RICHARD L. STRIDE, D.V.M Dr. Richard L. Stride, DVM was a kind and generous man, born April 4, 1931 in Omaha, Nebraska to his mother Edna (Lindeen) and father, George Stride, who worked as a typesetter for the Omaha World Herald newspaper. In the summer of 1942, Richard’s uncle procured him a job on a farm in Central City, Nebraska and it was that summer, watching the local veterinarian work with the animals that he decided veterinary medicine was the life for him. Richard first saw the Oregon in 1954. on a road trip with two college buddies, and often recalled the moment they came around a bend east of Burns, he saw all that wide-open country and knew it was the place for him. After graduating from Veterinary School at Iowa State University he moved to Portland and began his 55-year career starting with Dr. Ruggles at the Portland Dog and Cat Hospital on N.W. 14th and Lovejoy. In February of 1960, he met Joyce Tate while skating at the Lloyd Center ice rink; they were married September 8, 1962. Son Bill was born in 1963 and daughter Laura in 1966 and the two grew up in Dogwood Park, a close-knit neighborhood outside Cedar Mill, Oregon. In 1972, Richard opened Southwest Hills Veterinary Clinic in Beaverton where he had a loyal multi-generational clientele. A gifted doctor who never turned away a client for lack of funds, he also guided countless families through difficult end of life choices for their pets with his trademark compassion and honesty. In his off time, Richard studied for his private pilot license and enjoyed several years of flying; at forty, he summited Mt. Adams and traded his wings for an ice axe and crampons. Richard joined the Mazama climbing club and spent the next twenty-five years pursuing his greatest loves, mountaineering and telemark skiing. In 1980, he received the Mazama Sixteen peak award; in 2010 he was recognized for twenty years of service as a Mazama Nordic instructor. In 1985, Richard and Joyce moved onto her great grandfather’s homestead outside North Plains where Richard loved to chop wood, tend his blueberry bushes, watch wild ducks land on the pond and the elk graze on the floodplain. In his sixties, he learned to speak Spanish and trekked in Guatemala, Bolivia and Peru. Next, he learned his grandparent’s native tongue and in 2002, he and his little sister Marilyn traveled to Sweden to visit ancestral land. In 2012 and 2013, he made back-to-back trips to Europe with each of his children, where they explored Paris and stood on the hallowed ground at Normandy. Next, they headed to the north of Spain where Richard was reunited with his exchange student “son” Xabi Vigara who thanked Richard for their experiences together skiing and hiking, which Xabi had passed onto his own children. When not traveling, Richard loved to read, his overstuffed bookshelves testament to his many interests from aviation, geology, and mountaineering to histories of World War II, the Great Plains and the American West, as well as an inordinate number of bi-lingual dictionaries. He loved to hike, watch college football, browse bookstores, pour over guidebooks and maps plotting his next backpack trip, road trip or travels abroad. He always started the morning with a slurp of black coffee and a bite of danish. Richard enjoyed the company of his large extended family who came to the farm for Christmas dinners and summer camp outs down at the creek; his final summer, he and Joyce hosted a record twelve campouts on the farm, where he spent hours visiting with his many friends, young and old. A great cap on a full and storied life. Richard departed this life with grace on the morning of March 18, 2021 as the result of complications following surgery. His family is grateful to the wonderful ICU nurses who attended Richard with compassion and honesty, in his final hours, and made it possible for his family to be at his side. With heavy hearts, we must part but not without a line he enjoyed from a novel by fellow Nebraskan Willa Cather: “he died of having lived.” Richard is survived by his wife, Joyce Stride; sister Marilyn Foster (Newtown, PA); son, Bill Stride, (Hillsboro, OR); daughter Laura Stride, (Portland, OR); honorary daughter and son-in-law Wendy and Chris Redhouse (Marvin, NC) and “granddaughters”, Lilly and Kate; honorary daughter Carmen Dunstan (Redmond, WA); first cousins James Lindeen (Ohio); Charles (Mona) Lindeen (Idaho) and Ellen (Roger) Stride Bresnahan (Omaha); nephew Erik Foster (Newtown PA); nephew Bruce Foster (Daytona, FL); niece Karin Hillegas (Louisville, CO); niece Kristin Glover (Richmond, VA) and several grand nieces and nephews. In addition, his life was blessed by longtime friends Rusty Carter (Tualatin, OR), Dave Huntley (Bend, OR) and countless others who relished the journey with him, including Richard’s Rottweiler, Bear, who will miss their daily walks to the walnut orchard. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Bonnie L. Hayes Small Animal Shelter in Washington County or the Mazama Nordic or Basic Climbing School programs. To sign the online guest book or to send a condolence to the family go to www.fuitenrosehoyt.com.