Douglas Edward Riippa

Have you ever heard of the Winter War? In 1939-1940, Finland resisted the vastly superior armaments and manpower of the invading Soviet Union for far longer than any observer thought possible. Their secret: a uniquely Finnish form of endurance and grit called sisu, the ability to keep fighting when all seems lost. It was sisu that Doug Riippa, proudly Finnish, brought to his own two-and-a-half-year Winter War, a battle with extensively metastasized prostate cancer. He finally laid down his arms on March 17, 2025, with his wife by his side.

How can you distill into mere words a man who lived so vibrantly and so well? If nothing else, you must understand that Doug’s life came down to four great loves: his family, his faith, books, and cars.

Born to John and Helvi (Lofback) Riippa in Hancock, Michigan, on November 16, 1951, Doug grew up in the small Copper Range town of Winona. Winona was rural, blue collar, and largely inhabited by old Finns related to Doug's father. Being Finnish, being a working man, and being a Yooper shaped Doug’s personality for life. He had an exuberant sense of humor from the get-go and unabashedly teased those he loved to show his affection.

Since Winona was so small and rural, Doug learned quickly how to make his own fun. He developed a lifelong love of reading, which provided the plots for the imaginative games he played around Winona's abandoned mines, wooded hills, and abundant swamps. Little brother Phil–who had the same interests and mischievous twinkle in his eye–was often on the receiving end of Doug’s affectionate pranks or the unfortunate soul pressed into service of his wild schemes. When he grew older, he devised even more dramatic forms of entertainment. Homemade Molotov cocktails could be counted among his “arts and crafts” from this era.

Doug attended the Winona school (Elm River Township School) and then Jeffers High School in Painesdale, graduating with the class of 1969. He was thrilled to attend his class’s 50th reunion in 2019. With the Vietnam War raging, John and Helvi were eager not to have their sons drafted, and they sent Doug to Suomi College (later Finlandia University). Doug later confessed that his primary interest in college was the campus snack bar, and he ultimately did not complete his degree. No one, however, could have called him uneducated. Through his excitement for self-guided learning and his voracious appetite for books, he cultivated a knowledge of history and geography that would be the envy of many scholars. He loved wordplay and bad puns. His vocabulary was vast, and he won nearly every family Scrabble game. Coincidentally, he was also the scorekeeper of nearly every family Scrabble game.

As a teenager, Doug worked for his father’s lumber business and gas station, but he felt the lure of the open road. He started working as an over-the-road trucker on April 1, 1973, driving Peterbilts and Freightliners for Riippa Lumber and for International Transport, among others. He loved the freedom of trucking and the opportunity to see the world. Through his work and recreational travel, he eventually visited 48 states, much of Canada, and even the United Kingdom.

When Doug was 19, a young lady came down from Hancock to recruit his sister Judy for the girls’ club to which she belonged. Doug saw MarKay Gasperich sitting by his fireplace in a red sweater, and he was immediately taken with her. Their paths crossed again at a Halloween dance soon after, and Doug didn't hesitate to ask her for a date. The rest was history. Through all the ups and downs of life, Doug and MarKay remained best friends and each other’s true love. They married at the Methodist church in Hancock on June 29, 1974, and celebrated 50 years of marriage in 2024. Whenever Doug spoke to anyone–friend or stranger–about his wife, he glowed with pride and happiness. To him, she was “my rock on Earth” and the most beautiful woman, inside and out. He celebrated her achievements as though they were his own. He never stopped showering her with flowers, sweet notes, and thoughtful gestures, or getting excited when her car pulled into the driveway or her number lit up his cell phone, because he never doubted for a moment that God had blessed him beyond his wildest dreams.

After living in Hancock for a few years, Doug and MarKay decided to move to Post Falls, Idaho, for a change of scenery and to be closer to Doug’s trucking routes. They bought a little house on the Rathdrum prairie, and Doug savored Idaho’s opportunities for hunting and fishing. The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens rained ash down on their home, an experience that Doug counted as one of his most memorable. After circumstances led him out of trucking in 1978, he established Green Gro Landscaping and loved being his own boss. Later, a buddy about to take the exam for an insurance license told Doug that there was no way Doug could pass the test. Being told “You can’t do it” or “It can’t be done” only ever gave Doug more determination. He received a higher exam score than his buddy and embarked on a successful career in insurance that lasted more than two decades.

A lull in the northern Idaho insurance business prompted Doug and MarKay to move to Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1985. They enjoyed the desert and the nearby national parks, but Doug never felt at home there. In 1988, they made their last move, settling in Grand Rapids. Doug continued to sell for Family Life Insurance in Michigan and was a profitable sales team leader for Sentry Insurance until the company closed the Grand Rapids office. He then worked as a salesman for Arms Malcolm Insurance and Benefit Management in Caledonia, then Reliable Delivery and Statewide Moving. Tired of how these companies made their work unnecessarily complicated, and remembering how much he enjoyed having his own business, Doug started Flying Finn Delivery in 2004. His warm, humorous personality and commitment to simple, high-quality service quickly won over potential customers, and the company grew to include several additional drivers and vehicles. He ran Flying Finn until his retirement in 2024.

After many years of longing for children, MarKay and Doug welcomed daughter Emily in 1992. She had Doug wrapped around her little finger from the minute she was placed in his arms. As the world’s greatest devotee of strong black coffee, his only disappointment in his daughter was that she chose tea as her caffeinated beverage. He loved to spend every second he could with her, to be as silly as possible and feel like what he was: a big kid who never grew old. He was the most enthusiastic audience member of every school musical, choir concert, spelling bee, or awards ceremony; he jumped at chances to help her with school projects, competitions, or learning Bible verses for Awana. He missed only one of his daughter's events over the years and regretted that he couldn't claim a perfect record. He was always there to pick her up: from elementary school, from college, from the airport, and he waved off appreciation for extraordinary acts of service by saying, “That’s just what dads do.” He read to her every night until she left home. He passed along his love of reading to her and then to his grandson Silas, to whom he read over the phone at lunch every day until it was no longer possible for him.

Perhaps the only hobby that surpassed Doug’s passion for books was his excitement for cars. Getting his driver's license on his 16th birthday thrilled him and opened him up to do legally what he had already done for years under the radar. He cruised the Copper Country continually, finding adventure and mischief along the way. Born with a lead foot, he raced other young men on the streets, even across the Portage Lake Lift Bridge. A self-proclaimed shade-tree mechanic, he spent thousands of hours over the course of his life tinkering with cars, repairing his cars or those of friends and family, and reading about classic American cars. He built his own cars for racing on Michigan dirt tracks and took the checkered flag at Mid-Michigan Speedway and I-96 Speedway on three occasions. Doug’s most prized possession in recent years was his 1972 Chevy pickup, which he restored to his tastes. He eagerly looked forward to the end of each winter so he could take the pickup out on the road. No matter what challenges Doug was facing, he always felt his spirits lift when he was driving his pickup. He delighted in Silas’s budding love of all things automotive.

The most important gift Doug gave his family, however, was his faith. Raised nominally Lutheran, in Idaho he began to recognize his need for Christ and sought a deeper relationship with Him through prayer and Scripture. He and MarKay cherished the fellowship of Mountain View Bible Church in Post Falls. Later, they became faithful members of Coeur d’Alene Bible Church, and Doug spoke for decades afterward about the transformative ministry of its pastor, Ashley Day. For almost three decades after moving to Grand Rapids, they attended Calvary Church on East Beltline. They then found a true home at New Hope Community Church on Northland Drive, and Doug became an enthusiastic member of the softball team. He loved the family feel of the church and looked forward to Pastor Josh Mateer's warm welcome and engaging preaching each Sunday. New Hope helped him to realize, after years of trying to go it alone, that God made us for community, and he was deeply thankful for this epiphany.

Doug’s faith in Christ only grew after his cancer diagnosis in 2022, and all who knew him were blessed by witnessing his total reliance on God. He even came to thank the Lord for his illness, even in the hardest times, because it inspired new opportunities for him to help others. He could truly say with Paul, "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you" (Colossians 1:24). He declared early on, "Cancer, you may kill my body, but you will never, ever kill my spirit, so I win. And I like being a winner." And he was, without question, the winner. Doug took up his cross with Christ in life. Now he goes with the same loving trust to meet Him who is the Resurrection and the Life.

His parents (John in 1971 and Helvi in 2016), older brother John (1998), and many members of his extended family preceded Doug in death. He is survived by his beloved wife of 50 years, MarKay; his cherished daughter, Emily (Kyle Schwiebert); his two precious grandsons, Silas and Matthias; his loyal brother, Phil; his sister, Judy (Michael Cates); his nieces, Alicia, Alexis (William Michaelson), and Victoria (Jordan Fox); his nephew, John; and many special friends, particularly Jim and Aileen Matheson and Marty and Jan Miller.

The family thanks all those whose spiritual and practical support meant so much to Doug over these years: the staff of BAMF Health (where Doug was famous for his radiation-themed t-shirts), especially nurse Jen Hoseth, who became a dear friend, and Dr. Brandon Mancini; Dr. Susan Terrell at Trinity Health and her palliative care team; Dr. Jared Knol and his oncology team; Dr. Derek Bergsma and his radiation oncology team; Interim Hospice; and the entire New Hope family, especially members of the softball team and the men's study.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to FMAB (the foundation that supports BAMF), the Saint Mary's Foundation (to support the Lacks Cancer Center), or New Hope Community Church in Doug's memory.

A memorial service will be held for Doug at New Hope Community Church, 6175 Northland Dr NE, Rockford, MI, on Saturday, March 29, at 10:30 AM, with luncheon to follow. In tribute to Doug and one of his strongly-held opinions, we encourage gentlemen not to wear ties. The family will receive visitors at the church from 9:00 AM until the service begins. Cremation has taken place with interment planned for Lakeside Cemetery in Hancock, since the Upper Peninsula was always home.

Doug loved dark humor and the death-themed jokes of Digger O’Dell, the “friendly undertaker” from the radio show The Life of Riley. He would want us to end by quoting Digger: “I’d better be… shoveling off.”

Until we meet again in the presence of Christ, Dad. We love you.