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Denis Alexander Berrigan, "Dig" to old friends and family, was born the youngest of four boys, to John and Edith Berrigan, September 12, 1932, at the old Lumberman's Hospital in Bend, Oregon. He attended elementary school at old Reid and Kenwood, graduating in 1950 from Bend High, where he sang in the choir and played baseball. After graduation he played semi-pro for the old Bend-Portland Trucking team. In 1953, he joined the Army Security Agency, and was stationed at Fort Devens, MA. and Kenai, Alaska. On his discharge, he attended school at Linfield, COCC, and graduated with a political science degree from the University of Oregon. In 1957, married Elaine Lowery of Bend. They had three children-Doug, David and Erin. After he obtained a teaching certificate, the family moved back to Bend, and Denis began his career at John Tuck in Redmond, working with middle schoolers. In 1965, Denis married Mary Grover, and with the three children, moved to Astoria, where they continued teaching for the next 12 years. While there, he worked summers for Oregon Fisheries on the Columbia, branding hatchlings as they heading out to sea. He was heavily involved in the Oregon Education Association, and local and state politics, chairing the Clatsop County Democratic Central Committee for several years. Denis and Mary moved back to Bend in 1980, bringing his mother 93 year-old "Edie", to the same house he had moved into at the age of 5. Over the next few years, Denis worked at several jobs: substitute teaching throughout the region, lawn service, driving taxi, K-Mart-pulling shopping carts out of snowbanks, running the "Small Matter Repair Service with brother-in-law Denny Douglass, and finally working fulltime for J Bar J Boys Ranch. Everything he did, he found interesting. He was never bored or boring. He loved fishing, reading, camping, hiking, Mary's cooking, politics, Wade, Meredith, Megan and Daniel Berrigan; concerts, road trips, crossword puzzles, visiting with old friends, and U of O sports. In the last few years, he had especially enjoyed the girls' softball and basketball, due mostly to granddaughters Meredith and Megan's involvement in high school and college sports. Denis was preceded in death by his parents and brothers Bill, Patrick, and John, and grandson, Alexander. He is survived by his wife Mary, children - Doug, David, and Erin Minkoff; grandchildren - Wade, Meredith, Megan and Daniel Berrigan; Devon and Lindsey Berrigan; Jacob and Ben Minkoff; - great-grands - Alyssa, Brody, and Killian Berrigan; and Gavin Basler-Berrigan. His only wish was for his ashes to be strewn from the top of the Steens Mountain, over the Alvord Desert. Donations may be made to the Deschutes Co. Historical Society 129 NW Idaho Ave. Bend OR 97703.

Tributes

Denis "Dig" Alexander Berrigan

September 12, 1932 - April 26, 2020