DOUGLAS BRYAN DRYSDALE

Sept. 30, 1930 – April 25, 2026, age 95

“A singer for Jesus; a teacher and preacher of Christian holiness”

 

Douglas B. Drysdale, a lifelong Northwest resident, longtime pastor and aficionado of all things music, died peacefully Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Milwaukie, Oregon. He was 95. 

The youngest of four brothers, Doug was born Sept. 30, 1930, in Sunnyside, Washington, where his father owned and operated a cannery in the heart of the fertile Yakima Valley. With his parents, Joseph and Frances Drysdale, Doug moved to Eugene, Oregon, in his youth, and he graduated from Eugene High School in 1948. Having heard the call to ministry, he attended Cascade College in Portland and Seattle Pacific University, studying theology and music. From there, he attended Western Evangelical Seminary in the Portland area and launched his career as “Pastor Doug.” 

While at Cascade College – his denominational Bible college – he met Lyra Willard, a fellow student who had heard the call to be a pastor’s wife and was his equal in musical interest and talent. They married in November 1949; together they raised a family and served churches for more than 50 years, including well into their “retirement” years when they stepped in for smaller churches that were temporarily without assigned pastors. Beginning in the 1950s, Doug was pastor or staff member for Evangelical Churches in Kinton, Eugene, Lincoln City, Unionvale and Hopewell, Oregon; Tacoma, Wash.; then back to Oregon at churches in Portland, Salem and Albany; Spokane, Wash.; then returning to Oregon to stay, once again at Hopewell until “retirement” to McMinnville in the late 1990s, after which he filled temporary pulpits in Jefferson and Monmouth. 

In the early days of marriage, Doug and Lyra did all this while raising an active family of four children: Brenda (born 1952, died 2019), Bryan (1954), Bruce (1958) and Brent (1960, died 2008). Brent, who had Down syndrome, created unique challenges, but Doug, Lyra and family took those challenges in stride and Brent was a veritable blessing to all of them throughout his too-brief life. Doug and Lyra also were foster parents for years, opening their home to many children in Oregon and Washington. 

Music and performance had a huge place in Doug’s life; he and Lyra were the primary musicians at most of their churches and often sang duets or solos with Lyra on the organ or piano or Doug on the horn. Doug also took great joy in community band, choirs and theater; he was a singing coach and had several roles in productions for the Gallery Players in McMinnville in the 2000s. 

Doug was an avid reader – possibly the understatement of the century – and enjoyed recreational sports, mainly basketball and softball, well into his 70s despite artificial knees and hips. He was a true lover of the gospel and a prayer warrior, and his family and loved ones were always on his mind and heart.

Doug’s father died in 1950 and his mother in 1993. Two of his four children died during Doug and Lyra’s lifetime: oldest child, Brenda Marquez, in 2019; and youngest son, Brent, in 2008. The love of Doug’s life for more than 71 years, Lyra, died in May 2021. Doug’s three older brothers, Wayde, Donald and John, also died previously.

Doug is survived by son Bryan (wife Laurie) of Portland; son Bruce (wife Nicole) of Yakima, Wash.; nine grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandchild. 

Services are pending. Interment will be in Dayton Odd Fellows Cemetery.