In Memory

Benjamin Douglas - Class Of 1959

Benjamin Douglas

June 16, 1941 - March 3, 2023 Portland, OR

Ben Allen Douglas of Portland, Oregon passed away on March 3, 2023 from complications of Alzheimer's Disease at the age of 81. He was born in Oxford, Mississippi on June 16, 1941 to Marvin Benjamin Douglas and Helen Watkins Douglas. Ben spent much of his childhood on the family farm in Maben, but he also moved around a lot while his father served as a colonel in the Army. Some of the favorite places he lived were El Paso, Okinawa, and Colorado Springs, where his lifelong love of the Colorado mountains began. Ben graduated from Paris American High School in Paris, France in 1959, and then returned to Mississippi to attend college at Mississippi State University, where he joined the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity.

College is also where he met and married the love of his life, Virginia "Ginny" Rabb. Theirs was a love story for the ages, which began with a blind date, an elopement, and a marriage that lasted almost 57 years until Ginny's untimely passing in 2018. Ben graduated from college in 1962 and attended Tulane University School of Law in New Orleans, where he graduated in 1966. Upon graduation he accepted a position with the United States Justice Department in Washington, DC. He was transferred to the Dallas-Fort Worth area in 1969, and in 1974 he went into private practice in Fort Worth, Texas, where he raised his family and enjoyed many years playing basketball and spawning lifelong friendships at the Fort Worth Club.

Ben realized his dream of living in Colorado when he and Ginny moved to the little town of Chromo in the San Juan mountains of Southwest Colorado in 1998, where they lived until 2012 when health issues forced them to move away. After Chromo, Ben and Ginny lived in Cape Coral, Florida before finally settling in Portland, Oregon in 2015.

Ben is survived by son John Douglas and daughter-in-law Christine of Plano, Texas; daughter Anne Douglas of Portland, Oregon; daughter Beth Douglas Matthews and son-in-law Scott of Austin, Texas; his sister Mary Kringer and brother-in-law Ed of Fairfax Station, Virginia; and his niece and nephew Sarah and Ben Kringer, also of Virginia. He is also survived by grandchildren Alex Palmer of Portland, Oregon, Lexie (Douglas) Brazil of Lewisville, Texas, Kara Palmer of Forestville, California, and Wesley Douglas of Plano, Texas.

His larger-than-life personality, fierce intellect, amazing collection of music, zest for travel and good eats and drinks, and contagious big laugh will be remembered fondly by all.



 
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11/22/23 12:17 AM #1    

Phil Davidson (1960)

I knew Ben quite well from 1957 - 59. Nice guy. He returned to the US to attend Mississippi Southern ( I think). 

Our ranks continue to shrink the older we get. I recently hit 82, feel good, don't smoke or drink for the last 20 plus years.  

 

Phil


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