Richard Herriman

Dick’s big heart finally gave out on March 11th while surrounded by his wife of 64 years and his 6 children. Dick was born on November 17, 1935, in Rupert, Idaho, son of proud parents Lewis and Kate Herriman (Daly). As an only child he was super spoiled but turned out great (mostly) anyway :-) His family moved to Nyssa, Oregon when Dick was a youngster. He graduated from Nyssa High in 1954. Dick earned his degree in Soil Science from Oregon State (yeah, I know, not many kids go for soil scientist at career day but this one did) and embarked on a long stint working for the US Soil Conservation Service digging soil pits and analyzing dirt across the western states until his retirement in 1986.

Dick noticed Mary Jean House at Nyssa High and followed her to Oregon State after he spent a year at Gonzaga. They were married on September 1, 1957. What followed was a series of moves for Dick’s job including stops in Nyssa, Enterprise, Eugene, Medford, OR then Richland, WA, Tempe, AZ, and Davis, CA where Dick retired. A consulting career led to stops in Mill Creek, WA, Ontario, OR, and back to Tempe, AZ. We used to joke these were not real job-related moves but some kind of witness protection relocations.

Mary Jean always wanted a big family. Six kids, 13 grandkids and seven great grandkids later, she got her wish. With the arrival of the first grandchild, Dick became affectionately known as Papa so onward hence it’s Papa.

OK, so those are the stats from Papa’s life, but who was he really? We believe a person is defined by the gifts they leave as a legacy. We’re not talking about buildings named after or material gifts but gifts of character, personality, mannerisms, passions that get passed on as interests, family stories, quotable quotes, talent.

Gifts From Papa

Chocolate Gift: He could eat a pound of M&Ms and a sleeve of Oreos in one sitting! All of us inherited this Choco gene and consider See’s candies a primary food group.

Baseball Gift: T-ball, Little League, Babe Ruth, Legion, College, MLB, Papa loved it all and he even got to a World Series game, although his favorite games to watch involved his family.

Shooting Hoops and Jogging Gift: He still had a wicked left-handed hook shot at 70 and ran a 22-second 100-yard dash when he was 80. You could often find Papa swinging a baseball bat or hanging from the monkey bars before running around the local track.

Geomorphology Gift: Papa loved sharing his vast knowledge of soil formation, Puget Sound tsunamis, and ancient Missoula flood routing. On long car trips, he would regale his captive family with origin stories of alluvial fans, channeled scablands, and ice rafted boulder erratics. These lectures were at times sleep inducing, but some of it sunk in and we can semi-accurately identify these land features today.

Gift of Gab and Family: Whenever we were within 200 miles of even a distant relative, we would pull in to catch up with a great aunt, second cousin, great grandmother’s dog’s second owner, whomever. This impressed on us from an early age the importance of family. But, it wasn’t just family he loved to talk up. Papa was that guy who walked the neighborhood stopping to yak with everyone he met and had a smile and a wave for all who passed by.

Gift of Volunteerism: Whether it was shoveling snow off LOLs (little old ladies) sidewalks or volunteering to drive whomever wherever, he was always ready to lend a hand.

Gift of Music: Papa loved classical piano and jazz. He was an excellent piano player and would crank out a mean rendition of Hoagy Carmichael’s “Stardust” on any piano he came across.

Papa had a number of go-to sayings we called “Papaisms”. We had no clue what some of them meant but just played along anyway. When presented with a yummy meal he’d say either, “Get away from that horse’s head!” or “That looks so good you could rub it in your armpits”.

When noticing a TV program that he didn’t think us kids should be watching he would say, “That’s not Dale Murphy”. If something didn’t go your way, just “Offer it up” and if a stranger did something stupid, “Just smile and wave”. When asked about his favorite beer he quipped, “the one in my hand”, although Keystone was high on the list. At the end of his day he would declare, “Me and dingy dog are going to bed” and continued to say this long after the dog had passed on.

As a youngster, he had an imaginary friend named Tommy Geeberson.

He loved history, especially WWII, and could name all the wartime planes, tanks and ships.

He once painted our ‘70 Rambler with a paint brush.

He didn’t care for movies, fish, fancy cars, or fashion, but was always well groomed.

His favorite TV shows were M*A*S*H, Hogan’s Heroes, and any baseball game.

Papa took a soil sample from his gravesite when they purchased it. It is Nyssa silt loam of the class course silty, mixed mesic Xeric Haplodurid in case you’re wondering.

It was Maya Angelou who said, “People will not remember what you said. People will not remember what you did. People will remember how you made them feel.” Papa made you feel like you mattered; someone who cared about what you thought or had to share even if he just met you. He was a good guy. We will miss him.

Funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. on August 6, 2022 at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Ontario, Oregon, with gravesite service then reception to follow.

Donations in Papa’s name can be made to St. Jude’s Research Hospital (stjude.org) or Shriner’s Hospital (donate.lovetotherescue.org) in Portland, Oregon.