By Dixon Bledsoe
You can learn a lot about somebody on Facebook – it is like a portal into the person.
Rick Ernst told it like it is. He was well-known for his letters to the editor espousing views you either thought were spot on or out of left field. Make that right field, since he wasn’t a big fan of anything on the left.
Ernst was president and general manager of Cooley’s Gardens, Inc., a company started by his grandfather in 1928. With the help of his wife of 22 years, Kati Long Ernst, he and his family won awards for Tall Bearded Iris’ from Russia to Italy. Ernst passed away unexpectedly March 2 at the age of 57. The service for him was held March 11 at the Silverton Assembly of God Church. Needless to say, there was music.
A 1971 graduate of Silverton High School, Ernst was in a rock and roll band in high school and played music across the valley until his passing. His musical tastes are worded on FaceBook in typical Rick Ernst fashion – candid, blunt, and with no excuses. For music tastes, he states clearly, “All of it except for Hip Hop.” He loved bluegrass, country, the Beatles, and hillbilly music and liked to play the guitar and violin. He also dabbled in the sitar and loved the Weiser Idaho Fiddle Contest.
Ernst liked to collect guitars, antiques, firearms, and ride motorcycles.
It’s hard to tell what moved him more – travel, music, politics, or tall Bearded Iris.
Don Kelley, a Silverton attorney, called Ernst a friend, client, and fellow music lover. “We didn’t always agree on politics, but our common ground was music. Rick was an accomplished musician, he knew and spoke his mind, and was very intelligent. Rick always mused over creating a Red Iris, even contemplating how to use the DNA from a tomato to get an Iris that was a lucid red.”
Georgie Johnson, also of Silverton, said her younger brother was big on traveling and “He absolutely loved Thailand, enjoying it for the beauty and for shooting our Iris Catalogue there. He was definitely a stickler for detail, and when he became sick unexpectedly, he didn’t like it one bit because it meant he was no longer in control.” She laughed about how her brother would have preferred to be there for his own autopsy. “Rick loved research, so I know if it were up to him, he would want to find out what was wrong.” Never shy about politics, Ernst was a Constitutionalist. The Navy Vet and “Drop Out Duck” (He went to University of Oregon for a year and a half) could grouse about all the newcomers in his hometown trying to change things, the badly misguided behavior of the current president, while tapping his foot to “Man of Constant Sorrow” without missing a beat.
You can tell a lot about a man from his Facebook page, and even more from his favorite quotes. From John Wayne, “Life is tough. It’s even tougher when you’re stupid.” And from Dr. Michael Savage, “Liberalism is a mental disorder.”
Ernst is survived by his wife, Kati, son Corey, and daughter Amy, his mother, Miriam Ernst, sister Judy Nunn, and two grandchildren.
