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Rick Mayo (James Dalfin)
Born: December 28, 1945
Died: December 14, 2020
Age at Death: 74 years
James A Dalfin was born on December 28, 1945 in Denver, Colorado, and passed away on December 14, 2020, after a brief illness.
James was an inspiration to all who knew him. He called himself "a service guy", and his greatest joy was to give selfless service wherever he could. He had prodigious organizational skills, and put them to work helping friends and family members with everything from packing up and moving to organizing their electronic files. His motto was "Love all, Serve all", and he put that into practice every day.
James was a person of strong will and persistence. Despite suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome for forty some years, he always pushed himself to exercise and to be as active as he could. He was a firm believer in the power of exercise to combat his fatigue symptoms, and, despite those challenges, he was a lifelong runner, swimmer and bicycler. He participated in triathlons and long distance bike rides, as well as shorter running and swimming events. He loved to run and walk in Minto-Brown and Bush Parks in Salem.
James' life work was in health care. He began as a medic in the Army during the Vietnam era. He went on to become a Registered Nurse, working in many different roles. His favorite was as a Labor and Delivery Nurse and Lamaze Teacher. In retirement, he took care of friends and relatives dealing with illnesses and end of life issues. He also worked in the Infirmary at Mount Angel Abbey, caring for elderly and sick monks.
James had a strong spiritual faith and practice. He had no fear of death, after having had a near death experience as a small child, which left him convinced of the continuation of life after death, and of the unconditional love that is our true home in God. He was dedicated to his spiritual path and practice. He had a beautiful singing voice, and enjoyed singing love songs to God and singing "Happy Birthday" to his family and friends.
James was a devoted husband, father, grandfather, and friend. He is survived by his loving and beloved wife, Katryn (Karen) VanTassell of Salem, and by his sister, Pamela Mayo of Sacramento and his brother and sister-in-law, Ron and Ann Mayo and their children Kevin and Kelly, all of San Diego. He is also survived by his daughter Terri and her husband Dave Falcone of Sacramento and his step-children: Daniel Brown of Portland, Justin and Jen Wasik-Brown of Chicago, Keith and Abby Brown of Columbia, MO, and Theresa and Chris Ellison of Phoenix; and his grandchildren: Carson Vanderveer and Chris Falcone, both of Sacramento; Sage Brown of Columbia, MO; Henry and Eli Brown of Chicago; and Isaiah Zwagerman of Phoenix. He will also be missed by many, many dear friends in Salem and around the country and the world.
A Memorial Service will be held via Zoom on Sunday, January 31 at 2 PM PST. Those interested are encouraged to contact a family member or close friend of the family for more details.
James loved to feed those in need, so donations in his memory may be made to the Marion-Polk Food Share at: marionpolkfoodshare.org.
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Steve Kelly
So sad to see another of our old friends pass away.Rick was such a nice person RIP
Bill Kelso
Steve is right. Rick was a very nice guy.
Rick's death has been part of a tough year for our class as we lost six classmates and those are only the classmates that we know about.
In our second year at McClatchy our class had 1300 students. Today there are only 238 classmates on the McClatchy website which is less than 1/5 of the number of individuals in our junior class. I guess we should remember and enjoy our fellow classmate while we can. Each year the number of alumni gets smaller and smaller.
Stephanie Gourse (Buch)
Bill, I don't think the number is small because of illnesses or death. I think in our age group a lot of people disconnected from old traditions and friends My college class at Mills is the least active alum group of all of the classes. It would be interesting to know if this was occuring all over our country. The XYZ program probably contributed to our class not feeling like a community.
I had a great time in high school, but I don't have wonderful feelings about McClatchy's social values and structure. It did not respect or celebrate or acknowledge diversity. It did not prepare people for jobs or how to get along in the work place. It did not encourage kids to develop their own interests, develop skills based on aptitude. It fostered conformity and prejudice. Those of us who were in X classes hardly ever knew who was in the Z classes or what they were doing. The 2 Wilson kids were the only black kids who were in the x classes possibly. Their dad was state superintendent of schools. Isabel Duran Who became a news broadcaster and Don Gomez who was a reporter for awhile (where are you Don?) were in the X classes - who else? I think that the Asians and the Jews were better integrated than the other groups. Also, most of the really smart girls were not encouraged academically or professionally.
I doubt that I am the only one who thinks this way.
I sincerely hope that American schools have matured into being more accepting of differences and learning from differences.
Steffi
David MacDonald
I spent a lot of time with Rick in junior high, high school and college and since that time until he moved to Oregon. We sang together in the Cal coraliers and the choir. We kept in contact when he moved to San Bernardino and shared time in summer camps during that period. We had a good time playing basketball and hanging out. Later on Rick and his daughter participated as performers in Best of Broadway shows that I produced. I wish all of his family and friends can remember all of the good times and continue to share them. I echo some of the thoughts that Bill shared regarding the losses of so many people our age. I've lost two good friends this week alone. I've never posted on the site before but definitely enjoy reading the comments that other friends share. Looking back at the school years at Cal junior high and McClatchy I have nothing but fond memories. I ended up getting my degree in social workand pursue that career for a while but made a full circle back to my first love, that being music. Elva Triplett at Cal and Walter Thomas at McClatchy were the teachers I most enjoyed and they had a tremendous influence over my final career choices. Both taught music. They pave the way for me to pursue a career producing, directing, and teaching musical theater. Since I'm not a regular on here let me take the opportunity to wish everybody a really really nice holiday season.
Stephanie Gourse (Buch)
David -- Did you teach choir or all kinds of music?
Steffi
Stephanie Gourse (Buch)
Jack's posting disappeared! Jack, I would like to read it again. You said something at the end that I want to reread and think about. Steffi
Pamela Hall
I don't remember Rick Mayo. Seems like a loss for sure.
I also have a guru from India, and went there for a visit. Her name is Mata Amritanandamayi. The media refers to Her as the hugging saint. She oversees many humanitarian services around the world and donated one million dollars to the Katrina relief fund.
I agree that female students were discouraged from advancing in careers. I wanted to take Latin because I was interested in the origin of words, but my counselor refused to let me take it. I was in Spanish, which apparently was all a lower level. I wasn't interested in it, and only did enough to earn a B. Then I got a C on my final grade. Apparently, I was the only person who was being scorred differently, and was never informed that the grade scale the teacher put on the black board would be a grade lower for me!! I argued with my counselor about that grade, and I think I won.
I refused to take typing because I didn't want to be a secretary. A friend - Laurinda MacKinlay, who I've seen posting on Face Book, encouraged me to take a 6 month course in medical transcription. It was good pay considering what women could usually get ,and was in demand. So I learned a lot of Greek and Latin combining terms and some anatomy. Then in my 40's I decided to become a chiropractor. I knew it was a four-year course, after getting the pre-requisites, but I didn't know it was equivalent to becoming an orthopedist with a specialty in neurology! My medical language expertise and familiarity with anatomy, operative reports, histories and physicals, consultations, etc. was a big help. I'd always been intereste in natural heath, healthy foods, chiropractic care. But no encouragement or interest from the counselor.