Longtime OSEA leader Richard Doyle will be remembered as a baseball lover, a tireless advocate and an inspiring leader who worked hard for his members with little need for recognition.
Rick passed away on Aug. 8th, 2024, a little more than a year after he was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. He will be profoundly missed in his chapter, Parkrose Chapter 44, and across our union by leaders from every corner of the state.
Rick joined Parkrose Chapter 44 in 2006 when he took a job as a Systems/Network Administrator for the district. Previously, he’d worked for years as a teacher in several different school districts, touching the lives of many across the public education spectrum. He served as chapter president for at least a decade, before handing over the reins after his diagnosis. Parkrose Chapter 44 President Gary Collins said Rick had his finger on the pulse of classified life in Parkrose. He was heavily involved in every aspect of running the chapter and consistently fought for improvements to the contract. In the last few years, he was proud of winning a sick leave bank and an insurance pool that has resulted in insurance costs being covered for all chapter members.
Collins said when he and the chapter treasurer reviewed Parkrose Chapter 44’s accounting books, they realized that Rick had been keeping their chapter’s member emergency relief fund afloat by paying into it from his own pocket for several years. “I was flabbergasted. He never told anybody,” Collins said. “I’m going to let (chapter members) know that hey, if you got help within the last five years, that was from Rick… He just saw a need and met it if he could do it.”
Parkrose Chapter 44 recently named their college scholarship fund to honor Rick. Collins was able to share this year’s recipients with Rick shortly before he passed.
Rick was well-known and loved at the state level in OSEA, too. He first joined the state Finance Committee in 2017 and later served as the chair for three years, stewarding OSEA’s funds through good times and bad. Brent Halse of Willamette ESDEA Chapter 95, who overlapped with Rick on the committee for a few years, said he was a steady leader. “He knew his role really well, but he also allowed everybody else to play a part and ask questions when they needed to,” Halse said. “He took our role seriously as far as guiding, watching, making sure that everything was going the way that it should.” Merlene Martin, Vice Chair of the Retired Oregon School Employees (ROSE), served with Rick on the Finance Committee as well. “Rick was an amazing human being. He was gifted in his ability to speak on any issue,” she said. “He was a great leader and will be greatly missed.”
OSEA Vice President Teri Jones first got to know Rick when Chapter 44 was fighting the district over contracting out services. It was a particularly difficult conflict with the district, Jones said, and the superintendent’s relationship with the chapter was nearly irreparably damaged. But when she spoke with Rick a couple of years later, he said that he was in a good place with the superintendent and they were working together well as partners. “That was as big of a win for him as winning the fight over contracting out,” Jones said. “He helped make her a better superintendent by keeping that door open, by still seeing partnership as an option. He just wanted to see people be their best selves.”
“The best tribute to Rick is to make sure we all just help someone else out,” Jones said. “All of us need to give 10 percent more to fill in what the world lost when we lost Rick.”
OSEA will share a video tribute to Rick Doyle at Conference 2025. If you have photos or videos you would like to see included, please email them to the OSEA Communications Department, including "Rick Doyle" in the subject line.