Daniel Curtis Bagwell

Daniel Curtis Bagwell died peacefully on the afternoon of April 27th, 2026, beside his wife of 48 years, Marie, and his sons, Geoffrey and Erik. His daughters-in-law Eleanora Corsi (Erik’s wife) and Jenny (Geoffrey’s wife) and his grandchildren Lucia, Theodore, Alice, and Leonardo, mourn his passing.

Dan was born on April 17th, 1952, at the Norfolk Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia to Effie Irene and Albert Stanley Bagwell. Until 1961, he lived abroad with his parents in places such as Morocco and Spain. At the age of nine, his family settled in Monrovia, California. He attended Plymouth Elementary and Clifton Middle Schools, before graduating from Monrovia High School in 1970. He, then, studied at Citrus College in Glendora before transferring to San Francisco State University from which he graduated in 1974 with a degree in biology.

After graduation, Dan traveled to New Zealand and Australia where he spent ten months living and working. In Melbourne, he met one of his life-long friends, Geoff Riley, who would later serve as his best man at his wedding to Marie.

On returning to the United States, Dan began working at the Los Angeles laboratory of Hyland International as a blood protein chemist developing medicine for people suffering from hemophilia. Around the same time, he became reacquainted with Marie Short, a high school classmate and friend, who he had originally met in his confirmation class at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. They marred on January 21st, 1978, at Lutheran Church of the Cross in Arcadia.

Dan and Marie lived in Pasadena with their young sons until 1989 when they moved to Portland, Oregon. A short visit to the city during a road trip in 1988 inspired the move. Relocating to Portland gave Dan the opportunity to consider change careers. Wishing to work outdoors, he decided to train as a carpenter and became a journeyman in 1995. He specialized in the technical construction of clean rooms for building semiconductors until 2007 when a cancer diagnosis forced him to retire.

Throughout his life, Dan enjoyed a wide variety of sports. In high school, he played on the basketball, tennis, and golf teams and was elected head cheerleader. Later in life, he was long-time season ticket holder of the Portland Timbers, and developed an interest in the Oregon Ducks, watching and attending football games in the fall and basketball games in the winter. Dan enjoyed golf more than any other sport. From a young age, he caddied at a golf course in Pasadena and played on his high school’s team. As an adult, he played at local courses whenever he could. In his spare time, he enjoyed watching major tournaments on television and reading books by and about professional golfers. In 2023, he travelled to Hilton Head, South Carolina, to play several of its courses. He also seized the chance to visit the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrew’s on trips to Scotland in 1995 and 2023.

Above all, Dan’s passion was photography. In the early 1980s, he ran a small business as a wedding photographer and was an enthusiastic landscape photographer; he owned many books and prints of Ansel Adams’ photographs and won some awards for his own photos. He devoted a great deal of his long retirement to photography, learning about digital photography and searching Oregon and Washington for scenic shots. One of his favorite places was a small retreat at Cascade Head, north of Lincoln City, where he spent hours hiking the trails and walking the the coast taking pictures.

Dan was a faithful member of his church. He and Marie joined the congregation at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal in 2004 and quickly became active members. He served as a sponsor for new members and as a host for fellowship after services on Sundays. A eager steward of the environment, he led the effort to install solar panels on the roof of the church’s sanctuary. He also organized the renovation of the sanctuary famous red doors.

A memorial of Dan will take place at St. Michael and All Angels on Saturday, July 11th, 2026, at 2pm. Friends near and far remember Dan for his friendly and gregarious character, always inquiring first about the health and well-being of the people he loved even when they ministered to him.

His family will miss his cheerfulness and stubborn optimism and hope to see him again.