William Douglas Rice, 54, of Myrtle Creek, died at home on Tuesday, July 2, of cancer. He was born in Corvallis on Jan. 16, 1959, to William and Clementine (Young) Rice, and grew up in Spokane. Throughout his childhood, he and his family frequently visited relatives in Myrtle Creek, where his parents were born and raised. He served in the U.S. Coast Guard from 1976 to 1980 on the Aids to Navigation Team, stationed on the Oregon Coast. He returned to the Myrtle Creek area in 1982, when he worked as a Cow Creek tribal representative on an archaeological dig in Camas Valley with his future wife, Megan Monson. He worked as foreman of a fire crew on the Willamette National Forest for several years until he married Megan on Oct. 11, 1986, in Spokane, Wash. They lived in Astoria, where he worked as a chaser and timber cutter for J.M. Browning Logging. In 1990, he moved to Myrtle Creek for good, working as a logger until the woods were shut down, then for Glenbrook Nickel, Green Diamond and Huffman & Wright. In his 40s he retrained as an electrician, working for Olsson Industrial Electric and Umpqua Indian Development Corp. He never missed a family powwow and looked forward to his yearly trip to the Huckleberry Patch. He is survived by his wife, Megan Monson, of Myrtle Creek; his daughter, Cassidy Rose Rice, of Stanford, Calif., who inherited his strong work ethic; and his son, Riley James Rice, of New Haven, Conn., who inherited his passion for fast motorcycles. He is also survived by his parents, William and Clementine Rice, of Myrtle Creek, who gifted him with a strong love of family; and his sisters, both of Bellingham, Wash: Susan Rice, with whom he talked every single day, and Signe Rice Newman, who kept him well supplied with hand-crafted cards of love. He leaves a multitude of aunts, uncles, cousins and shirt-tail relatives in the Myrtle Creek area. Friends are invited to say their private goodbyes the next time they go exploring in the woods.