Richland, Oregon
Darrell Carper, 67, a longtime Halfway and Richland resident, died Jan. 8, 2004, at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise from complications of asthma.
His funeral and celebration of his life will be at 10 a.m. Friday at the Richland Christian Church. Interment will be at the Eagle Valley Cemetery in Richland. Friends are invited to join the family for a reception and dinner afterward at the Richland Christian Church.
Darrell was the second child born to Willa and Ralph Carper on May 31, 1936, at their home in La Grande. He was raised with two sisters, DeLeva and Donna. He attended school at Starkey, Union and La Grande.
He married Anita S. Doty in 1954. They would have celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on Sept. 23, 2004. They had five children: Eugene, Deborah, Susan, Denise “Shelly” and Melody.
Darrell was very proud of his family and loved them deeply. He will be missed.
He was his happiest when he could be in “God’s Country,” the glorious mountains, where he worked as a logger for many years until he was injured. He had a strong love for nature and being in the outdoors.
He was an avid sportsman, enjoying shooting, hunting, fishing, snowmobiling and feeding deer in the winters. He had enjoyed working at the Cornucopia pack station where he could show others the beauty of the mountains.
His most recent love was to work alongside his daughter and son-in-law on their cattle ranch at Richland. He loved the scenery of the Pine and Eagle valleys. He enjoyed gatherings with family and friends and had a wonderful sense of humor that will be missed.
Survivors include his wife, Anita; son, Gene, and his wife, Cindy; daughters, Deborah, and her husband, Dwight Saunders, Susan Coffman and her significant other, Tommy Smith, Shelly and her husband, Jerry Smith, and Melody and her husband, Mark Weir; his mother, Willa Carper; sisters, DeLeva, and her husband, Wade Booher, and Donna and her husband, Roundy Plumley, all of La Grande; grandchildren, Elisha Carper Suldan and her husband, Jessie, and Sierra and Sydney Saunders, Raleigh, Renae and Randi Coffman, Derek and Adrian Harlan, and Colton, Branden and Dalton Weir; three great-grandchildren; and many nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews.
Darrell was preceded in death by his father, Ralph Carper; and two granddaughters, Jennifer and Kayla Carper.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Richland Christian Church or the Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary through Tami’s Pine Valley Funeral Home, P.O. Box 543, Halfway, OR 97834.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, January 16, 2004
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor