Baker City, Oregon
Anne Viola “Vi” Sword Walter, 80, died Aug. 8, 2006, at St. Elizabeth Health Care Center.
There will be a celebration of her life and graveside service at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Mount Hope Cemetery.
Visitations will be from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. today at Tami’s Pine Valley Funeral Home in Halfway and at 10 a.m. Tuesday before the service at Mount Hope Cemetery. Friends are invited to join the family for a reception after the graveside service at the Calvary Baptist Church, 2107 Third St.
Anne Viola was born on Nov. 12, 1925, at Baker City to Efraim “Ed” and Anna Judit Lovgren Sword. She attended schools at Pondosa and Baker City. She was a 1943 Baker High School graduate. Vi also attended Baker Business School.
She married John Horace Walter on Nov. 15, 1947, at the Calvary Baptist Church in Baker City. She loved her husband very much and referred to him always as “My John.”
They had two daughters, Neva and Jeanne. The day before Jeanne was born, Vi had taken care of 200 chickens, which she had raised on the back porch, preparing them for the freezer.
During Vi’s life, she worked for the Bureau of Land Management-Soil Conservation. She worked until she had the money to purchase a new washing machine. Vi was very proud to be a Swede and proud that her parents had come to this county, working hard and becoming citizens of the United States.
Vi enjoyed being involved in her church, whether it be in Baker City, or when she lived at Athens, Texas, or Spanish Fork, Utah. She belonged to the Helen Walter Missionary Society and sent many prayer letters.
She knew the importance of prayer, and was a true “prayer warrior.” Vi had a talent for making beautiful wedding cakes and was an accomplished seamstress.
She enjoyed taking a Sunday car ride, studying her Bible and teaching Sunday school and women’s Bible studies and planting flowers and garden vegetables. Vi always had room for family at her home; she treasured each and every visit.
Survivors include her daughters, Neva Clark of Winnemucca, Nev., and Jeanne Gillert and her husband, Gary, of Athens, Texas; brothers, Gus Sword, and his wife, Cleta, of Baker City and Don Sword and his wife, Evelyn, of Vale; grandchildren, Jennifer Clark Smith, Steven Gillert and Linsey Gillert Lewis; three great-grandchildren, Abigail, Dylan and Joshua Smith; several nieces and nephews; and many special friends.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, John, who died in 1994; son-in-law, John Clark; and grandson, Edward Lee Clark.
Memorial contributions may be made to St. Elizabeth Health Care Center, Settler’s Park or Calvary Baptist Church through Tami’s Pine Valley Funeral Home, P.O. Box 543, Halfway, OR 97834.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, August 22, 2006
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor