Obituary of Jeffrey Colby

Jeff Colby died of natural causes at his home in Portland Oregon January 25th, 2021. Jeff grew up as an only child, raised by his devoted single mother, Patricia Bradford Colby.  Jeff spent his childhood and young life mostly near the beaches of Southern California – from Redondo to Newport Beach - enjoying the music and beach life of the 50's and 60's and early 70's. It was just him and his mother, at times living with extended family including cousin Dorothy Smith in Altadena. Due to the complications of life, Jeff never had the opportunity to know his father, Harold Gaither, but later in life he would discover they had much in common, both being kindhearted, thoughtful, and very intelligent men. In fact he eventually got to know a great deal about his father – but more on that later.

 

Jeff began working at OHSU (Oregon Health & Science University) in 1977, where he found a home, a passion and an identity. He worked at OHSU until late 2020 when he was asked to retire. He would have preferred to “die in the harness”, as he was fond of saying, but Jeff reluctantly moved on when asked. Jeff held various positions in the University Library: Circulation, Office Specialist I, Library Technician I [1992-2009] and Library Technician II [2009-2020]. Jeff looked after the nursing students and research doctors in his position and some brought him homemade Christmas cookies faithfully every year. In 2010, he was transferred from Access Services (Circulation) to work in HC&A (Historical Collections & Archives) as an archival assistant under University Archivist and Assistant Professor, Karen Peterson. Because of Jeff’s long-term employment at the medical school, he possessed a wealth of institutional knowledge. Karen knew his interest in history and recognized his potential and gladly welcomed him into the department. Jeff gave 100% effort to every project, big or small. Working with Karen he became an exceptionally talented researcher, specializing in the history of medicine in the Pacific Northwest. Jeff was responsible for working on many priceless projects. Jeff transferred collections from departments throughout campus. He managed storage for both the archives and the museum collections. He retrieved and restocked materials for donors and researchers. And though these responsibilities are valuable and provided the muscle and brain behind the scenes, he also excelled in collection management. Jeff’s duties were to preserve, organize, and describe the collections, using complicated scanning techniques and database management, as well as using his research and writing skills. Working closely together, a deep bond was formed, and he and Karen became lifelong friends. 

 

Jeff fully appreciated and enjoyed life's simple pleasures - a good day's work, an easy commute, a great meal with his “peeps”, some quiet time on “Stumpy”, and in his spare time, for fun, Jeff researched and wrote papers and yet-to-be-published books on many diverse subjects: (including but not limited to)-'A History of Wars', 'A History of Music and Fame', and 'A History of Drugs'.  Someday you may see these writings published posthumous-but time will tell.

 

Jeff was deeply respected and loved by many. Among those that will miss him most are his "peeps"  Shirley and James McClendon and their son Calvin. Jeff was best man at Shirley and James wedding 25 years ago, and they've spent nearly every holiday together since. They've enjoyed weekly dinners, shopping trips, and lots of time enjoying the scenery at the park and old “Stumpy”. Other good friends are John French, currently residing in Hawaii, and Bonita Spreng also from Portland/OHSU. Having lost his mom many years back, these great friends had become Jeff's family. But Jeff knew there could be more to learn about himself, and he began a new, more personal research project: his own genealogy. He spent years researching and searching for family, and came to be more successful than he could have possibly imagined! Jeff's first successes came from his mother's side -he found people!! Jeff located third cousins on his mothers side, Zua Roseanna and Roberta Caraway-living in Kansas. Athough they never got to meet in person, their moms had gotten to grow up together so they connected and shared stories on family-and a deep loving bond was formed.

 

Jeff then decided to try the Ancestry.com DNA product, hoping to find information on his father's side, which he knew very little about. Jeff received his results, and while initially there were no matches for him, he kept his information on the Ancestry website, hoping one day to get a match.

 

Meanwhile somewhere in California, another amateur genealogist named Julie was working on her own family history. She had researched and documented most of her family tree, but as a lark decided to try the DNA kit, just for fun. And when the results came in, there was a puzzling item: a match that was described as a  “very close relative - possible sibling or first cousin”! The name was completely unfamiliar, especially since that level of Julie's family tree was already supposedly complete.... Julie made contact through the Ancestry application, asking this person named Jeff Colby if he knew how they could be related. The unforgettable response came back almost immediately from Jeff : "I've been waiting for this moment all my life". The curtain was lifted. Jeff went from being an only child who knew little about his father-having only one or two possible photos- to realizing he actually had a family! Two living sisters and one brother: Julie Duehring, Cindy Cockcroft and Chris Gaither, along with a bevy of nephews and nieces and extended family. These new siblings pieced together their parents' story of young love and a complicated romance that had separated them from knowing about each other. They all knew immediately there was always more love in the world to share, and were happy to get to know each other. All three of Jeff's newly found siblings made trips to Oregon to meet him in person, shared stories, health info and photos, and have continued to keep in touch ever since.  The two brothers especially formed a close bond, talking often and finding much in common. Jeff had found his family at last!  There is always hope to find what you are searching for, and Jeff showed that to his siblings.

 

 

No more pain, no more tears-If you are so inclined please say a prayer, or send a good thought for Jeff to forever rest in peace, knowing he was loved by many, friends and family alike.