For Carmichael’s oldest family, the recent Dec. 7th Pearl Harbor anniversary recalled more than a day of infamy. A man of military and community action, patriarch Russell Deterding, was born on that day. As the day passed, Deterding’s large clan celebrated his life that ended in August.

“We called and emailed each other and shared stories about dad,” said his first daughter, Donna Deterding. “We miss him but we know he’s with our mom, now. They loved each other from the minute they met; now they’re loving each other in heaven.”

In war, Russell Deterding survived wounds while leading men into battle. In peace, he led parishioners at the church he helped build. He captained non-profits with the kindly hand that guided his family. At his death at 85, he was one of the few people who cherished memories of his grandmother, Carmichael pioneer Mary Deterding.

Now a part of the American River Parkway, Mary’s San Juan Meadows Farm was still supplying Sacramento markets in Russ Deterding’s youth. He recalled Mary’s house near San Lorenzo Drive: “It was small and basic,” he said. “As a boy I used a hand pump in grandmother’s kitchen to get a glass of water. She fended for herself and had a tough time.”

Separated from husband Charles, Mary was a towering sponsor of Carmichael development in the early 1900s. Her son Dick and his wife Josephine raised Russell. From a brick and timber house that still graces lower Palm Drive, young Russ set off to Christian Brothers and Sacramento High schools. His graduation from business studies at St Mary’s College (Moraga) coincided with the first year of the Korean War. At age 21 he became a US Marine. Returning to Carmichael in the prosperous 1950s, Captain Deterding married his childhood sweetheart, Lou Anne Compton. The prolific couple would produce seven children.

First joining his father’s plumbing and air-conditioning supply business, Russell later launched a similar venture of his own. He diversified into building, development and real estate. Along the way, the businessman reinforced family traditions of community service. He led Sacramento’s elite Sutter Club and the Camellia Festival Association. He chaired the Sutter Hospital Research Foundation and the Sacramento Children’s Receiving Home board. He was a tireless booster for Red Cross and Rotary organizations. Devoutly Catholic until death, he undertook regency of St Mary’s College and helped establish Jesuit High School and Our Lady of Assumption Parish—both in Carmichael.

“He and mom drove to mass every morning before work,” recalled daughter Donna Deterding. “Later, when they moved closer to O.L.A., dad walked there.”

Opening church doors with his own key, he was first to the altar every day. His old friend Monsignor James Kidder reported: “Russ was certainly a man of faith. As sacristan, he prepared bread and wine for mass. He was good to priests; we enjoyed his hospitality and sense of humor. He’d say I was his best friend. Then he’d give a list of previous ‘best friends’ who had died.”

His offspring inherited a legacy of Deterding pride. Early ancestors crossed the Sierra in ox-drawn wagons. They established farms and a roadhouse in the area now called Rancho Cordova. They built hospitals, universities, bridges, churches, water districts, and communities. All over Sacramento monuments and plaques immortalize these pillars. Modest, quiet-spoken Russell Deterding is the latest distinguished scion. “Whenever I spent time with him,” attested a family friend, “I went away determined to take a higher road. Russell nourished the best in everybody.”

His only great-grandson—one of Carmichael’s famous McNulty quadruplets—is named Russell.

“It’s a name to be proud of,” said grandmother Donna Deterding. “We were blessed with incredible parents. None of us had better inspiration than my father. He lived by his trust in God and by serving to others. Since he died, so many people have told me how he changed their lives.”