Richard L Egan

January 22, 1940 - May 25, 2022

Richard Lee Egan, 82 years old, passed away peacefully on May 25, 2022, surrounded by his family and in his home in Gladstone, Oregon. The son of Forrest and Marie Egan, Richard was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin on January 22, 1940. He attended Central High School in La Crosse and was an early member of the Naval Reserve. In 1962, he graduated from the Alexian Brothers Hospital School of Nursing in Chicago, IL. He was the first male to practice nursing arts, in psychiatry, at the former St. Francis Hospital in La Crosse. It was also at St. Francis that he graduated from its school of nurse anesthesia in 1968. Richard and Dorothy Ann Egan were married in 1964 at St. Mary’s Lycurgus, in Waukon, Iowa. They settled in Gladstone, Oregon in 1967 and raised four children: Michelle, Brian, Kimberly, and Valerie. Richard’s knack for planning and management made him instrumental in the establishment of the new Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center in Clackamas, Oregon, where he went on to spend 25 years in its anesthesia department. A lifelong historian of the American Old West, Richard greatly enjoyed attending antique shows and researching his many acquisitions of artifacts and ephemera. In addition to The Early Saddle Makers of Portland, he authored The Descendants of William Eagan, reflecting over a decade of genealogical research. He loved to plan and embark on family road trips, traversing well over 30 states. Richard also had a lifelong soft spot for cats, proudly supporting the Oregon Humane Society. He is preceded in death by his parents and his brother Joseph. He is survived by his wife Dorothy, his four children, and six grandchildren.