You might see Rocky Bixby driving seniors around town as a participant in the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ #StillServing campaign, which recognizes veterans who continue to serve their communities after their military service.
The volunteer “job” is a perfect fit for Bixby, who has been serving others his entire life, from his stint in the U.S. Marine Corps to a career in law enforcement to a complete carnival set up in his Tualatin front yard for the neighborhood kids. And if keeping the local kids happy isn’t enough, Bixby also has in his front yard a small refrigerator stocked with ice-cold beverages and snacks for the delivery people who frequent his neighborhood.
A couple of timely, accidental meetings changed the course of Bixby’s life from the route taken by many of his contemporaries on the Native American reservation where he grew up. Born in Perryton, Texas, into a Cheyenne-British family, Bixby was a toddler when his parents moved to the Northern Cheyenne reservation in Montana where he lived until turning 18.
“The Cheyenne reservation in southeast Montana was created next to the Crow reservation,” he said. “The Cheyenne and Crow were once mortal enemies, and I was the only Cheyenne among Crows in my dormitory my senior year, but I became friends with the Crows and was president of the dorm my senior year.
“I (ranked) fourth in my class, but my mom and dad were poor, and I had no direction and no money for college. I was in the principal’s office when a big old Marine came in and said, ‘If you don’t want to join the Marines, you better get out of here.”
But Bixby enlisted and after boot camp, he was assigned to machine-gunner school in San Diego and did two non-combat tours overseas.
Bixby left the Marines with the rank of corporal and headed back to the reservation, “where there were three options – mining, farming and ranching, or working for the state,” Bixby said. “I was driving around looking for a job when a pickup T-boned me. The police chief came and said to me, ‘Have you ever thought about law enforcement?’ I got an application, and six months later I was working.
“I worked for six months before attending the police academy. During that time, I had two stand-offs with suspects with rifles, de-escalated situations and kept people safe. I eventually went to the police academy and started working as a federal police officer on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. Working as a police officer was very difficult, but I loved helping people.”
After five years, Bixby had gotten married, had three children and was divorced. He met his future second wife and moved to Missoula to be with her. He joined the St. Ignatius Police Department and later became a Lake County deputy/school resource officer on the Flathead Reservation.
Moving to Oregon, Bixby joined the Oregon National Guard infantry in 1998 and was eventually promoted to the rank of staff sergeant and held the position of squad leader. His first job in Oregon was working as a public safety officer on the Portland State University campus before becoming a police officer at Oregon Health & Sciences University. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice from PSU.
In the fall of 2001, Bixby was training with the Oregon National Guard in Germany, and after 9/11, “we were assigned to help train the special forces that were to go over to Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom,” Bixby said. “We returned to Oregon, and then our unit trained in Colorado, flew to Germany and was stationed throughout Kuwait and Iraq.
“We took over convoy security guarding civilian contractors at numerous sites, including a water treatment plant in Iraq, where we were exposed to the chemical sodium dichromate, a chemical you are not supposed to be exposed to more than one teaspoon in your lifetime. I could hardly breathe, and I couldn’t run when I returned from Iraq.”
Sodium dichromate was used by the Iraqis, and KBR failed to inform the security detail that the chemical was used at the plant. Looking online, Bixby learned that in Texas, lawyers were suing KBR on behalf of military personnel exposed to sodium dichromate, some of whom died. Bixby was referred to a Portland lawyer who sued KBR on his behalf and won. “But it was turned over on appeal because KBR is not sited in Oregon,” he said.
“My memory and lungs are affected. I got disability and couldn’t be a police officer anymore because of my memory. I went back to school and got a master’s at PSU in rehabilitation counseling and did an internship at the Vancouver VA Medical Center, but due to my memory, I couldn’t remember how to do the work.”
Bixby decided he could volunteer and called the Cat Adoption Team in Sherwood and the Meals on Wheels People but couldn’t handle being enclosed. “Then Ride Connection said, ‘We’d love to have you,’” Bixby said. “It’s been eight years now, and every day I love it! It is neighbors driving neighbors. I get paid by the smile. It is the most rewarding thing I’ve done. Nothing beats the satisfaction I get. I have a purpose beyond a career.”
About three years ago, Bixby joined the Tualatin VFW Post 3452, which led to his recognition in the #StillServing campaign. “It is such a great model,” he said. “We have so many veterans who don’t know what to do and need a purpose.”
Not only has Bixby found his purpose, but he has tailored it to his life. “I choose the areas where I want to drive and the days of the week and the time period,” he said. “I don’t do wheelchair transport because I fractured my back in the military. I drive on Tuesdays and Thursdays and get my schedule Monday night.”
Bixby also serves on a Tri-Met budget committee plus he is a committee member with the Washington County Disability, Aging & Veteran Services, and he is the Riverpark Citizens Involvement Organization (CIO) land-use officer.
“A lot of veterans are willing and able to help people, and it is good we can help people,” Bixby said. Now happily married to his third wife Cheryl for 14 years, “I’m enjoying life,” he said.
