Small Town News

Douglas Laird Getchell

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November 1, 1942 - July 3, 2009

A memorial gathering will be held for Douglas Getchell, of Coquille, on September 12, 2009, at 2 p.m. in the Meeting Room of the North Bend Public Library, 1800 Sherman Avenue, North Bend, OR.

Douglas was born in Oakland, California, on November 1, 1942. He died on July 3, 2009, in Portland, Oregon.

After attending the University of California at Berkeley, he lived and worked in California during the 1960s. In 1969 he began working as a longshoreman. with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) in San Francisco. In 1970 he transferred to ILWU Local 12 in Coos Bay, where he worked as a longshoreman until his retirement in 2004. Douglas built a home just outside Coquille in 1970 and lived there until his death.

In 1987, Douglas was appointed to the Labor Relations Committee for Local 12. From that time forward, he was a committed officer at the local and international levels of the ILWU. He participated in contract negotiations locally and at the international level, serving first as caucus delegate and then as a member, and eventually chairman, of the International Safety Committee and longshore contract negotiation team. He also served as the employee representative on the Maritime Advisory Safety Committee for the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration and traveled to Washington, D.C., Mexico and Europe to negotiate regulations protective of longshoreman and foster alliances with other unions.

While devoting countless hours to the union, he pursued a broad range of interests in reading, music, photography and travel around the world. In addition to making regular rounds of all the libraries in the Coos County system, he maintained his own extensive book and music collection. His international travel photography appeared in various shows, and photography from his shows honoring longshore work and the Coos Bay waterfront can still be seen at the Local 12 union hall.

Douglas is survived by his wife, Nancy Hayes; his son, Wyatt Troll; his mother, Gladys Getchell; and his sister, Lynette Getchell as well as a worldwide circle of coworkers and friends. Contributions may be made in his memory to the Political Action Fund of the ILWU, www.ilwu.org/political/or to the Coos County Library system via Gary Sharp, North Bend Public Library, 1800 Sherman Avenue, North Bend, OR 97459.



Copyright 2009 The Coquille Valley Sentinel, Coquille, Oregon. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2009 The Coquille Valley Sentinel Coquille, Oregon. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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