Richard Lesley Taynton

08/26/1938 - 03/26/2010

Richard was born in Prairie City, OR on August 26th, 1938 to Delbert and Annabell (Kimball) Taynton. He was much like many other boys growing up in small towns during and after World War II and, as times were tough, entertained himself the best he could by playing marbles, ball and other uncomplicated playtime activities. Eventually, Richard acquired a BB gun and became confident enough in his shooting ability to engage in a William Tell type shooting match with a neighborhood girl. Richard shot first and hit an apple placed on the top of his young lady friend's head. Next, it was the young lady's turn to shoot. Unfortunately, her aim was not as true, and Richard was hit square between the eyes, narrowly escaping a very serious eye injury. Another incident that Richard liked to tell of, was the winter when he broke his nose. Richard and some other area children were riding sleds down a hill, and at the bottom of the run, had to keep their heads down to coast under a wooden slat fence. Richard happened to look up at precisely the wrong moment to see how close he was getting to the fence and didn't quite make it under.

Richard became very fond of fishing when he was a boy growing up near Dixie Creek in Prairie City. During those years Dixie Creek held more water than it does today and supported a good population of trout. Again, times were tough and money wasn't available for such things as fishing tackle, so Richard would find a suitable willow switch to use as a fishing rod. Attached to the improvised fishing rod was a length of fishing line and a fishing hook. Richard waylaid many trout from under the Highway 26 Dixie Creek bridge that later ended up on the family kitchen table. There were some mornings that Richard would actually go catch breakfast before school started for the day. These events were the very beginnings of a lifetime of caring and providing for his family. The love of fishing stayed with Richard all his life, right up through the days after he was diagnosed with cancer. The last fishing trip he went on was a few years ago with with his son Rick. This particular day Richard caught two steelhead, the only fish of the trip.

Richard also developed an interest in hunting when he was a teenager, and as alluded to earlier, was a good shot. He could remember a couple of occasions where very little food was available for Holiday dinner, but as good luck and good aim would have it, was able to again provide for his family by taking a pheasant in one instance, and a goose on another. Richard also had very warm memories of family deer hunting outings with his father, brother, uncles and his sons as they became old enough to hunt. Over the years Richard harvested many fine Mule Deer bucks.

As Richard entered his teenage years, he began to develop his skills as an athlete. During his high school years, he excelled in football, basketball, baseball and track and field. He earned many athletic awards and was chosen to play in the 1957 Shriners East West All Star football game. Another athletic achievement of note was a first round knock out at a "Smoker" boxing match, which were popular at the time. Richard was also known as an excellent dancer while he was attending Prairie City High School. Most of the teenage girls attending Prairie City High School couldn't wait for a chance to dance with him. Although Richard kept busy attending to school and practice after school for his sports activities, he also found the time to help his father, Delbert, work at his saw mill. Yet another example of Richard's willingness to help his family when he could. Richard graduated from Prairie City High School in 1957.

After graduating from high school, Richard moved to Portland, OR and with help from his uncle "Bud" Taynton, landed a job at Barker Furniture Factory. It was at this time that Richard met and married Kristi J. Olson, the mother of their three children, Rick, Jill and Dennis. Eventually, Richard found it necessary to seek out better employment opportunity to accommodate the needs of his growing family. He found that opportunity at Imperial Paint Factory and remained there until retirement after 41 years of service.

Richard was always willing to help out friends and family in need. His house, wherever he may be living, had an open door to those friends and loved ones that seemed to be in need of a helping hand. Richard extended this act of kindness several times throughout his life, beginning with home town neighbor and friend, Kyle Becker. Kyle was fresh out of the service and had nowhere to stay, so Richard welcomed Kyle into his residence. In another instance, Richard's sister Eileen was pregnant and in need of help, so he suggested that Eileen move in with his family and reasoned that by staying in Portland, Eileen would also benefit from better medical assistance found in the area. Richard also offered this same kindness to his sister Verna and her young son Tod. Staying with Richard also enabled Verna to pursue a possible career as a Beautician. Richard's wife Kristi, whom had attended and completed Beauty College, encourage Verna to enroll in Beauty College as a first step in achieving her career interests. Verna took this advice and followed through with enrolling. Many years went by when Verna's husband, Gunther, sustained some very serious injuries in a logging accident. After recovering form his injuries, Gunther had an opportunity to go to a small appliance repair school in Milwaukie, OR, to pursue a career that would not be hindered by the logging accident injuries. Once more, Richard opened his doors and offered his brother in law housing while Gunther was attending the small appliance repair school. Years later, Verna and Gunther's son Travis, had an unfortunate accident and upon recovery, stayed with his uncle Richard and attended the same school as Gunther did. The list goes on; Richard's brother Ronnie's wife, sister in law Diane, was pursuing her career as a Nurse and was planning to take employment in the Portland area. Richard, as with many times before, showed graciousness and hospitality by welcoming Diane into his home during the period she was working in the area.

Richard was a loving husband and nurturing father. He worked hard to provide the best he could for his family. Although at times money was quite short when his children were very young, he always managed to keep his family fed and safe. Beyond providing the basic necessities, there always seemed to be plenty of birthday presents and presents under the Christmas tree, enough gas in the car to go on a Sunday drive in the country, an occasional dinner out, a weekend camping trip on the upper Clackamas river, or enough money saved to take his family on vacation to the Oregon Coast, or back home to Prairie City and the surrounding area. One of his favorite spots was at Cresent Creek Campground, located near the head of the John Day river. Many times other family members would join him there as well. Richard always looked forward to going back home to Prairie City and especially liked to go on fishing trips to any one of the many lakes or streams in the area, with as many family members as he could interest in going along with him.

Richard's kind and caring ways made him an excellent father. Although he could be very disciplining to his children when they had done something that merited such action, he also enjoyed teasing and playing with each one of his children. He also liked to tease and play with his nieces, nephews, grandchildren and any other children that he happened to be around. As Richard's children grew older, their mother Kristi began working in the evenings, so Richard was in charge of attending to the kids after he arrived home from the paint factory. He would make dinner for everyone and then after dinner, he and the kids would gather in front of the TV to watch there favorite TV programs, such as Bonanza, Tarzan, or Gunsmoke, to name a few. During the spring and early summer months, he liked to wake Rick up early on Saturday mornings to go fishing on the upper Clackamas river for the day. He also did the same for Dennis when Rick had moved to Prairie City after graduating from High School. As the children became teenagers, they began to be involved in after school activities. The boys played football and basketball, and Jill participated in dance and dance teams. Richard attended many of the events his children took part in and was quite proud of his children's efforts.

Richard also liked dogs. Remarkably, dogs that happened to be around him, always seemed to take to him. Undoubtedly, the dogs would pick up on Richard's natural gentleness. In general, Richard always took time to listen to and acknowledge the people that were around him, regardless of age or relation.

Richard was a very social person and liked to be involved in social activities. Participating in fast pitch softball and bowling leagues not only allowed him to take part in sporting events that he enjoyed, but it also allowed him to socialize outside of his family group. Richard joined the East Portland Moose Lodge in 1975 and began to take up golfing with some of his fellow lodge members after bowling became too hard on his back. Richard's favorite golf event was a yearly bus trip to Prineville, OR for a Calcutta tournament that took place there. Richard was not as successful at golf as he was at other sports, but his participation was more about being involved in a social activity with a group of his friends than any award or prize. Richard not only liked to participate in sports, he was also a huge sports fan. He would get totally wrapped up in Trail Blazers basketball games on TV, to the point that he actually became emotionally involved. So emotional that if the Blazers lost, he would often go to bed upset. Richard liked watching a variety of sports on TV, including not only NBA basketball, but any college football or basketball games, as well as NFL football and golf, or any other highly promoted sporting events of the day.

Richard began to experience some serious health problems when he was in his late 60's. At this time the artery in his left leg developed a blockage that required an operation for installing a Stent to alleviate the problem. Richard recovered from his operation and went about his life as normal, albeit without smoking cigarettes. Approximately a year later, he was diagnosed as having a large tumor on his left kidney. An operation ensued to remove his left kidney, which was initially deemed successful. Richard was scheduled to receive follow up doctors appointments to monitor the success of the surgery and unfortunately, doctors found the cancer had metastasized to an area on his left shoulder that had formed a small tumor. This tumor was treated successfully with radiation and Richard showed positive signs of recovery. The follow up doctors appointments continued, and eventually the cancer metastasized to the area where his left kidney had been removed. Richard was prescribed chemotherapy pills and at the onset, results were promising. However, as it became evident the chemotherapy pills had lost there effectiveness, doctors changed to intravenous chemotherapy. Richard tried to keep his spirits up during his chemotherapy treatment and up to the fall of 2009, was able to remain fairly active. One event he really enjoyed, was traveling with his daughter Jill, son in law Rusty Wright, and grand daughter Sheree, to LaGrande, OR, to see his grandson Nathan and Nathan's home there. From LaGrande, Richard traveled to Enterprise,OR to see his grandson Justin and Justins home there as well. While visiting Justin, a trip to Wallowa Lake was arranged and Richard was thoroughly impressed with the beauty of the lake and the deer that roamed freely in the campground there.

By Christmas of 2009, Richard's heath had started to decline rapidly due to the advanced stages of kidney cancer he had been battling. In January of 2010, Richard had to be placed in an Adult Care facility so he could receive around the clock assistance. All attempts were made to keep him as comfortable and pain free as possible and the caretakers were largely successful in doing so. Richard held on as best he could until he passed on to our Father in heaven, Friday, March 26th, 2010.

During Richard's last days, he communicated that he wished friends and family would not come to see him, other than his sons and daughter. He made this request solely to prevent his friends and loved ones from becoming upset at the diminished physical state he was in. He really just didn't want to break the hearts of his loved ones and friends.

Before he passed away, Richard expressed that he wanted people to know that it's best to go travel and do whatever we desire to do while we can, rather than wait and risk the chance of not getting to do it at all.

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Obituary

Richard passed away Friday, March 26th, 2010 after a valiant battle with kidney cancer. He was 71. Please visit this page again soon for a confirmed service date and time.

Richard was born in Prairie City, Oregon on August 26, 1938 to Delbert and Annabell (Kimball) Taynton. He graduated from Prairie City High School, class of 1957. He was actively involved in athletics during his high school years and received several athletic awards, as well as being chosen to play in the 1957 Shriners East West All Star high school football game. Another athletic achievement of note during those high school years was a first round knock out at a “Smoker” boxing match, which were popular at that time. Richard continued to enjoy sports throughout his life and participated in fast pitch softball, bowling and golfing. Hunting and fishing were favorite pastimes as well. Additionally, he was an active member of the East Portland Moose Lodge 1891 since 1975.

After graduating from high school, Richard moved to Portland, Oregon, married Kristi J. Olson (divorced) and became an employee at Barker Furniture Factory. Eventually, Richard found a better employment opportunity at Imperial Paint Factory and remained there until his retirement after 41 years of service. He was a member of Paint Makers and Allied Trades, Local 1094.

Richard was a loving brother, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. He is survived by his brother, Ronald Taynton of John Day, OR; sister, Eileen Andrew of Baker City, OR; sister, Verna Clark of Prairie City, OR; son, Richard D. Taynton of Portland, OR; daughter, Jill Wright of Prairie City, OR; son, Dennis Taynton of Portland, OR; 3 grandchildren and 1 great-grandchild. He was preceded in death by his mother, father and sister, Deanna Shoun.

Arrangements under the direction of Bateman Carroll Funeral Home, Gresham, OR.