Sonny Ness

DeLos Orville “Sonny” Ness, age 94, of Grants Pass, peacefully went to sleep at his home at Brookdale. Sonny was born near Fulton, South Dakota April 9, 1923 to Harry Ness and Anna Kennedy Ness. He was the youngest of 13 children. His first school lessons were in a 1-room schoolhouse near the family farm. Sonny’s father died when he was young. Eventually his mother Anna opened a boarding house in Mitchell, South Dakota, and he helped. From the time Sonny first rode in a Ford Tri-Motor airplane, he found his love of the open sky. Through building model airplanes, he met his life-long best friend, Richard Maresh, and then the little sister, Darlene. He did chores at the local airport in exchange for flying lessons from Bud Dagget, with first solo at age 14. He went to Mitchell High School. After graduating, he started working for Davey Tree Co. with his brother Rob. In 1943 he went into the Army Air Corps, but too late to be needed as a pilot. He was trained as a Surgical Technician, a Medic. He took 2 days in Berkeley, California to marry the other love of his life, Darlene. The 387th Infantry Division Fox Co. got to Europe at the end of the Battle of the Bulge, and walked from Belgium to Pilsen, Czechoslovakia. After a 30-day leave, he went to Japan after the atomic bomb was dropped, where he served until 1946. He went to college in Lincoln, Nebraska to study Horticulture, and went back to work as an arborist, in Illinois, where he had his own farm. He moved the family to Arizona and owned a motel there, until it bored him. The next move was to Chico, California, to be near family, and he had an almond farm there, then to Los Molinos to a bigger farm, 50 acres of alfalfa, which over the next years was converted to English walnuts. He taught his children the fine art of grafting, and tractor work, and the whole family had a truck garden (large vegetable garden). When the last child left home, they moved back to Arizona, where he was Urban Forester for Scottsdale. He became the first certified (ISA) arborist in the State of Arizona. After retirement, they moved to O’Brien, Oregon, and had a 27-acre property, with a huge garden and small orchard. He produced enough food to give most of it away. He knew how to turn dirt into living soil. In 2012 they moved to Grants Pass, where Darlene passed away in 2014. They had been married for 71 years.

Sonny was a member of Illinois Valley Garden Club, a fine woodworking group, International Society of Arborists, and an organization to lobby for protection against secondhand smoke.

Sonny would jump at any chance to help plant trees and to teach people the importance of healthy trees. One of his mottos was “take a deep breath, now thank a tree.” His last volunteer project was driving his backhoe to the Illinois Valley Airport to dig a 10-gallon hole for a 1-gallon Moon Tree grafted clone.

His hobbies included anything airplane, gardening, fine woodworking (furniture, turned bowls, clocks), photography, music, storytelling, and history.

Survivors include children, Linda June Ness of Scottsdale, Arizona, Kathleen Y. (Ness) Lombardo and husband James of O’Brien, Oregon, Thomas O. Ness of Grants Pass, Oregon, Vicki Ann (Ness) and husband Bruce of Benbrook, Texas, and Glenna Jean (Ness) Green of McMinnville, Oregon; 12 grandchildren; and many great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his grandson, Robert Andrew Denlis; and his siblings, Amy, Leo J. Edna May, Helen, Robert, Sidney, Hildora, Edna Anna, Ethel, Belva Juanita, Alice, and Homer Wayne.

Remembrances may be made to the Southern Oregon Air Academy, 1441 Brookside Boulevard, Grants Pass, Oregon 97526.

A celebration of life will be held in Summer 2018.

Illinois Valley Funeral Directors are in charge of arrangements.