Lynn Robert Biddison

1927 - 2015

Biddison, Lynn Robert



Loved and admired by many, Lynn Robert Biddison, 88, passed away October 19, 2015 as a result of injuries sustained in a motor vehicle collision in Albuquerque on October 11, 2015.

During a long and prestigious career with the U.S. Forest Service and after retiring from the agency, Biddison periodically lived in Albuquerque, the city he and his wife, Susan, chose as a good place to settle down, an area with lots of family and friends.

Lynn was born May 14, 1927, on a ranch east of Los Angeles, California, to Thelmas Lynn Biddison and Dorothy Evelyn Wood.

He is preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Donald Lee Biddison.

He is survived by his wife, Susan, daughters Teri and Kim, all three Albuquerque residents; six granddaughters (Janae, Erin, Amber, Laurel, Breanna and Anna); 15 great-grandchildren; cousin, Cheryl; sister-in-law, Joan; nephew, Jim; niece, Judy; and previous spouses, Patricia and Beverly.

Although he had a dedicated and busy career with the Forest Service, Lynn had a rich life with family and friends. He was a rapacious sports fan, particularly when it came to his beloved Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco 49ers and USC Trojans. But he had a special affection for watching grandkids play sports. It was not uncommon for "Grandpa Lynn" to go well out of his way to see soccer games galore, plus plenty of football, baseball and softball games. Being the patriarch of a large family that lives far and wide gave Lynn and his wife the opportunity to roam the West.

Lynn followed in the footsteps of his father, who was a wildland firefighter with the Civilian Conservation Corps and later on the Angeles National Forest in the 1930s. He later cited his dad and two other veteran "fire dogs" as his role models, noting they had the common traits of being "tough and fair to all" as well as being direct and decisive.

Lynn was hired as a fire tanker crew member at the age of 16, and throughout the rest of his career, his specialty was aviation and fire management. He joined the U.S. Navy in 1945 and served with the Seabees in the Philippines until the end of World War II. He promptly resumed firefighting on the Angeles National Forest in California, where he went on to work his way up the ranks, but always keeping involved in the trenches. By 1953, he was among the first "heli-jumpers" who dropped into fire zones from helicopters.

Not shying from academics, Lynn went to the University of California at Berkeley in 1948, studying forestry until he graduated in 1951.

Lynn advanced to district ranger and fire control officer positions in California, and was regularly dispatched to fires all over the country. It was during these years that Lynn played an instrumental role in developing an "incident command" system for the agency that involved establishing standing fire management teams. In 1968 he moved to Forest Service Region 3 in Albuquerque, where he became Regional Fire Director. He left 12 years later for his last posting with the Forest Service, as Regional Fire Director for Region 5, based in San Francisco. After retiring in 1982, ending a nearly 40-year run with the Forest Service, Biddison worked as a representative for Firetrol, a company that provided fire retardant products to agencies in the U.S. and other countries.

Lynn was a proud and loyal Forest Service soldier well after retirement. He played a big part in organizing a retirees reunion in Albuquerque that was held in the days following the car crash. He was a driving force in an effort to establish a National Museum of Forest Service History in Missoula, Mont., a project that is still in the works.

Memorial services will be held at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Eubank Chapel, 4109 Eubank Blvd. NE, Albuquerque, NM, at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 24, 2015.

The family requests that memorial gifts be sent to the National Museum of Forest Service History, P.O. Box 2772, Missoula, MT, 59806. Dedicated gifts can be sent online at www.forestservicemuseum.org by clicking on the "programs" and "ways to help" links. Please visit our online guestbook for Lynn at

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