On January 10, 2022, it was discovered that Douglas Richard Anderson, 75, had passed away at his home. Cause of death was later determined to be the Covid-19 virus.
Douglas was the first of two children born to Damia L. and Richard Elmer Anderson in Schenectady, NY. Doug graduated from Mohonassen High School in 1966. While in high school, Doug developed a life-long interest in Classic and Hot Rod cars, and Harley Davidson motorcycles. He joined a local car club and taught himself how to fix and customize his vehicles. Doug was also a known Hot Rod drag racer in the area. He followed in his father’s footsteps with a job as a machinist at the General Electric Company for a while before moving to Kalispell, Montana for almost a decade. While there, Doug developed another love for early American history, combining it with his artistic ability as a craftsperson in which he made museum-quality replicas of black powder rifles doing rifling of barrels, engraving and carving, etc. for collectors.
Doug later moved back to the Schenectady area, and around 2000 to the Sidney, New York area where his widowed mother had moved. Doug worked several jobs in the area including briefly at Amphenol. After this, Doug attended SUNY Delhi and received an Associate of Applied Science degree in CAD drafting in 2001, which led to a drafting job at Custom Electronics in Oneonta. He did various other jobs and later in life worked as an Afton Schools bus driver before finally working as a driver for AutoPlus in Bainbridge. Through the years, Doug acquired and maintained contact with many friends in all of the places he had lived. Doug supported the Veterans of Foreign Wars with various volunteer projects as he learned about them. Doug also had a great love for three shelter dogs that shared his life and that he adored named Pilgrim, Buster and Harley Jane aka Janie.
Doug is survived by sweet Janie the dog, adopted by his sister, Nancy Fritschler, of Oxford, and her husband Karl. He is also survived by his niece Sarah Fritschler of Norwich, New York, and cousin Thomas Winshurst, Jr of Hebron, Kentucky, and family.
There will be a small family internment at Memory Gardens, Latham, NY at the convenience of the family. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to the Veterans of Foreign Wars of America, or the ASPCA, or a local animal shelter.
Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Behe Funeral Home Inc. 21 Main Street, Oxford, NY 13830. Friends and family may share memories and condolences by visitingwww.behefuneralhome.com