John Douglas Price 1934 - 2026

John Douglas Price, of McMinnville, Oregon, passed away March 17, 2026.  He was just short of his 92^nd birthday.  John was born May 1, 1934, to Mamie (Wills) Price Cabell and Dewey E. Price in Uneeda, West Virginia. 

He was a proud West Virginian and West Virginia University Mountaineer.  He grew up running through the hills and swimming in the Pond Fork of the Coal River with his sisters, brothers, cousins, and friends. 

In 1952, John graduated from Van High School and promptly enlisted in the US Navy.  He soon discovered that he was extremely prone to sea sickness and barely made it to his post on his troop transport. Fortunately, he was assigned to be a radio operator on Navy transport aircraft flying out of Hickman AFB in Hawaii.  After the Navy, he used the G.I. Bill to go to West Virginia University, where he graduated in 1960 with a degree in Forestry.  There are many stories from his time at WVU, but everyone’s favorite is about the time he and his roommate tried cooking a racoon. It didn’t go well. Curious if he got his security deposit back.

John followed opportunity: he moved west to work for the United States Forest Service.  At the time, the forests were the economic engine of Oregon. His first post was in Waldport, Oregon. In Waldport, he met a group of fellow foresters who would become lifelong friends.  They hunted, fished, and socialized together their entire lives.  Also, that first year in Oregon, he was set up on a blind date with Gail Pederson from Portland, and within the year they had married.

 A son, Jay, and daughter, Jill, followed.  His career in the USFS took the family to Oregon, Washington, South Dakota, and Idaho.  He retired in 1989 and moved to Oregon’s Willamette Valley, buying a 35-acre farm near McMinnville.

He and Gail tried their luck at sheep farming and, after a couple of years, they decided sheep farming wasn’t for them.  Eventually, John, always the tree guy, decided that farming filberts would be much better than trying to herd sheep.  He was one of the early second wave nut farmers, starting his first orchard in the early 1990s.  It really hurt him when the blight hit, and he had to rip out and replant his orchard.  He replanted over 3,100 trees over several years after the age of 76.  This past harvest was the first harvest he missed.  He drove the harvester the previous year at age 90.

John was liked by everyone.  He always enjoyed meeting new people.  One of his greatest strengths is the way he could say thank you.

He was preceded in death by his parents; sister, Lois Ann; and brothers, Dewey and Billy. His wife of 64 years, Gail, recently passed (see her obituary); children, Jill Price of Portland, and Jay Price (Lisa) of McMinnville; grandchildren, Bridget Price, Reid Chen, Ingrid Price, Cameron Chen, and Oscar Price; sister, Sharon Riggleman (Fred) of Beverly, West Virginia; and stepbrother, Norvell “Chub” Cabell of Houston, Texas.