George Clayton Douglass

November 29, 1946 - October 22, 2020

George Clayton Douglass, 73 of Canby passed on to his heavenly home with his savior Jesus Christ the evening of October 22, 2020. George was born on November 29, 1946 in Oregon City, Oregon to proud parents Richard and Evelyn Douglass. He was the oldest of four children and learned the value of hard work from a young age by milking cows, feeding animals, and gardening on the family farm. As an 8 year old he started his first small business by raising meat rabbits to sell. On a family vacation in his pre-teen years he began collecting coins. While his dad drove, he would spend his car time on their cross-country road trip searching through bags of silver dollars for the good ones made of real silver. When he was finished with a bag his dad would stop at a bank along the way and George would trade out his unwanted coins for a new bag of silver dollars which he would then search through for the good ones only to trade out the others at another bank down the road somewhere. He must have gotten pretty good at spotting the good ones because years later he would pay much of his way through college by selling off coins he had collected. Throughout his youth George ran track and played on football, basketball, and baseball teams at both school and church. He would regularly get himself to practices and games by riding his bike several miles up and down the hills of Oregon City, only to have to turn around and ride the several miles back home again afterwards. His mom used to say “I am not sure where he got all his energy.” In his adult years George continued his love for basketball playing a great many hours with men from the church, the community & with his kids. He played on the church softball team, and even enjoyed an occasional game of golf most often out at Arrowhead. George was a good student and earned awards in school including a citizenship award which his mother was especially proud of. He graduated from Oregon City High School in June of 1965. In September of that year, George began his post-secondary studies at Portland State University with the intention of becoming a medical doctor. However, when he received his first “B” and the counselor asked him point blank what he was going to change his major to because it would take straight A’s for him to get into medical school and become a doctor he was shocked. But change his major he did. After debating between accounting and long haul truck driving (yes you heard me correctly the man loved to drive), he switched his major to Business (Thank you grandpa Douglass for the wise counsel.) January 14, 1966 George married his high school sweetheart Kathleen Holden and began his family later that year when his first daughter Debbie was born. Son Eric joined the family a few years later in 1970. George made his way through college while providing for his family by working night shifts at Crown Zellerbach in the grinder room and attending PSU during the days. The grinder room didn’t last for too long however. One day his dad Richard who also worked at the mill, overheard that the bookkeeper in the office was having some accounting troubles. Richard mentioned to the boss that that perhaps his son George could help out as he was studying to become a CPA. The boss said to have George report to the office when he got there. George did so, helped solve the problem at hand, and was told to report to the office again the next day. He had “earned” this first accounting position assisting the bookkeeper with anything that stumped her. After leaving Crown Zellerbach, George then worked as a staff accountant for Kent & Snow, CPA’s in Oregon City where he began studying to sit for his Certified Public Accountants examination. On September 15, 1973 George married the love of his life and wife of 47 years Donna Lynn Asche at Willamette Christian Church in West Linn. The newlyweds moved into a home built on the family property in Oregon City. In 1975 George & Donna purchased an accounting business located in Canby and in the fall of that year they welcomed daughter Nikki. In March of 1976 George received his Certified Public Accountant’s license and became the first CPA in town. A year later in 1977, daughter Jody was born and George and Donna moved their young family, Debbie, Eric, Nikki, and Jody, to their new forever home built in rural Canby. They immediately became active in their new community, participating in the kid’s schools, being part of the local PTA, cub scouts, campfire girls, booster club, sporting teams, and various other events and activities over the years. George was even game to play in a donkey basketball game one year to raise money for charity. While it may not have been his finest basketball moments as he failed to get his donkey to follow directions very well, he was a good sport about it all the same. For family and friends it was sure fun to watch him struggle along and was definitely good for a laugh. George ran the accounting practice until 2010 when he sold it to daughter Nikki. He always seemed to relish a little after that when he got to tell someone “Oh I’m not the boss anymore. That’s the boss over there. I’m just an employee around here these days.” (Let’s face it, in all honesty there wasn’t much bossing going on. She had no control over that employee.) Over his working years, George made good friends with so many of his clients and staff. They have become like extended members of our family. This fact became extremely evident in 2002 when George fell over 40 out of a pine tree breaking his pelvis, wrist and messed up several vertebrae in this back. He got to spend 6 months in the hospital & a recovery center. He was so well respected and loved that it didn’t take long before the walls of his room in the care center were so full with cards and well wishes and we had to put up string across the ceiling to hang the overflow. It was a truly humbling sight and something he never forgot. Volunteerism and community service were a regular and important part of George’s life. Over the years he served on a great number of boards and committees and held various positions with his local church, national church conference, and community service organizations. George was treasurer of the National conference for the Evangelical Church of North America. He was a Lifetime Member of Canby Kiwanis and Past President & Past Treasurer of Canby Kiwanis Foundation. He served as past treasurer for the Canby Vietnam Era Memorial Board which brought the helicopter memorial to Canby. George was a long time member of the Canby Chamber of Commerce, a member of The Gideon’s, and volunteered regularly for many years with the Kiwanis Thrift Store, food & toy drive, annual club auction and kiddie capers parades. George was a regular supporter and loyal annual attendee of the Clackamas County Fair & Canby Rodeo. He served on the board of directors for Youth Adventures and was always willing to lend a helping hand when one was needed. He often involved his children and later his grandchildren in his service projects instilling in them a spirt of community service and volunteerism as well. In addition to volunteering, in his free time, George liked to read, was an avid outdoorsman, liked to travel and always enjoyed reminiscing about his adventures. Always the accountant though, George planned many of his families travels & vacations around continuing professional education courses or board meetings so as to “utilize sound financial planning strategies and maximize the associated tax deductions.” During his lifetime George had traveled all over the US, Canada, & Mexico and though his big fall may have slowed him down, it did not stop him. Recently, in 2017 he finally made use of his passport when he traveled to Israel and Greece with many people from the church. In 2018 he and Donna took grandsons Casey and Clay on a 4 week long tent camping trip around Washington, Idaho, Montana & Wyoming and took the boys to George’s favorite National Park, Yellowstone which he had visited many times before. In 2019, he took an Alaskan cruise officially visiting his 50th state and went on his last white water rafting trip, something he had enjoyed doing on an off over the years. He was looking forward to going to Oberammergau, Germany to the Passion play this past summer until it got postponed due to COVID. More important than volunteering, traveling or any other hobby was his faith in Jesus Christ. He attended Oregon City Evangelical Church since he was just days old, and became a Christian as a young boy. At the age of 18 he joined the finance committee, and at 20 became the chairman where he served under 5 different pastors until this retirement from the committee in 2018. At 73 years old, he was the longest attending member of the church at the time of his death. Tag Marilyn your it! During his tenure he saw 9 or 10 lead pastoral changes and had been blessed to worship with and be discipled by pastors, Glanville, Reep, Harris, Chamberlain, Koth, Marshall, Vermillion, Hurt and Grover during his lifetime. George was a humble, kind, compassionate, unassuming and caring man of integrity. His word and his handshake were good enough and he assumed the same of others. He was often described as laid back. George didn’t put on airs and was very much a “what you see is what you get” kind of a man who will be greatly missed. George is survived by his loving wife Donna Douglass of Canby, daughter Debbie Griffin of Oregon City, son Eric Douglass of Tualatin, daughter Nikki Harmon of Canby, daughter Jody (Tim) Newland of Molalla, his siblings Jane (Ron) Keller and David (Diane) Douglass of Oregon City and Judy Douglass of Arizona City, Arizona along with 8 grandchildren Chelsey, Corey, Kayla, Cassie, Casey, Clayton, Keeley, and Zachary. A Family Memorial was held on October 30th at his church and may be viewed online at www.ocec.net. Please advance a few minutes into the recording to pickup the sound. The family welcomes the sharing of your memories of George on the funeral home website tribute page at www.hillsidechapelfh.com. Memorial contributions may be made to South Clackamas Gideon’s PO Box 86 Canby OR 97013 or The Evangelical Church at www.theevangelicalchurch.org in George’s name.