He Once Led Bend, Then Lost His Home There

Craig Coyner III was a Bend native, a Bend High School graduate and a Marine Corps veteran who served in the United States during the Vietnam War. His family had arrived in Central Oregon in the late 1800s, and his great-grandfather had been mayor in 1911. Coyner sat on Bend's city council from 1981 to 1992 and was mayor in 1984. He focused on public spaces such as walking paths and parks, many of which are still used.

After law school he worked at his father's firm, then spent more than 30 years at the Deschutes County Courthouse, first as a prosecutor and later as a defence lawyer, including at the public defender's office. Colleagues described him as sharp, creative and dogged. His wife of 23 years, Patricia, died in March 2008, and his father died a few weeks later.

The Bulletin reported that he had lived since 1974 in a house across from Stover Park. He spent nearly a decade fighting in court to keep it, and a mortgage company foreclosed on it in 2015. In his remaining years he lived in parking lots, motel rooms and shelters in Bend. Service providers and relatives tried to help, but he kept drifting away. His brother Tad visited Bend twice, and Craig would only speak to him through a door or over a fence. His family attributes his situation to family conflict, mental illness, substance use, the Great Recession and his wife's death.

About five years before he died, his daughter Catherine Emick met him by chance near the county's behavioural health building, and they spent hours talking over drinks. On 13 January 2023 he was admitted to St. Charles Bend with frozen feet. He suffered a stroke during the stay and died on 14 February, aged 75.

His sister Kristen Coyner said she wanted people to remember who he was before what he became. A longtime colleague, Terry Rahmsdorff, said it can happen to any of us.