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Dutch was born to Gerald and Lillian (Gross) Shollenberger in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Allentown High School and spent one year at Massanutten Military Academy on a swimming scholarship. He graduated from East Stroudsberg State Teachers College in 1947. He and a college friend drove from Pennsylvania to Oregon to begin their teaching careers. He was hired as a teacher/coach at Halfway HS in Halfway. It was rumored that the former coach had been “escorted out of town.” His wife, Cecelia and daughter Pam, flew to Boise and Dick then drove them to Halfway to their first home in the “Wild West.” The city boy quickly learned to hunt and fish; even leaving during lunch hours with his students to duck hunt.
During the eight years in Halfway, Dutch and Cecelia, formed friendships that would last their lifetime. Dutch also built his first house for the family from lumber that he and a friend salvaged from the Cornucopia Hotel. When the house burned several years ago, it was said it burned “for days” because of the oiled floors from the old hotel!
Bigger fish were a temptation to catch and the family moved to Florence where Dutch was hired to be principal of Siuslaw High School. Three years later he was asked to be the first Superintendent of the district. Professionally, he was the most proud of the members of the schoolboard that worked with him to purchase property north of town where all three schools are presently located. The family loved the time they resided in a rental owned by Mel and Charlene Kyle on Mercer Lake. Dutch taught his three girls to swim, canoe, ski, and of course; fish. He also built a family cabin across the lake on a point owned by Ole Erlandson. His teenage daughters did not appreciate the summers at the cabin without television or phone service! His building experience then was shared with three other teachers; building two houses near the site of Rhododendron School, one on Westlake Road and enlarging the Mercer Lake cabin. Novice building stories were abundantly retold at gatherings; such as someone pulling down a newly bricked kitchen wall as they fell from a ladder or someone smoking and setting fire to a countertop as the formica was being glued to the counter.
Dutch’s former college classmate, who he traveled to Oregon with many years before; tempted him with a job in the PE department at Oregon College of Education in Monmouth. He enjoyed those relaxing years of teaching golf, PE Administration, swimming and coaching the Swim Team at OCE. There was also time for one more building project. Dutch and a friend designed and built a “beach cabin” at the north end of the public golf course in Long Beach, Washington. It was later sold to be used as a Bed & Breakfast.
During his retirement, he and Cecelia traveled throughout the United States and settled in Palm Springs, California. He spent many hours on the golf course, at the pottery wheel at College of the Desert, and taking watercolor classes. He fulfilled his wish to leave a legacy of art to his friends, children, and grandchildren.
Dutch was preceded in death by his wife, Cecelia, and his daughter Jo. He is survived by his daughters, Pam Jensen (Dave) of Albany and Ann Steinmetz (Bill) of Salem; nine grandchildren, numerous great-grandchildren, one great-great-grandchild and nephews and nieces that reside in Pennsylvania. The family is indebted to the thoughtful care given to Cecelia and Dutch by the staff at Quail Run (Mennonite Village) and the staff at Lydia’s House (Mennonite Village) for the past year and a half in caring for Dutch. The family is forever grateful to his childhood friend, Dr. William Kuzman, who faithfully called on Sundays to reminisce and his former student, Paul Fitch, who Dutch shared the most memorable of adventures and stories that followed. And last of all, his PCP Dr. Cynthia Marske, who met Dutch on her first day of work at Samaritan Internal Medicine, and guided him and his family through the tangled web of Alzheimers.
Dad, friend, teacher, coach, grandpa Dick, great grandpa, builder, artist, fisherman, golfer and storyteller……….you had a fulfilled life and we love you.