Reino (Johansson) Sarlin

Ancestors

Son of Kalle Ivar (Ylén) Lumio MP and Aina Elvira (Johansson) Halonen

Descendants

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Biography

This profile is part of the Leyde Name Study.

Reino (Johansson) Sarlin migrated from Finland to United States.

Father used the name Reino R Sarlin and gave his birth details as born in New York on 16 February 1909 his entire life, but no birth records have been handed down.^[1] The earliest record was of him arriving aboard the Kristianiafjord at Ellis Island, New York, on 23 January 1916 as 7-year-old Raymond Sarlin where he was met by his mother Anna Sarlin.^[2]

Subsequent research confirmed that 'Anna Sarlin,' the name on the 1910 U.S. Census as the wife of Carl Sarlin in NJ, was the name being used by Aina Elvira Johansson, Reino's birth mother, who placed Reino with her family in Finland as she migrated to the USA after Reino was born. They were reunited on 23 January 1916.^[2] Research in Åbo (Turku), Finland in July 2020 found his birth recorded in books of the Åbo Cathedral Parish, where he was registered as born Reino Reipas Johansson in Turku, Finland, on 27 January 1908, the son of Aina Elvira Johansson with unknown father.^[3] Y-DNA testing by Ray Sarlin identified Reino's natural father as Kalle Ivar (Ylén) Lumio, a Finnish politician (MP).^[4]

Reino and his mother moved to Seattle, Washington, where she partnered with and married George Halonen. After graduating from Hoquiam High School in Hoquiam, Washington in 1929, Reino worked in a cake bakery^[5] and then shipped out as a Merchant Marine seaman for a year^[6] before enrolling in the University of Washington School of Forestry in 1931, where he pledged the Tau Phi Delta forestry fraternity. From 1933-1935, he took a leave of absence to participate in the landmark Osborne_Panoramas project^[7] that collected panoramic photographs from every fire lookout in U.S. Forest Service Region 6. When the project was completed he returned to his studies. Reino's Tau Phi Delta brothers retained Grace Leyde to tutor him in math^[1], and he graduated from the University of Washington with a B.Sc. in Forestry on 31 January 1937.

After graduation, he was employed with the U.S. Forest Service on the Snoqualmie and Siskuyu National Forest in Washington. He transferred to the Tongass National Forest in Alaska as a forest technician.^[8]

He married Grace Elizabeth Leyde on 9 August 1938, in Gold Beach, Oregon, after his wedding was delayed by a major forest fire.^[9][10] They were the parents of two children.

• Polly Anne SARLIN Nez (1940-2023)
• Raymond Warren SARLIN (1944-)

Reino joined the U.S. National Park Service as a Ranger at the Mount Rainier National Park, and the family lived at the Nisqually Entrance to the Park.^[10] He was transferred to the then-new Olympic National Park^[11], where he patrolled by horseback for weeks at a time while Grace staved off bears at their remote mountain log cabin.^[1]

Reino joined the U.S. Interior Department (USDI) Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in 1942 as Forest Supervisor with the Hoopa (Hupa) Valley Indian Reservation in California, whose forests were plagued with man-made fires, set whenever there was a grievance with the BIA. He devised an educational program, stressing that they were burning their own wealth, and incendiary fires ceased. Assignments followed at the Grand Ronde-Siletz agency in Oregon; and the Colville agency in Washington. He then became Senior Forester at the Mescalero Apache Reservation in New Mexico from c.1947-1952. Amongst his many achievements were founding with Bert Shields the first Native American wildfire fighting crews, the Mescalero Red Hats and leading them at major fires; helping rescue a small burned bear cub from the Capitan Gap fire who became “Smokey Bear”^[12]; establishing a "pay-as-you-go" campground recreational service; and developing a world-class trade with Mexico for tribal-grown and harvested Christmas trees.^[1]

In 1952, he was promoted to Assistant Area Forester for fire control and timber management and transferred to Window Rock, Arizona, the capital of the Navajo Indian Reservation (Navajo Nation) in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. In 1954, he was promoted to Agency Forester of the 740,000-acre Navajo Forest. In addition to modernizing forestry and environmental management practices, his achievements included forming the Navajo Scouts (now the Navajo Hotshots) and plowing through red tape to develop a world-class Navajo-owned sawmill and lumber industry, dedicated in 1962 as the Navajo Forest Products Industry (NFPI), which employed some 500 Navajos. He served as the local fire chief and managed the response to wildfires. He set up a Fire School that taught spotting and fighting wildfires and was attended by fire professionals from around the 4-States region.

Around this time, Reino was promoted and transferred from forestry to overall economic development, serving as both the Navajo Area employment assistance officer^[13] and the executive secretary of the Overall Economic Development Program (OEDP), a technical group advising the Navajo Tribal Council on major projects.^[14] He also chaired the Navajo Tribal Scholarship Committee^[15]. After a successful career with the U.S. Department of the Interior, he retired from Public Service in 1966 and was awarded the USDI's Meritorious Service Award.^[1]

After his retirement, Reino was encouraged by the Board of Directors to return to forestry by joining the general management team of NFPI as Deputy General Manager.^[13]

Reino and Grace retired to a lovely Whidbey Island house in Freeland, Island County, Washington overlooking Puget Sound. Their fluorescent rock and mineral collection and exhibits were highly regarded in the Pacific Northwest.^[1]

A people-person by nature, Reino was well-suited to life in remote reservation towns. Despite referring to himself as an introvert, he was the life of any party and enjoyed thespian performances and making horrid puns. He threw himself into local community social activities, could get a recognizable tune from almost any musical instrument within minutes, and was adept at bridge, bowling, and collaboratively cooking up inedible chili.^[1] He served for 14 years as the concessions chairman for the Navajo Tribal Fair.^[14]

Reino died on 9 Feb 1993 in Freeland, Washington ^[16][17] and is buried in Bayview Cemetery, Langley, Washington.^[18]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6} Personal research (and recollections) by Reino's son Ray Sarlin on 1 Aug 2020.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} "New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JJ48-8JD : 2 March 2021), Raymond Sarlin, 1916.
3. ↑ Ragnvaldsson, P. (2020). Research for Ray Sarlin. University of Lund (Sweden) and University of Helsingfors (Finland), History. Espoo, Finland: Släktforskning AnSök.
4. ↑ * Paternal relationship is confirmed through Y-chromosome DNA test results on Family Tree DNA. Ray Sarlin, FTDNA kit # B503000, and half his uncle, Martti Lumio, match at a Genetic Distance of 3 on 111 markers, thereby confirming their direct paternal lines back to their most-recent common ancestor who is Kalle Ylén, the grandfather of Ray Sarlin and father of Martti Lumio. Ray is the son of Reino Johansson who is the son of the common ancestor Kalle Ylén.
5. ↑ "United States Census, 1930", database with images, FamilySearch, Seattle, King, Washington, United States, pg. 7-A, family 54, dwelling 1718, line 26; April 1930; Image 13 of 66.
6. ↑ Reino confided to his son that his seagoing experiences around Cape Horn convinced him to go to and graduate from university.
7. ↑ Stewart, Jessica. 2017. Osborne Panoramas are Early Forest Fire Prevention in Oregon: Historic Panorama Archive of Pacific Northwest Used to Suppress Forest Fires, 16 October. Accessed May 13, 2023.
8. ↑ Bartos, Stan. 1969. Review of "Reino Sarlin, Navajo Forester for 17 Years, Bids Goodbye", newspaper, Navajo Times, Window Rock AZ, 30 January 1969, Page 12.‌
9. ↑ Oregon, U.S., State Marriages, 1906-1971", Grace E. Leyde and Reino R Sarlin in the Oregon, U.S., State Marriages, 1906-1971, 9 Aug 1938, Gold Beach, Carry, Oregon, USA, Certificate Number 2-2322, File Number 1668290.
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1} "United States Census, 1940", database with images, FamilySearch, Mount Rainier National Park, Pierce, Washington, United States, pg. 1-B, family 21, dwelling 27-1, lines 51-52; April 12, 1940; Image 1116 of 1294.
11. ↑ Founded in 1938 after President Franklin Roosevelt visited in 1937.
12. ↑ U.S. Forest Service Office of Communication. 2014. Feature Stories: The story of Smokey Bear. August 4. Accessed May 13, 2023.
13. ↑ ^{13.0 13.1} Editorial Staff. 1966. Review of "Sarlin Moves to N.F.P.I.", newspaper, Navajo Times, Window Rock AZ, 10 November 1966. Page 6.‌
14. ↑ ^{14.0 14.1} Editorial Staff. 1968. Review of "Navajo Community Sets Modern Trend", newspaper, Navajo Times, Window Rock AZ, 6 June 1968. Page 26.‌ Originally appeared in Farmington (N.M.) Daily Times, 19 May 1968.
15. ↑ Editorial Staff. 1965. Photograph of "Navajo Tribal Scholarship Committee", newspaper, Navajo Times, Window Rock AZ, 17 June 1965. Page 3.‌
16. ↑ "Washington Death Index, 1965-2014," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QLW9-QJGY : 13 July 2017), Reino R Sarlin, 09 Feb 1993, Island, Stevens, Washington, United States; from the Department of Health, Death Index, 1907-1960; 1965-2014, Washington State Archives, Digital Archives
17. ↑ https://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/Collections/TitleInfo/472 : n.d.); Citing Washington State Department of Health.
18. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/82939352/reino-r-sarlin: accessed 04 May 2023), memorial page for Reino R Sarlin (1909–1993), Find A Grave: Memorial #82939352, citing Bayview Cemetery, Langley, Island County, Washington, USA; Maintained by Genealogy Society of South Whidbey Island (contributor 47423321).

• Maternal relationship is confirmed by an autosomal AncestryDNA test match between Ray Sarlin and Sally (Young) Hakimian, his 2nd cousin 2x removed. Their most-recent common ancestors are Johan Johansson and Gustava Michelsson, the great grandparents of Ray Sarlin and 3x great grandparents of Sally (Young) Hakimian. Predicted relationship from AncestryDNA: 2nd cousin 2x removed, based on sharing 142 cM across 6 segments.