Albert John Treiber

Albert John Treiber, 97, passed away peacefully at his home on Sheep Canyon Road on July 23, 2026. 

Albert was born Jan. 20, 1929, in Yakima, Washington, to Albert and Mary Treiber. He spent his early childhood in Yakima before moving with his family to the Ephrata area in the late 1930s, where he joined his father on the family's Sheep Canyon ranch. 

Albert graduated from Ephrata High School in 1947 as valedictorian and a four-sport athlete. He enrolled at Washington State University for a year before being called home to work on the Sheep Canyon ranch. 

From the 1950s through the early 1970s, Albert devoted himself to ranching. He raised cattle, grew hay and ran a band of approximately 2,000 ewes, wintering and lambing near Soap Lake, pasturing in the Methow and Harts Pass areas during the summer, and moving to the Mansfield area in the fall. 

In 1973, Albert sold the sheep and began dryland wheat farming, steadily building the farm over the following decades. He eventually turned the dryland farming responsibilities over to his son Michael in the 1990s, but retirement never really suited Albert. He continued working cattle and putting up hay well into his 90s. 

Albert also served his country in the National Guard from 1948 to 1952. He was drafted in 1953 and completed basic training at Fort Ord, California, and later completed six months of Army Intelligence Corps training at Fort Holabird, Maryland. 

For 20 years, Albert served as a director on the board of the Northwest Livestock PCA. That service gave him the opportunity to travel and meet people involved in the Farm Credit system throughout the United States. 

Albert married Margaret Smothers in 1957, beginning a marriage that would span 69 years. Together they built a life centered around family, hard work, and the land they called home. Albert enjoyed traveling and took an entire room to create an HO-scale railroad town. He also enjoyed reading about history. Some of his favorite times were spent gathering with family for Thanksgiving and Christmas and spending winters with Margaret and friends at the Kehei Surfside on Maui. 

His family will especially remember Albert's stories about the early days on the ranch in Grant County and the sheep business in Washington state. When Albert believed in something, there was little that could change his mind – a stubborn determination that was simply part of who he was. 

Of all his accomplishments, Albert was especially proud of building the ranch and handing it down through the third and fourth generations of his family. His life was deeply connected to the land, and the legacy he built there will continue through the generations who follow him. 

Albert is survived by his wife Margaret; his children Michael (Elizabeth), David and Kathleen; his grandchildren Lura, Paul, and Curtis; and four great-grandchildren. 

He was preceded in death by his parents Albert and Mary Treiber, his sister Mary Helen and his brother Robert. 

A Celebration of Life will be held Oct. 3 from 1 to 4 p.m. at Millie's Wine Bar in Ephrata, Washington. A family graveside service will be held at Valley View Memorial Park in Soap Lake. 

Albert's was a life measured not simply in years, but in seasons – the lambing seasons, haying seasons, harvests, and family gatherings that marked nearly a century of hard work, determination, and devotion to the land and people he loved.