Obituary
My dad left us on his 61st birthday-the same day he came into this world. It feels almost too perfect and too cruel at the same time. He spent his whole life in Portland, Oregon, and somehow filled every year of it with hard work, easy laughter, and a heart that never seemed to run out of room.
For years he took care of his father, Raymond. When Raymond passed, Dad simply stepped up and kept showing up for his mother, Judith. He loved her with everything he had. Even now, I know he wants her to keep making her chicken a la king-his favorite-so the rest of us can still taste a little of the love she poured into every meal. There’s nothing like a mother’s cooking, and he never wanted anyone to forget that. He loved his siblings too-Rena Portlock, Greg Van Horn, and his brother-in-law Tom Portlock. They carried so many memories and so much life together. He never wanted those memories to fade.
He loved his kids-Joshua, Melissa, Ashley and me, Brittany-all grown now, married, with lives of our own that he is so proud of. He loves his four grandkids, Zoey, Lucas, Hunter, and Forrest, with a full and quiet kind of joy. His heart was full because of us. His legacy will keep living through the children and grandchildren he loved so fiercely. More than anything, Dad used to say that before he left this world he just wanted to make sure his kids would be okay. That we would grieve, and then keep going-cherishing every moment with our own families the way he always tried to cherish us.
He loved his boat. He didn’t get to get on it as much as he wanted to but he made the best of it, even took a five hour nap in the front of the Bayliner that was parked in the driveway at home. He got to cross it off his bucketlist and better yet he wanted it for his twin girls so they could fish or just cruise whenever and wherever they wanted to. Always thinking about him when we went out. If he was still here, he’d be right there with us on the water every chance he got.
At work he was a machinist at Oregon Cam Grinding. He was really good at what he did, but that never quite captured him. He held that place up. When something went wrong, people looked to him. Outside of work he was the same way-a true jack-of-all-trades. If you needed help, he showed up. Even if he had to stand there for a while figuring it out, he always found a way. That was just who he was.
I got to be more than his daughter. I got to be his scheduler, his caregiver, his best friend. Aunt Rena was right there with me from the day we found out he had cancer-present for her brother every step of the way. I was so proud of him. He went to every appointment even when he didn’t want to. He did every test they asked for, no matter how uncomfortable it made him. He walked out of hospital rooms the doctors thought he’d never leave. He was a fighter. He kept a great attitude, made the doctors laugh, and still managed a fist bump on the way out.
Even when he knew things weren’t going to get better, he kept fighting. He never gave up. And I was lucky enough to be by his side through all of it. It wasn’t easy. But I would do every hard day again just to have that time with him.
Dad, you made every room brighter just by walking into it. You made us feel safe. You made us laugh when we needed it most. You put us first-always. The world is quieter without your smile, without your jokes, without that stubborn way you fixed everything, and without the way you loved us with nothing held back.
I miss you already in ways I still don’t have words for.
Rest easy dad,
We love you.
Tributes