Richard F. deGraaff

April 4, 1941-January 12, 2025

Bozeman, resident Dr. Richard deGraaff, passed away in his home in Wylie Creek, Bozeman, Sunday afternoon, January 12, 2025. He was 83 years old. A Celebration of Life service will be held at Mount Ellis Academy Seventh-day Adventist Church, 3641 Bozeman Trail Rd., Bozeman, Montana, on Sabbath (Saturday) January 18 at 3 pm. Afterwards, all attending are invited to supper in the school cafeteria. In lieu of flowers a donation may be made to the High Dose Thiamine Protocol for Parkinson's disease at: www.highdosethiamine.org

Richard was born in Surakarta, Indonesia, where his father, Frans Emil deGraaff, worked for the Dutch government. Later the family moved to New Guinea, where Richard enjoyed life immenseley. His mother, Vera deGraaff, had a very different view of life in New Guinea! When the family returned from furlough in Holland, Richard remained behind to do high school at Oud Zandbergen there. Later he studied theology at Newbold College, where he met his wife, Ruth deGraaff who was studying there from Pennsylvania. He caught her attention by lending her his bright blue Scandanavian sweater in the chilly college library.

After leaving Newbold, in the spring of 1967, the couple got married in Holland, before leaving for the United States...a long time dream of Richard's. Getting a job teaching at the multigrade Lehigh Valley Adventist Elementary in Bethlehem, Pa., the couple lived in a small apartment in Wescosville. Soon two daughters, Becky and Ingrid completed the family.

Still with international blood in their veins, the couple moved to the Dominican Republic, where they taught in Centro Educacional de Bonao, a private school for the Falconbridge Mining Corporation. Moving back to Holland again to a fairly small apartment, while Richard taught at The American School of The Hague. A few years later, the family moved again moved to Wellsboro, Pennsylvania where they spent 8 years teaching at the Irvin Comstock School (now Northern Tier Christian School) and enjoying living the country life.

The girls graduated from Irvin Comstock and later graduated from Blue Mountain Academy in Hamburg, PA. With the girls graduated and off to college, the parents took off again, this time for Alaska where they took jobs teaching in Alaskan public schools in the Bush.

Other international adventures followed in close succession: Ukraine, Poland, Egypt, Guinea, West Africa staying a year or two in each place. Finally retirement loomed and the couple returned to the home they had purchased while working in Bush Alaska. In the meantime, Richard developed Parkinson's Disease. It progressed fairly slowly at first. He was still able to drive, mow the lawn, paint pictures, do home repairs and even build two storage sheds. He eventually developed breathing problems related to carbodopa-levodopa. In 2014 the couple moved to Montana to be near Ingrid, James and their growing children. Richard especially enjoyed attending their music and art performances at Mount Ellis Academy.

Meanwhile, his PD was progressing, subtilly, slowly, even though he continued therapy in speech, physical therapy and occupational therapy in various agencies: Mosaic, ProChiro, Great Northern PT, Big Sky Home Health as well as a healthy diet.

In January 2025 he came home to Hospice Care after a 10 day stay in the hospital with COVID and pneumonia. That the pneumonia was caused by his swallowing issues was evidenced by the fact that though it cleared up with a course of antibiotics, it returned quickly when he started eating and drinking again.

He now rests and we'll see him again when Jesus comes. Behold He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him...Revelation 1:7

from Ruth deGraaff, his wife of 57 years

Richard Frederick de Graaff 

1941-2025

My dad. The world is a better place because he lived here. His gentle, sometimes mischievous smile, always brightened my day. He was a lifelong educator, touching the lives of students in Pennsylvania, the Dominican Republic, the Netherlands, Alaska, Poland, Egypt, the Ukraine, and Guinea. He loved to travel, meet people in different places, experience their art and architecture, eat different foods, and see the amazing natural world that is out there…and he passed this on to me and Becky.

There’s so much more. I could be here for hours. Those of you who knew him after Parkinson’s stole so much from him, had a tougher job to know who he truly was. I will be forever grateful to those who were patient and persistent enough to be his friend and try to know him.

He was a man of integrity, faith, generosity, humor, and dedication. He always believed that, whatever you did, you should do well. You lived well, Dad, and you will be sorely missed. I can’t wait to see you again someday soon in Heaven.

His memorial service will be held Saturday, January 18 at 3:00 in the Mt. Ellis Academy chapel.

from daughter, Ingrid

Remember whatever happens to you today--God loves you! Ruth deGraaff