Obituary of John Gary Rice

John "Gary" Rice, aka Johnny Reno, was born in Portland, Oregon on May 31, 1941 to Gilbert F. Rice and Blanche M. Rice (Swenson). Dennis, an older brother by nine years, completed the family. Gary grew up in southeast Portland and graduated from Grout Elementary and Cleveland High School. Living a block from Grout, he spent endless hours at Kenilworth park with his friends, many of whom he stayed in contact with over the decades. At an early age, Gary assisted his father in his painting contracting business. However, in the early 1960's he enrolled in college. He attended Multnomah College and Portland State College and later Oregon College of Education, which is now Western Oregon University in Monmouth, to pursue teaching in the footsteps of his mother. After graduating, he found that teaching was not for him, and he returned to painting. Again working with his father and on his own, enlisting the help of his many friends (possibly for beer money). After college, he enlisted in the army and completed basic training at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. He then spent six years in the Oregon National Guard. In the early 1980's, he was hired by the City of Portland Parks Bureau. He was then transferred to the Fire Bureau, where he painted the fire stations until his retirement in the mid 1990's. After retirement, he enjoyed cooking, yard work and gardening. He was especially proud of his tomato crop. Gary loved sports. He loved to watch his favorite teams, and he loved to play himself. Over the years, he enjoyed bowling, mushball, Volleyball, foosball, pool, darts, basketball, and especially golf. Even though he never had a really low handicap, he was very proud of his five holes-in-one. Even up until last summer, he tried to get out to play golf once a week with his buddies. In earlier days, he had many golf trips with his pals in Oregon, Las Vegas, Arizona and Hawaii. He also loved to travel with his family and friends to those places. Gary passed away February 19th after a short battle with a fractured hip and a year's long battle with dementia. He is survived by Carol, his wife of 41 years, son Tim, daughter Stacey and son-in-law Josh. The previousely scheduled celebration of life for John has been postponed until further notice. Please check back for undated dates and times.