Nicolas V. Epanchin

Nicolas Vladimir Epanchin, known to most as Nik, passed away on Thursday, July 18, 2024. He is dearly missed by his friends and family. An amazing husband and friend, a wonderful father, and a special grandfather, he was a man dedicated to experiencing all that he could in this world. He was an enthusiastic runner, hiker, collector, biker, photographer, and traveler. He had great love and loyalty for his family and friends.

Nik was born on May 15, 1939, in Nice, France. At twelve years old, with sponsorship by his uncle, Nik’s family immigrated to the United States. They arrived in the US in 1951 as stateless immigrants– Nik's childhood in France was the result of both of his parents' families having fled Russia to escape Bolshevik rule. They settled in Sea Cliff, a small town in Long Island, New York, where there was a significant Russian immigrant community. Nik finished high school there and earned his Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering via a joint-degree program at Colgate University and Columbia University.

Nik drew upon his college-honed hitchhiking skills and, with a hundred dollars in his pocket, he hitched rides across the United States to Seattle, Washington. Due to his draft status, finding work was challenging but he landed his first engineering job with Boeing at Malmstrom AFB in Great Falls, Montana. He was hired on a team to install Minuteman missiles and their launch control systems. Later, he was transferred to North Dakota on a project that did not interest him much, so he left that job and moved to San Francisco. His draft status continued to plague him by making work impossible to find, so he chose to enlist and complete boot camp at Fort Ord. He was certain he would be sent to Vietnam, but the Army assigned him to New Hampshire with the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, a branch of the Material Command under the Army Corps of Engineers. During his free time, Nik nurtured his love of planes and obtained his flying license and private pilot certificate for single-engine land and sea airplanes. Flying small planes delighted him. After his honorable discharge from the Army, he had no issues finding work and he returned to San Francisco where he was hired by Bechtel, a large engineering and construction firm with worldwide projects.

In early 1968, Nik met his future wife, Nancy, who worked as a visiting nurse in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood in San Francisco. They fell in love quickly and married in November of the same year. In the words of a longtime friend of Nik’s, “Nancy created a surprising transformation in the free-wheeling, parent-defying, hard-drinking, smoking, fast driving, bar crawling, crude talking, tough guy persona” of his single days. Neither Nik’s nor Nancy’s jobs were willing to grant them long leaves for a honeymoon so they boldly quit their jobs to sail to South America for an adventurous six-month journey mostly spent in Chile and Argentina.

Drawn to the West, they returned to San Francisco where Nik was re-employed by a former manager at Bechtel. In late 1970, Nik took a post on a copper concentrator project in Zambia with design work in South Africa. Several months after they arrived in Johannesburg, the Zambian government canceled the project and Nik was reassigned to Paris. In 1971 he and Nancy had their daughter there.

Nik and Nancy soon returned to the States and bought their house in San Rafael, California, a bit north of San Francisco. In 1972 they had their son; the first Epanchin to be born in the United States. Throughout the 1970s Nik traveled all over the world for his work. Having been an avid runner in high school and college, Nik started running again and became an accomplished master runner. He also found great joy in bicycling; he completed many centuries and several triathlons solo, and many team-style triathlons with friends.

In 1983, Nik volunteered to work on a project in the African country of Gabon. He and his family moved there and traveled a great deal together in both Africa and Europe. Nancy and Nik traveled extensively while their children attended boarding schools. The years in West Africa were formative for the family and all stories told since then have been marked as either “before Gabon” or “after Gabon.” After returning to the United States, Nik worked in varied positions at Bechtel. At the time of his retirement, he had been with Bechtel for 30 years. Outside of work, he spent many weekends volunteering as an elephant seal docent at Point Reyes National Seashore and could give a tour in four languages.

Nancy and Nik were always captivated by the Mendocino Coast and in the late 1990’s they built a small home in Irish Beach, a community near Point Arena. They loved spending long weekends there and did so until Nik retired, eventually moving there full-time in 2004. Nik continued his Point Reyes volunteering and quickly involved himself in his new community. He was the project manager for the restoration of the Point Arena Lighthouse, where he later joined the Board of Directors, including serving as President. He became an EMT, worked for a local ambulance company, was a volunteer firefighter, served on the board of a local medical clinic, and joined the Rotary. During retirement, he and Nancy traveled extensively, invariably happy to greet the unexpected. They did several tours of the United States by car and traveled in Asia, Europe, and South America.

Nik and Nancy planned a three-month trip to France to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in 2018. Unfortunately, Nik was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer just before leaving. Nancy fell into a deep depression as a result and did not recover. Nik cared for his wife and supported her through countless treatments. He continued his involvement in much of his volunteer work and spent time in the community with friends for several more years. As their health demanded more access to frequent medical care, the couple decided to move to Kingston, Washington near their daughter.

In his two and a half years living in Kingston, Nik made trips to see family and friends and periodically, he went to the DC area to see his son and grandchildren. He joined the Kingston Rotary, spent time doing puzzles and eating poke with his grandson, watched a myriad of his Washington grandkids’ soccer games, and made some good friends in his neighborhood. Were we to ask him, Nik would say that his biggest feat while living in Washington is that he completed his two-volume autobiography filled with photos and stories of his life; a project he started in earnest after surviving pancreatic cancer. When Nik entered hospice in mid-June, he was incredibly touched to learn that the Point Arena Lighthouse Board of Directors had named its scholarship in his honor.

Nik is survived by his two children Tatiana and Peter, his four grandchildren Nika, Nadia, Colby, and Lara Tatiana, and his brothers, Alexis and Paul. Nik was predeceased by Nancy who passed away in March of 2023. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to one of Nik’s favorite non-profit organizations.

Should you wish to read Nik’s two-volume autobiography, please reach out to Tatiana at: tepanchin@gmail.com.

Point Arena Lighthouse and the Nik Epanchin Scholarship Fund: Donate Here

Doctors Without Borders: Donate Here

Engineers Without Borders: Donate Here

Arrangements entrusted to Cook Family Funeral Home of Bainbridge Island, WA 98110.