.
A memorial service for Jack will be held at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, August 12 at Christ the Servant Lutheran Church at 2600 Lakeway Drive in Bellingham. All are welcome to share their memories of this remarkable man.
