Doug Woodall

James Douglas Woodall, “Doug” or “Poop” to those that knew and loved him, passed away in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 23, 2023 – he was 87.

Doug was born in Yakima, Washington on November 18,1935 to parents Lawrence Albert Woodall and Bertha Glee Woodall.  He had 4 siblings: Betty, Fern, Hal, and Larry.  He used to tell funny stories about his childhood with a huge smile on his face, including the infamous story of when his sister Fern fell out of the car and Betty was too polite to interrupt her parents’ conversation to tell them what had happened.  

Doug was an Army Veteran and served his country proudly.  He was stationed in Lewiston, Idaho, and he was a Radio Announcer.  He was a skilled vocalist and delivered important news and comedy relief to the troops.  His children had recently found some old reel-to-reel tapes of his time in the Army, and he was able to listen to them and reminisce about those old memories before he passed away.  When we played a news report from the war for him we told him, “That’s you, Poop! That’s you!”  He said, “Man! I was GOOD!”

He was always interested in music.  He picked up a saxophone at an early age, taught himself how to play it, and seemed to never put it down.  He couldn’t read a note of music but played Tenor Sax by ear like nobody’s business!  He was also an excellent singer and had perfect pitch – even late into his life.  He was in many bands and musical groups, and he often wrote and performed jingles for the various radio stations he worked for as a DJ over the years.  He never lost that love of music, and decided at the age of 83, he would teach himself how to play the piano.  He played his keyboard every day and even wrote a few songs in the last few months – one about Christmas and one about Love.

Doug had many careers over the course of his life: DJ, Musician, Ranch Owner, Realtor, Property Manager, and more. But he was most well-known for owning and operating many pizza parlors, including Gallucci’s of Lincoln City, OR and Newport, OR, Mister Critter’s of Depoe Bay, OR and Newport, OR and Desert Dugs Pizza of Wellton, AZ.  He personally created his own pizza sauce and dough recipes and had them committed to memory.  When he was asked to write down his sauce recipe to keep it safe, he said, “I don’t know – it’s just a spoonful of this, and a little less than half a spoonful of that – I just keep putting in spices until it looks right.”  He was vigilant about having high quality ingredients and putting ample sauce on his pizzas – little details like that ensured a delicious pizza.  To this day, there are literally hundreds of people out there who think that a pizza from one of Doug’s many restaurants is the best pizza they’ve ever had.

Doug had an excellent sense of humor.  Over the past several years, he really enjoyed cracking one-liner jokes.  Recently, he was especially fond of the “That’s what she said” jokes.  He would deliver a “That’s what she said” line and then spend the next several minutes laughing at his own joke.  He lovingly received the nickname, “Poop” by one of his daughters in the early 80s, embraced it whole-heartedly with a smile, and had hundreds of people calling him “poop” over the course of five decades!  Anyone that knew him would often comment that he always seemed upbeat and happy – especially when he knew he was going to see family or friends.  He was readily up for a good time - and spent countless hours laughing and talking with various friends over the course of his life.  He loved to spend time playing slot machines at the casino with his family.  At least twice a week, he’d call up his daughter and say (in a sing-songy way), “Who wants to go to the cas-ee-no? Who wants to go to the cas-ee-no?”  He used to call all slot machines “Baby” until one day when he proclaimed, “I just realized – what if they don’t like being called baby and that’s why I’m not winning?  I gotta stop doing that.” So then he would catch himself saying, “C’mon baby” as he was playing and then quickly say, “Not baby, not baby… I didn’t mean to say baby.”  The man was hilarious.

He loved having campfires with loved ones – if anyone came over to his house and asked if they could have a fire, his eyes would light up and he would literally rush outside to get one going.  Then he would nurture it and gaze lovingly at his beautiful fire for hours and hours.  Some of his favorite memories were of having campfires with his wife and children, and he would talk about those times quite often.

Doug was a craftsman in the art of many things.  He loved building model war airplanes out of balsawood and tissue paper.  Sometimes, he would even build a plane from his own memory, using whatever spare pieces of wood and paint he had around.  He built well over 150 planes, and put a lot of them up in his craft room that was lovingly referred to as his “hanger”.  When he felt that he had made all of the planes he could possibly make, he switched his craft skills to building memory shadow boxes.  He made several of these boxes for family and friends using sea glass, rocks, sticks, art supplies and love. He made miniature birds, cars, and planes.  He made a logging truck, replicas of statues he had seen, and models of houses he had lived in.  He even made a replica of the Eiffel Tower and added twinkly lights to it because it made him happy.  He was extremely creative, but also very humble at the same time.  He always seemed shocked when someone would tell him that what he had just created was the neatest thing they had ever seen.

He lived in many western states over the course of his life: Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Arizona, California and Nevada.  He made many friends along the way.  He and his wife used to love to go sandrailing with his friends when they lived in Yuma, AZ.  He loved the Sandrail Gang, and would always accept an invitation to go out riding and laughing with them in the desert.  Speaking of western states – Doug LOVED Western movies.  Whenever he had control of the remote, the TV would be tuned into the old western movie channel.  Even though he lived in the city, he was always an old cowboy at heart. 

He loved hugs!  Especially later in life, he never shook hands – he only gave sweet, warm hugs.  It didn’t matter if you were the lady giving him a pedicure, or the doctor that was fitting him with hearing aids, or the friend of a friend of a friend – he hugged you with all of his might.  When he met someone new, he would not only physically embrace them, he would embrace them with his friendship and stories.  He loved his wife, children, grandchildren, family, friends and puppy with all of his heart.  Sometimes, when he would be in a particularly sentimental mood, he would start talking about one of his daughters or his grandchildren or his wife or his friends and he would start to get teary-eyed and say out loud how much he loved that person.  He wasn’t afraid to show his emotions – the people in his life mattered to him, and he loved talking about how important everyone was to his life.

Doug is survived by his wife of 34 years, Carolyn Woodall, of Las Vegas, NV.  He is also survived by his daughter, Julie Van Valin and son-in-law, Monte Van Valin of Beaver, OR, his daughter, Wendy Beckers and son-in-law, Marty Beckers of Las Vegas, NV, and his daughter, Angela Miller and son-in-law, Ed Miller of Oregon City, OR.  He is survived by one son, Andy Andrews of Warrenton, OR.  Doug had only one grandchild, his granddaughter, Stephanie Biever of Ava, MO, and five great-grandchildren, Tanner, Cameron, Ryan, Conner, and Hailey.  Doug is also survived by his beloved dog, Butters, of Las Vegas, NV.

A Celebration of Life will be held at the home of Wendy and Marty Beckers (address supplied upon request) at 5:00 pm on Saturday, June 10, 2023.  All are welcome to attend.  Doug’s model airplanes and some of his various pieces of art will be displayed in a “Poop Gallery” (he would have loved that), and all guests are encouraged to pick one of his works of art to take home and cherish as a keepsake to remember his incredible life.  Bring your happy memories of this incredible guy, and we can all laugh and have a great time in his honor.   If you can’t make it to the Celebration, we’ll be posting a Zoom link where you can log in and see the event in real time.

Doug/Poop will be remembered as a caring, hard-working, light-hearted, hilarious and wonderful man by all who knew and loved him.  His ripple effect was vast, and he will leave a lasting impression on the lives of us all.  We will miss our friend – may the essence of who he was and the joy he brought to others live on forever and ever.

For information about Doug’s Celebration of Life, please visit: https://tinyurl.com/doug-celebration.

To send flowers to the family, please visit our floral store.