Erne (Ernest) Kegel

Erne (Ernest) Kegel passed away peacefully on Saturday, March 28, 2026, at Mount Carmel Hospital.
Born June 13, 1946, in Colville, Erne lived most of his life just a mile from where he grew up, in the forest 13 miles east of Colville, adjacent to the land his grandparents Albert and Bertha Kegel (née Voigtland) homesteaded in 1905. Erne’s parents, Elmer and Mabel Kegel (née Anderson), initially lived on the homestead property but moved to a nearby home shortly after Erne was born.
Erne lived his life as a singular character, unencumbered by society’s expectations. He refused to go along with the typical shortened spelling “Ernie” of his legal name, Ernest, because it didn’t make sense to him that you’d add a letter to the shortened version that didn’t exist in the longer one.
After finishing his Bachelor’s at Washington State University, Erne was drafted into the Army and thereafter lived for a time in the Seattle area. After returning home to Colville in the late 70s, he met and married Amy Kegel (née Hemsteger), and they had two sons, Kolbe and Kylan Kegel.
He was an accomplished graphic designer and silk-screen printer, who created garments, signs, and other items for countless school groups, civic clubs, businesses, and political candidates. He designed and printed t-shirts and glassware for the Sheimo Cup at 49° North for nearly 40 years. His mind was constantly at work creating puns, portmanteaux, and pithy designs. He was recently celebrated at Crossroads in Colville with a display of dozens of his works of art spanning five decades.
But his real love was the forest around where he lived and where he could trace more than a century of his family’s roots. The woods were his happy place—clearing old roads, removing diseased trees to improve forest health, gathering firewood, and curating a collection of carefully pruned conifers to be used as Christmas trees.
Erne is survived by his three siblings, Stan Kegel, Nancy King, and Alice Gintz, all of Colville; his sons Kolbe and Kylan Kegel; Kylan’s wife Jana and Erne's grandsons Collis and Anders; and beloved nieces, nephews, and cousins too numerous to name.
Just before he passed, Erne offered some simple words of advice: “Live Long; Be Happy”. Erne’s spirit will live eternally in the whispers of the trees and the laughter of those he loved.
A celebration of life is planned for Sunday, May 24, at the Kegel family homestead property east of Colville. For more information about the celebration, and to share your memories and photos of Erne, visit magna-vis.com/memorial or contact memorial@magna-vis.com.