SEQUIM — Harold Van Riper, fondly remembered as a man who lived for family and fishing, will be remembered in a celebration of life Sunday.

Van Riper — who in the 1970s and ’80s owned and operated the well-known Van Riper’s Resort in Sekiu with his wife of 54 years, Shirley — died Nov. 22 of cardiac arrest while driving to a doctor’s appointment.

His Honda crashed on North Fifth Avenue in Sequim, hitting a light pole near the intersection of West Washington Street. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Parkwood Estates resident was almost 81.

Van Riper, well-known as an avid fisherman, also loved to hunt, smelt fish and go clamming, as well as root for his alma mater, Gonzaga University, where he was once a basketball star.

“Even though we had moved to Sequim, he always spent the summers in Sekiu fishing,” his widow, Shirley, said Friday. “He loved to fish even until the last couple years, even when it got difficult for him.”

Describing him as a kind and driven man who grew up under financially challenging circumstances, Shirley Van Riper said her husband had long suffered from cardiovascular disease but didn’t let that stop him.

The family will gather for a celebration of Van Riper’s life at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Sequim Prairie Grange, 290 Macleay Road in Sequim.

Memorial contributions can be made to the Neah Bay or Clallam Bay School athletic programs.

Van Riper was well-known in the West End, and not only in the sport fishing community.

He also, as a high school basketball coach in Clallam Bay, led the boys team to several Class B League championships after moving his wife and family there in 1966.

Born Dec. 11, 1930, in Wilmar, Minn., he spent his youth in Kalispell, Mont., where he was an all-state basketball player at Flathead High School.

He was 16 when his father died, so he worked after school, weekends and summers to earn money for his mother and four younger siblings.

He worked in a railroad tie mill, at fruit packing houses, setting pins at the bowling alley and in construction, working on the Hungry Horse Dam, his widow said.

“I will say that he was brought up under very poor conditions,” Shirley Van Riper said. “He always remembered those lean years in Montana. Maybe that’s one reason he was so driven.

“The basketball scholarship at Gonzaga certainly got him through college.”

At Gonzaga, he played center and was known as “The Ripper,” a standout player from 1949 to 1953.

He met his wife one summer evening at Spirit Lake outside of Spokane; she was impressed with his dancing and fun-loving ways. They married in 1957 in Spokane.

After the birth of their first daughter, Valerie, the young family moved to Neah Bay, where Harold taught school; coached football, basketball and track; and fished commercially in the Valerie Sue, a wooden boat he built himself.

He later built a second wooden boat, the Timmy II.

He operated a charter fishing service out of Neah Bay, and later Sekiu, until 1977.

In 1959, Van Riper was adopted into the Makah tribe.

“Together, we bought the resort in 1973,” Shirley Van Riper recalled. “We bought what was just a small resort. We did a little bit of everything there.”

The Van Ripers greatly improved the resort, adding rooms and docks for visiting fishermen.

He spent many years involved in Washington State Fisheries negotiations.

In 1986, the resort was sold to, and is currently being operated by, daughter Valerie and son-in-law Chris Mohr, who survive him.

He also is survived by son Tim Van Riper of Sekiu; daughter Mary Hadley and her husband, Dennis, of Winslow, Ariz.; daughter Monica Rencken and husband Larry of Hollis, N.H.; six grandchildren, Deanna Mohr and husband Hans Barr, Gillian Mohr, Lily and Jessica Hadley, and Danika and Tim Rencken; great-grandchild Safran Barr-Mohr; and brother Jim Van Riper of Spokane.

“He was very positive and loved what there was in life,” his widow said. “He really loved his family.”

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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.