Derek Jordan Stewart passed away on Sept. 13, 2025 at the age of 46.
Derek Jordan Stewart, formerly of Irrigon, passed away unexpectedly on Sept. 13, 2025 in Gearhart at the age of 46.
He was born on June 29, 1979 in Walla Walla, Wash. to Thomas Stewart and Dolores Hilling Stewart.
Derek lived in various places until the fifth grade. In the late 1980s he moved with his family to Spokane, where he graduated from University High School with the class of 1997. After high school, he worked as an automotive mechanic for a couple of years until joining the Air Force and becoming an Aerospace Ground Equipment (AGE) mechanic in October 1999. He was honorably discharged as a staff sergeant from the Air Force after six years in September 2005.
Derek then moved to Umatilla and began his career at the Umatilla Army Depot, where he worked until the depot closed in 2011. He then transferred to Pueblo, Colo., where he worked as a materials handler until 2016. He then returned to Oregon, living in Irrigon and working at McNary Dam. He retired from McNary Dam in 2022. He moved to Gearhart and fulfilled his lifelong dream of living at the coast three weeks ago.
Derek loved painting and using his creative side to share special meals. He was fascinated with airplanes and flying so much that he always talked about flying his family to the beach someday. Derek admired the beach and the calmness that it brought to him.
Derek married Brianne Rowe in Spokane, Wash. on Sept. 11, 1999. He spent the next 25 years making memories and growing his family.
He is survived by three children and their significant others, Bethany Jordan Stewart and Cesar Ambriz, LCPL Spencer Tyler Stewart and Esmeralda De Loera, and Madelyn Grace Stewart; parents, Tom and Dolores Stewart; paternal grandmother, Marilyn Stewart; brother, CAPT James Stewart and his wife Heather; and Brianne Rowe.
A funeral service will be held on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025 at 1 p.m. at Columbia View Community Church, 1240 E. Highway 730, Irrigon.
Burial will follow with military honors in the Desert Lawn Memorial Cemetery in Irrigon.
Please share memories of Derek with his family at burnsmortuaryhermiston.com.
Burns Mortuary of Hermiston is in care of arrangements.
