Terry Stanley Cargill

May 7, 1939 – November 20, 2025

Terry Stanley Cargill passed away at home on November 20, 2025 from complications of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). His faithful dog Misty was by his side. He was 86.

Stan was born May 7,1939 in Piggott, Arkansas to Clinton Terry Cargill and Evelyn Valerie (Stanley) Cargill.

He grew up in Piggott, Arkansas with older sister, Barbara Ann, and younger sister, Jan Franchel.  His father co-owned Cargill’s Furniture and Appliance store in Piggott with Stan’s uncle Laws Cargill.

The family moved to St. Louis, Missouri when Stan was a preteen.

At Webster Groves High School he excelled in football and wrestling. He attended Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri where he joined Sigma Chi fraternity.

Initially, he planned to become a Presbyterian minister but later changed his major to pre-law. He left college in 1960 to serve four years in the US Marine Corps.

Stationed in Japan, he later helped guard the US nuclear test site near Las Vegas, Nevada. He received a Good Conduct medal.

In 1964 he married Delores Marie Boston of Fontana, California. The couple settled in Southern California but soon moved to Portland. Their daughter Heather Jo Cargill was born in 1971.

During these years Stan learned metallurgical lab skills, then worked as a managerial trainee for a large transfer company. Eventually, he rose to assistant manager at one of the company’s larger warehouses where he supervised 30 employees.

Desiring a change of career, he found his calling as a Multnomah County Corrections Officer at Rocky Butte jail.

By the spring of 1974 he decided to head back to college on the G.I. Bill. Still working 40 hours a week at Rocky Butte, he carried a full class load at Portland State University, often catching only a few hours sleep before class.

Stan enjoyed his family life with Lori and their young daughter. He satisfied his artistic side by enrolling in elective classes, including jewelry making and precious metal work.

Often appearing on the Dean’s list, he graduated in 1976 with a BS degree in Administration of Justice. Degree in hand, he started working as a personnel and training officer for the Multnomah County Corrections Department.

By 1982 he had advanced to Corrections Deputy with the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office.

Gregarious with a quick sense of humor, a friendly manner and a sharp intellect, Stan was often elected to leadership positions. He served as the president of the Multnomah County Corrections Officers’ Association, leading them through numerous union negotiations.

Stan was six feet tall, athletic and very brave. Once, while he was guarding a prisoner during a court trial, the man suddenly bolted from the courtroom, fleeing down the hall. Stan chased him, then tackled him as they crashed through a window together, glass shattering around them. He captured the escapee but suffered one of many back injuries.

In his later years he suffered pain from arthritis along his spine but rarely complained.

“I was tackling some bad guys,” Stan would simply explain.

In 1984 Stan married Juliana Chasse Kosovich, a geriatric nurse practitioner at the Portland VA Medical Center.

Stan and Julie helped co-parent Heather throughout her preteen and teenage years. The three of them enjoyed vacations together in Bend, Oregon, hiking, camping and downhill skiing. They often attended St. Barnabas Episcopal Church near their home in Southwest Portland.

Stan was also an avid bicyclist and joined with fellow Corrections officers in group bicycle rides around Portland for many years. He also bought a motorcycle and enjoyed riding around Portland for fun.

During her childhood Heather was battling increasingly debilitating kidney disease. When her kidneys eventually failed in her teen years, Stan donated one of his kidneys to help extend her life.

Eventually, she was forced to undergo kidney dialysis several times a week.

After Stan retired from the sheriff’s department in 1999, he devoted himself to caring for Heather, moving her into his two-bedroom apartment where he was her main caregiver for the last years of her life.

Stan was a fierce advocate for social justice and a member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

In 2011, when he was 72 and retired, he wrote a letter to the editor backing up a police bureau recruit in her whistle blower claim that her training officer was guilty of misconduct.

After Heather passed away in 2013 at the age of 41, Stan spent many hours helping elderly neighbors in his senior apartment building, creating delicious fruit salads and dinners, then delivering them to their doors. He also helped his elderly Great-Aunt Daisy and Great-Uncle Ira Cargill when they were ill, driving them to doctors’ appointments, providing dinners and becoming like a son to them.

Stan devoted himself to caring for Heather’s companion dog, a tan dachshund named Chance. The little dog went everywhere with him.

After Chance passed away three years after Heather, Stan soon adopted a three- legged “rescue dog” named Misty. The little black Shitzu terrier rarely left his side, remaining next to him during his last hours.

Stan retained his warmth, humor and generosity of spirit through his 70s and even during arthritic pain in his 80s. He helped out many friends financially and often hosted large groups of relatives and friends at various Portland restaurants, celebrating everyone’s birthdays.  That special group of Portland friends – most of them attending the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Southeast Portland – loved him very much and will miss him dearly. Two of them have welcomed little Misty into their loving home.

Stan is survived by his sister Jan Franchel Perkins of St. Louis, Missouri;  nephews Andrae Belmont Bopp III (Michelle) of Walla Walla, Washington; Anthony Laurence Bopp (Janet) of Booneville, Missouri; John Adam Perkins (Lindsay) of St. Louis, Missouri; James Fridenberg (Chandell), of Vienna, Virginia; cousins, Calvin Cargill ( Nealya) of Hood River, Oregon; Linda Cargill of Portland, Oregon; and dozens of great-nieces, great-nephews, cousins and friends.

Stan was preceded in death by his daughter, Heather Jo Cargill, and his sister, Barbara Ann Fridenberg; and nephews Thomas Fridenberg and Steven Fridenberg.

A memorial service is planned for Friday, March 20 at 11am at Willamette National Cemetery with military honors. Donations in his memory may be made to the Oregon Humane Society or the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

A reception will be held at noon on March 20. For location of the reception, please contact: 5carnations@gmail.com