Kevin Bacher remembered back to his sophomore year at South Albany High School, when his biology teacher John White was showing the class photographs of his time as a park ranger.
“I remember looking at those slides thinking, ‘I’ve found my career,’” Bacher said.
The teen once thought his interests in science and theater were contradictory. But a park ranger gives presentations about nature to visitors and connects with an audience outdoors.
Today, the 1985 South Albany High School graduate is the volunteer and outreach program manager for Mount Rainier National Park.
“I think I have one of the best jobs in the world. … I get to work for the National Park Service, so I have this magnificent view out of my office window,” he said with a chuckle.
Bacher does talks about Mount Rainier National Park for various groups, and he also coordinates about 1,700 volunteers who come from all around the United States and the world.
People are also reading…
“That’s an amazing number of people, especially considering how rural we are,” Bacher said.
The volunteers and his co-workers, like himself, are there because they believe in the parks system and what it represents, so that makes his job enjoyable, as well.
Bacher’s career started off rather modest. (And, no, we’re not talking about how he delivered papers for the Democrat-Herald in junior high and high school.)
After his freshman year at Goshen College in Indiana, he was a volunteer at the Grand Canyon.
During his early working years, like many parks service employees, he moved to different locations to rise up through the ranks.
He’s also worked and lived at Crater Lake, the Oregon Caves, Mount St. Helens, Great Basin, the Everglades and other areas.
“One of the reasons we stopped here at Mount Rainier is I now have two sons, and my wife grew up in the local community,” Bacher said.
Kelli Bacher works as a school psychologist. Eldest son David Bacher, 18, is graduating from high school and planning to attend George Fox University to study mechanical engineering.
Younger son Daniel is 15, and he’s been volunteering with local wildlife experts, including to reintroduce the fisher, a member of the weasel family, into Mount Rainier National Park.
The family loves having the national park as their extended backyard. “We come up all summer long to go hiking together,” Bacher said.
Bacher still has family in Albany.
His parents, Don and Judy Bacher, are both retired. His sister, Lisa Dilbone, is a physical education teacher at South Albany High School.
Oddly enough, White, who was the Rebels track and cross country coach, was instrumental in leading Dilbone to her career, as well.
“That one teacher was really significant for us in different ways,” Bacher said.
His advice for students graduating soon was to follow their dreams.
“Do everything that you can to make it happen. Don’t expect it to be handed to you,” Bacher said. “You have to be persistent, and in my case it worked out.”