| Graduation Year | Class of 1967 |
| Date of Passing | Feb 23, 2021 |
| About | DETTBARN, Ernest Albert, Jr., 71, passed away peacefully at Johnston-Willis Hospital in Richmond on Tuesday, February 23, 2021, after a battle with cancer. By his side when he passed was his beautiful and loving wife of 21 years, Michele Jean Young. "Big Ernie," as he was known to his family and so many of his friends, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on June 26, 1949, which was the wedding anniversary of his parents, the late Ernest Albert Dettbarn Sr. and Helen Stoner Dettbarn. Ernie Sr. was in medical school at the time and Helen was teaching. By 1955, Ernie Jr. and his brother, Mark Fredrick Dettbarn and sister, Helen Jane Dettbarn, were living in Frederick, Maryland, where Ernie Sr. operated his single-physician practice. That same year, the United States Navy informed Ernie Sr. it was finally time to fulfill his service, which the Navy had deferred since drafting him for World War II. In just three weeks time, Ernie Sr. closed his practice, packed up his family and reported to New York City, where the Dettbarns boarded a ship bound for El Masnou, Spain, where Ernie Sr. served as a doctor at a Navy base. Ernie Jr. learned Spanish quickly from the local kids and served as the family's ad hoc translator. When the Dettbarns returned to the states in 1957, they moved to Walkersville, Maryland, where Ernie Sr. went into practice with his wife's brother, James Stoner. Ernie Jr.'s childhood in Walkersville was very much a small town experience, one he always described with affection. Ernie and his siblings walked to school, did their chores every day and dressed their best on Sunday. There was time for boyish fun, too, as Ernie Jr. had a nose for mischief and a mind for getting away with it. He once thwarted a wooden spoon spanking by placing Golden Books down the back of his pants prior to the discipline. Ernie was also industrious from a young age, starting with a simple business selling homemade potholders door-to-door. He graduated Walkersville High School in 1968 and went to Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia. After freshman year, he took a summer job in Baltimore, selling encyclopedias door-to-door. By the end of the summer he had earned $5,000, a sum he had never seen before. He graduated Randolph-Macon College in 1972 and served in the United States Army Reserves in Baltimore, Maryland, where he also landed his first full time job in sales. Ernie worked in Baltimore until 1979, when his employer moved him and his young family to Richmond, Virginia. Ernie's big break came in the early 1980s when he was offered a position at Craigie Incorporated. Thus began a long, successful career selling bonds. In retirement, Ernie continued his industrious ways. For over 25 years, he had been combining his love of cooking and gardening to make homemade salsa, which he would give to friends and bring to parties. People loved it so much they told him he should sell it. And so he did, with the creation of Ernie's Epic Foods and its line of salsas, which Ernie always said were, "the best you've ever tasted, or I'll buy it back!" That guarantee still stands. Ernie's professional success allowed him to share with his family and friends the many loves in his personal life: sport fishing, spending time at the cottage in Cobb's Creek, Virginia, smoking turkeys for the holidays, the dads' camping trips with the kids to the Outer Banks, cracking crabs and shucking oysters, hunting geese on the eastern shore, the house on 68th Street in Virginia Beach, or cruising with a boatload of friends and family on the Bertram 28. From Frank Sinatra to The Eagles to Prince, his love of music was as large as the pile of reel-to-reel, record and cassette players that accumulated around the house. Ernie was a dog lover and raised several litters of Labrador Retrievers. He knew many magic tricks and delighted in entertaining his family and friends with them. Ernie was an accomplished prankster who often went to hilarious lengths to dupe his family and friends. He appreciated a good joke and could tell a good joke, the bluer the better. What was said about Ralphie's father in one of his favorite movies, A Christmas Story, could also be said of Ernie, that he, "worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It was his true medium, a master." He made clear his disdain for exercise, saying it inconveniently deposited cigarette ash into his drinks. Among the best things he ever said to his children (and there were many), perhaps the best was, "I can't follow you around the rest of your life making sure you do the right thing." Ernie was never without his Swiss Army knife, ChapStick and paper towel folded in his pocket. So many of his family and friends will remember him in his trademark tortoise rim glasses, how the warmth of his personality emanated from his emerald green eyes, and how the pure joy of his laughter elicited the laughter from those around him. Big Ern will be dearly missed and always remembered fondly. He is survived by his wife of 21 years, Michele Jean Young; his son, Ernest Albert Dettbarn III; daughter, Lindsay Elizabeth Dettbarn; and their mother, Nancy Eleanor Slocum; his son, James Burgess Gregory III; daughter, Charlotte Lee Stoner Dettbarn; and their mother, Suellen Korn Gregory; his daughters-in-law, Sarah Herbert Dettbarn and Cornelia Bowen Gregory; his son-in-law, Ademuyiwa Quincy Olatunde; his six grandchildren; his brother, Mark Fredrick Dettbarn, sister-in-law, Barbara Stetka Dettbarn; niece, Kate Dettbarn Falker; and nephew, Mark Frederick Dettbarn Jr.; his sister, Helen Jane Durant; brother-in-law, Dr. Michael Scott Durant; nephew, Michael Scott Durant; and niece, Megan Durant Schartner. Ernie's family will hold a private ceremony this summer to inurn Ernie's ashes in the Atlantic Ocean. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the cancer research of your choice. To plant trees in memory, please visit our Sympathy Store. Published by Richmond Times-Dispatch on Mar. 10, 2021. |
