Donald Barton "Bart" Christy

Donald Barton “Bart” Christy, age 85, of Grants Pass, died Monday, May 9, 2011 at Three Rivers Community Hospital.

Private services and interment were held at Hillcrest Memorial Park. Hull & Hull Funeral Directors are in charge of arrangements.

Remembrances may be made to Dogs for the Deaf, 10175 Wheeler Road, Central Point, Oregon 97502; Wildlife Images, PO Box 36, Merlin, Oregon 97532; or Oregon Health & Science University Hospital Knight Cancer Institute, Mail Stop 45, PO Box 4000, Portland, Oregon 97208-9852.

Bart was born September 22, 1925 in La Grande, Oregon to Dorothy Irene Christy & Harry Barton Christy. At the age of one, he moved with his family to Baker, Oregon and then to Myrtle Point, Oregon where he attended Junior High School and High School before moving to Pendleton, Oregon in his senior year and graduated in the Class of 1943. In September 1943 he enlisted in the United States Navy and participated in both Okinawa and Iwo Jima campaigns in the Pacific. He served during World War II as a radioman on LCT 792, often supporting direct beach landings by amphibious Marines and was involved in the faux landing by General MacArthur in Manila Bay Philippines to reenact the return. He was called back during Korea and served on a food supply ship, the AF 54 USS Pictor. After the war, Bart worked for his dad in “Christy’s Food Center” in Pendleton, Oregon on Main Street. Bart met his future wife, Margaret Edith Roberts, and they were married on August 25, 1945. After Korea he became a delivery milkman for the Mayflower Milk Company in Pendleton. In 1964 he joined the Sears Catalogue Company and worked his way up to Territorial Sales Manager for 13 western states; his office was in Alhambra, California until his retirement in 1987 when he moved to Grants Pass, Oregon.

Bart was a life member of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 922, Pendleton, Oregon and served as Post Commander in 1964; a proud member of the History Club and Wildlife Images both in Grants Pass.

His hobbies included gardening and reading, albeit both declining health and sight did not allow this luxury in his later years.

Survivors include a son, Michael E. Christy of Tualatin, Oregon; a daughter, Sharon I. Schermerhorn of Austin, Texas; a son-in-law, Phillip L. Schermerhorn of Austin, Texas; two granddaughters, Melissa M. Graham and husband Andy Graham of Austin, Texas; Danielle N. Adkins and husband Kenneth Adkins of Tulsa, Oklahoma; two great-granddaughters, Samantha Walker and Veronica Walker; two great-grandsons, Timothy Walker and Zachary Walker all of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Margaret Edith Roberts on November 11, 2004; his parents, Harry Barton Christy and Dorothy Irene Christy; and a sister, Nola Rae Bryant in 2009.

Dances with ‘flamingos’