Jay Dee was born in Portland Oregon June 2nd,
1947. He passed away from pulmonary fibrosis May 27th, 2025.
He is survived by his sisters; Yvonne Morrill and Lunnette
Hertel; four nieces and two nephews; his friends and; his partner of 20 years
Winni Allison. Two sisters Marietta Rankin and Renee Ford passed before him.
Jay graduated from Marshal High School in 1967 then spent
two years in the Army, at Fort Richie in Mayland and was an MP at the underground
pentagon in Pennsylvania. He was blessed not to end up in Vietnam. Jay loved
learning new things. He was seriously dyslexic, but he could figure out how to
do anything mechanical that needed to be done. He lived in a tree house in Sandy
Oregon for 30 years. He retired from 9 to 5 work in the 70s and did odd jobs
and rented out his house to support his real life as a welder and artist.
Jay made a fill size elephant, it stood on 82nd at the used car lot then moved to HWY 26 and Kelso Rd in front of Geren's Farm
store where it stands today. At Christmas it sports a red nose and is wrapped
in lights. For years he ad a dinosaur mailbox. He made the fill size ostrich that
sists east of Sandy on the north side of HWY 26. He made an eagle that sits on
top of a business in downtown Portland. On Industrial Way in Sandy there is a
4ft tall strawberry and raspberry sculpture of his as well. For years there was
an 8ft tall Big Foot that stood on the lot across from where Fred Meyers stands
today. He made a seal with a fish in its mouth that sat in front of this friend
Ron Millers home, now it sits in Culver Oregon on top of Juniper Butte. Jay made
5ft tall whale tail that sat overlooking the ocean at the Whale’s Tail Inn. For
years he drove his blue car with a weathervane on top and silhouette pictures
of the weathervanes he could make painted on the sides as an advertisement for
his art.
There are many more of his projects scattered around Oregon.
Jay was on the “To Tell the Truth” program with the panel guessing which
contestant lived in a tree house. There have been serval newspaper stories about
his tree house, and it was featured in a video about tree houses in the
northwest.
Jay rode his homemade recumbent bike on the parade route before
the Sandy Mountain Festival parade started many times. He called himself a “doer”
and was always working on a new project. He swam at the Olan Bignell pool in
Sandy five days a week from the early 80s until it closed in 2020. He helped
many young people with their welding projects. He was a unique one-of-kind
person with a kind gentle heart. He was a man who believed in Jesus and God’s
promise of heaven.