BEND, Ore. (AP) - A longtime forest advocate collapsed outside his Bend area home while shoveling snow, one of three storm-related deaths in central Oregon over the weekend, the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office said Sunday.
Timothy Lillebo, 61, had gone out to shovel snow Saturday evening and was found about 30 minutes later by his wife, Lt. Paul Garrison said. Medical personnel attempted to resuscitate him but were unsuccessful.
Lillebo was a longtime employee of Oregon Wild.
“We will remember a hero who inspired us all and gave so much to protect Oregon’s wild places,” the advocacy group’s executive director Sean Stevens said in a statement Sunday.
In Sisters, authorities conducting a welfare check Saturday found Henry Constable, 83, buried in about a foot snow not far from his home.
Nearby, authorities found his wife, Brooke Constable, 69, covered in snow that continued to accumulate Saturday. The two had been walking through heavy snow on an unplowed driveway to their home.
The couple’s friend last saw them Friday night and called police when they failed to reach the couple on the phone the next day, Garrison said.
Garrison said the deaths are likely a result of exposure to the extreme weather, overexertion in the deep snow, a medical emergency or a combination of those factors. He said foul play is not suspected.
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