Richard Jay DeNeale

WILLSBORO | Richard Jay DeNeale was born into a very loving and close-knit family Sept. 20, 1942. His parents were June Morgal and Millard DeNeale. An example of the deep love was shown in the UVM Medical Center cardiac wing when Dick's veins were proved to be inadequate for the open heart procedure. His brother Steve, with no hesitation, offered his veins. My heart stopped. Dick's large extended family worked mainly for the U.S. government in Washington, D.C., and lived close together. A main part of the social calendar was the weekly Sunday family dinners, usually at Grandmother Ruthie's. Think fried chicken and Grandma Ruthie's gravy. This close family bond formed so early in his life molded the man Dick became, full of love, empathy and always willing to sacrifice. Dick loved school and excelled in his studies effortlessly from kindergarten on. He hated getting up in the morning to attend those classes, so he never owned an alarm clock. Dick graduated from Suitland High School in Maryland in 1960, and then started college at Georgetown University. A fork in the road appeared in1962 when Dick's father, who worked for the Navy Department, was presented with the opportunity to work for NATO in Oslo, Norway. The whole family moved to a cottage outside Oslo. Dick dived into everything Norwegian, starting with the university where he attended one year. Norway is where Dick developed his passion for skiing both-cross country and downhill. Norwegian was the first language at the university and Dick quickly mastered it. He retained his fluency until the end and would often spout out one of his favorite Norwegian sayings. His ability to talk in Norwegian with the few original settlers still alive in Hagensborg, Canada, brought joy to the elderly widows there. After more than one hundred years, the original settlers in Hagensborg are few in number. The Bella Coola branch of the Sons of Norway recently disbanded due to diminished numbers. At the end of the first year in Norway, Dick's dad required him to return stateside to resume his college studies. That year he lived with his paternal grandparents, with whom a deeper and even more mature bond was formed. They were retired, and he was their first grandchild. Dick received his B.S. in Pharmacy from the University of Maryland at College Park in 1967. Ever the student, he took to the college circuit for his intended graduate program. He was impressed with the offerings at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. In those years, that college of pharmacy was ranked academically number two in the country. Dick entered graduate school in the fall of 1967. Football is one of the main religions in Columbus, Ohio, especially on fall Saturdays when the game is in town. The entire city comes to a halt. A big part of this ritual is the "BDBITL," and that is the abbreviation for the Best Damn Band in the Land. Being in the packed stadium among ninety thousand other fans listening to the all brass band play "Carmen Ohio," and watching the band form script "Ohio" will send chills down the spine, a memory never forgotten. To pay the bills as a graduate student, Dick worked as a graduate student. He became interested in an equally serious student, Leanna Baldwin. They married the day after her graduation. She got her B.S. in Pharmacy before her Mrs. The next four years in Columbus saw the family grow as two boys were born, Bill and Pat. On their fourth wedding anniversary, Dick graduated with a PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry. This journey took seven years and a sprint at the end with Leanna working retail all day then typing the thesis at night. These were the days before Word Perfect. The thesis was delivered one hour before the deadline to graduate. Job offers were scarce and Dick accepted an entry-level position with Ayerst Labs in Rouses Point, N.Y. Dick had no interest in climbing any corporate ladder, instead preferring to engage with and support his colleagues. We hosted the lower-level staff party at the farm for several years. Dick soon figured out he needed to brace himself before returning home from work each day. With free time, Leanna's mind went wild with ideas. Because of her agricultural background, he shouldn't have been surprised one evening when she said she "needed a farm." Together they scouted available farms and bought Clover Ridge Turkey Farm, which had ceased operations in 1959. So our city pharmacist became a wannabe farmer. His favorite crop was potatoes. He planted enthusiastically each spring despite the success, or lack thereof, of the previous year. One of his favorite expressions was that the dumbest farmer always grew the biggest potatoes. Dick was a tree-hugger and with ample acreage planted thousands of nuts and seedlings, especially black walnuts. Dick enjoyed traveling locally, nationally, and internationally. We were fortunate to be able to do that often. Dick's all time favorite was a rafting trip down the Colorado River in 2005. He spent two weeks sleeping outdoors a mile down on the river. Dick loved the Adirondacks and enjoyed hiking, canoeing, camping and skiing. His favorite peak was Giant Mountain. We enjoyed entertaining, and Dick loved hosting a crowd for Thanksgiving dinner. He enjoyed those dinners so much, he sometimes forgot he was the host, and his wife was left scrambling to serve while he chatted away. Dick was always sympathetic to the indigenous peoples and the loss of their lands. One of his closest friends was John Fadden. John's son David shared this thought recently, "When someone passes, they say the spirit moves around the earth for some time and then follows a path that is lined with strawberries to the place where spirits go. The path is the Milky Way." Dick and Leanna were concerned about the environment and donated conservation easements on nearly 500 acres in New York to Champlain Area Trails (CATS). They also installed geothermal systems for heating and cooling powered by solar on both their farms. No one's kids need to go to war to protect our interests in fossil fuels. The main use of fossil fuels at Lilleskogen East is for the riding lawn mower and part of that is to mow some of the Trail of the Ancient Oaks. This is a big statement because Lilleskogen West, where we have a farm, is in the largest temperate rain forest on the planet. A reason some people will miss Dick is because he made and gifted the best peanut brittle available anywhere each December. He would buy gallons of Karo syrup and order 50-pound containers of raw peanuts from the south. He would take over the kitchen and spend hours making batch after batch. Dick's technique was to throw a lot of ingredients into a kettle, then pick up a book while the mixture brewed. How brown that batch poured out sometimes depended on his interest in the book. Another of Leanna's ideas was to buy Willsboro Pharmacy and give the long-serving Foleys (owners) a much deserved retirement. We owned and operated the pharmacy for 26 years from 1979 to 2005. Dick retired from Wyeth in 1999 and enjoyed 27 years of freedom to pursue his many interests, which always involved buying books and new magazine subscriptions. As I write this, Dick has been gone a week and there are emails indicating books to be picked up at the post office. In 2003, Dick planned a holiday to the Pacific Northwest that ended in Bella Coola, British Columbia, Canada. On landing at the dock, Leanna was smitten by the valley that looked like Yosemite Park without the crowds. The next year they returned and bought a second farm. Lilleskog West, complete with barns filled with obsolete machinery and junk. This farm on the sunny Salloompt is in the Norwegian community of Hagensborg, settled in the 1890s by immigrants from Norway. This area has milder weather than the North Country because of the Japanese current, and twenty blissful winters were spent there. In recent years, a black bear named Herman enjoyed grazing while Leanna gardened. He replaced a line of rescue dogs. Dick was called too soon and really messed up Leanna's plans. There are too many questions about what went wrong. These will never be answered, so no closure in sight. Left to mourn his absence are his wife of 57 years, Leanna; a son, Bill; four granddaughters, Lucy and Bodie, in Oakland, Calif., Alaia and Maya in Myrtle Beach, S.C.; a brother, Steve (Cindy), in Knoxville, Tenn.; a sister, Jayne, in Ekton, Va.; a daughter-in-law, Emily, in Oakland, and many friends around the globe. Dick was preceded in death by his parents; a grandson, Brennan, and a son, Patrick. Memorial gifts can be made to the Whallonsburg Grange Hall, Inc. Essex, N.Y. A celebration of life will be held July 25, 2026, at the Willsboro Farm. Please be kind and patient to each other as Dick was. Arrangements are in the care of the Hamilton Funeral Home, 294 Mannix Rd., Peru, 518-643-9055. To make a floral purchase, offer an online condolence, share a symbolic gesture, or share a photo in memory of Richard "Dick" DeNeale, please visit https://www.hamiltonfuneralhome.com.

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