05/14/2026
OBITUARY -
RALPH RICHARD (RICK) De YOUNG
Throughout his long life, curiosity propelled Rick De Young.
He loved to go – anywhere, anyhow: waterskiing, snowmobiling, sailing, flying, RV’ing. Everything floated his boat.
He loved people – however his path crossed theirs. None were strangers – just friends he hadn’t yet made.
Rick especially relished the companionship forged over the course of his favorite sports’ seasons, or hours spent working side-by-side, or just miles traveled together. From his Uncle Sterling – who joined him in small planes that Rick piloted to the ‘Lower 48’ ... to projects or socializing with his fellow Lions and Chapter 9 Escapees ... to keeping up with his trusty dogs Glory, Nikki, Sally, Missy – and especially Bella. Rick’s last canine copilot is friendly, smart, loyal – and was as happy heading out as he was.
He loved kids too. When his own were young, Rick enjoyed taking the family camping at Big Bear, teaching them how to ride a bike, then to swim, and then to waterski. Later, in Alaska, he spent weekends at Nancy Lake and then Big Lake – snowmobiling, waterskiing and boating with Nusha, friends and kids.
Rick and Nusha’s first real stay as full-time RV’ers was at Timber Valley. They got on the waiting list then and there. After a few years in Florida and California, they returned to make Oregon their home base.
Rick was an enthusiastic supporter of Sutherlin, writing a weekly column in the Douglas County News, serving as an officer for the Sutherlin Area Chamber of Commerce and manning its Visitor Center on Thursdays. On patriotic holidays, he helped the Lions Club transform Sutherlin into “the city of flags” – hanging Old Glory up and down its streets at dawn and then collecting the flags by dusk.
Besides the camaraderie, he enjoyed volunteering because everywhere he looked, he saw potential. In people of every age, in community initiatives, and (during his younger days) in too many fixer-upper houses.
He was a skilled driver with a real knack for backing up a trailer – callings that Dial A Ride, Meals-on-Wheels and St. Vincent de Paul’s put to good use. He dusted off his old traffic-directing skills for a few of the Blackberry Festival’s classic car cruises. He expended his early-bird energy getting Saturdays’ coffee-and-donuts gabfests ready for their on-time start. When Rick and Nusha stayed with his mom during her later years in California, he quietly did more.
Ralph Richard De Young, Rick, was born in San Diego, March 4, 1938, the first of three children. From the start, his personality reflected the resilience and drive of his Dutch and Mormon ancestors. Their wanderlust too – as well as their notorious stubbornness and frugality. He was always shrewd and opinionated – by nature a contrarian and a fighter. In childhood, he was his kid sister’s champion; in legal disputes, his clients’ relentless advocate; in retirement, a determined comrade in partisan causes.
Rick’s father, Dr. Quintin Richard De Young, was an ordained minister and, later, a professor of psychology at Chapman College. His pastoral work took the family to communities in Los Angeles and San Bernardino – and to Connecticut, where Quin attended Yale Divinity School. The duties of a pastor’s wife and homemaker fell to Rick’s mother, Donna White (Earley), who also worked outside their home to help support the family.
Their parents’ answering the call to help others shaped Rick and his sister Sheri – as did the family’s frequent moves. Younger brother Tim followed their father’s footsteps into teaching – and then Rick’s into law.
In his late teens, Rick joined the U.S. Air Force and was posted to Charleston, South Carolina, where he met and married Nancy Fogle. After she graduated from college and he finished his tour of duty, the couple moved to California to be near his family and start their own.
Rick earned a degree from California State University while serving with the Fullerton Police Department. Sales and other work took him through California, and then to Oregon, Utah and Washington, with his own family in tow. He returned to the Fullerton police force a decade later to go back to school – this time studying law at Pepperdine University.
After passing the bar exam, Rick joined a Seattle law firm. Soon it tasked him (as a middle-aged but still junior associate) with opening its Anchorage office. The ‘Last Frontier’ had first captured his imagination when he and Nancy visited in the 1960s. Once there, he stayed.
He met his second wife, Mabel (Nusha) and then joined partner Gerry Wade in opening a law firm specializing in construction and corporate law. They lived near Nusha’s children and grandchildren, who Rick considered as his own. Soon Nusha took her turn juggling work and school to earn her own college degree.
During his high-pressure career, Rick had little time for volunteering, he said in accepting the Sutherlin Chamber of Commerce’s 2019 Man of the Year honor. He tried to make up for that in retirement, attaining its award for how he threw himself into charity work there. Rick was a driver for Dial A Ride; an integral part of the Douglas County News – writing a weekly business column and keeping the office (and editor) together; a dedicated member (and then president) of the Sutherlin Lions Club; a student mentor; and an active worker-bee with initiatives to reach people in need.
He also was not a few things:
He was not a musician, though he loved country music and any sessions Ruby and Ed hosted at Timber Valley.
He was not a gardener, but he could grow tomatoes – and he did keep what Nusha planted going.
And he was not one to steer clear of trouble – especially on the water, where he kept the Coast Guard busy on a few occasions.
His time as a VFR and IFR-rated private pilot was the exception because, he said when he gave up that beloved hobby, ‘there are bold pilots and old pilots – but no old, bold pilots.’
Rick was, most of all, a student of people: fascinated by what made them tick, a believer in greeting everyone with a big smile and convinced that ‘curiosity and questions will get you further than confidence and answers.’
Rick died of natural causes on February 26, 2026 in Roseburg’s hospital with his best friend Becky Holm and Tami Foltz holding his hands, only a few days shy of his 88th birthday.
He left behind many dear friends and is survived by his sister Sheri (Nick); his children Deborah, Dan, and David (Julie); his bonus kids, Danny and Betsy; his grandchildren, Derek, Jacob, Jessica, Jada, Jason and Robert; and six nieces and nephews.
Rick was preceded in death by Mabel (Nusha), his wife of 40 years; his brother Tim, and his parents, Quin and Donna. His firstborn, Ralph Jr, died in infancy.
Funeral services with military honors will be on May 15, 2026 at 12 noon at the National Cemetery, 913 NW Garden Valley Boulevard in Roseburg. The Rev Stewart Fowler will preside.
A memorial gathering follows at 2 pm at the Timber Valley SKP Park’s clubhouse, 800 S. State Street in Sutherlin.
Donations in lieu of flowers are suggested to Calapooia Free Methodist Church in Sutherlin, or to the Sutherlin Lions Club.
