This Kennewick man died doing what he loved

Joshua Lohman was an outdoorsman in every sense of the word.

The 34-year-old from Kennewick hunted and fished everything, said his wife Camille.

He used bows and modern firearms, reloaded his own cartridges, made his own lures — did his own taxidermy.

“He was always happiest on the water fishing or out hunting,” Camille Lohman told the Herald. “All Joshua ever wanted to do was fish and hunt.”

It was during one of those trips Saturday that he died driving an ATV off a snowy embankment in Idaho, said the Clearwater County Sheriff’s Office.

Camille Lohman said the hunting spot north of Oroville was one that her husband and his cousin Beau had been going to for years.

Between hunts, Josh Lohman would go out looking for coyotes, she said. This time he was alone.

“He was never one to sit idle for long,” she said.

Sheriff’s deputies found Joshua Lohman about 1:30 p.m. Saturday, but couldn’t immediately identify his body, she said. His hunting party reported him missing about 8 p.m.

Deputies got his wallet that was left at the camp and identified him.

His wife and friends were worried about how long he had been out in the cold, but coroner officials told her he died instantly.

Josh Lohman was born in Finley. His parents Karen Vangen and Lonnie Lohman still live there.

The River View High was a welder with Apollo for almost 10 years. He and Camille were married 6  1/2 years.

She said he’d just become a drafter, working up plans for other welders to use.

He also was a part-time welding instructor for Sheet Metal Workers Local No. 55 and had won some competitions, she said.

“He was a very smart man and could do anything he put his mind to,” she said. But to her, Joshua was “my handy man. He fixed countless things in our home. He could build anything.”

He also leveraged his skill toward his passion, offering farmers welding work in exchange for a chance to hunt on their land.

Camille Lohman said she is missing her best friend and said she was lucky to have him in her life for almost 10 years.

They’d been in no rush to have kids. “We thought we had plenty of time,” she said.

A memory that sticks out came from their honeymoon in Jamaica. Camille and Joshua often fished together and they created a little fishing pole from a stick and some thread from a sewing kit.

“We joked about how the resort said they would cook anything we caught,” she said. “We actually caught a little fish when the tide was high.

“I still have that dumb little pole.”

A memorial service for Josh Lohman will be held 10 a.m. Saturday at Einan’s Sunset Memorial Gardens, 915 Bypass Highway, Richland.

This story was originally published December 12, 2017 at 5:50 PM with the headline "This Kennewick man died doing what he loved."