Bethel Illean Goodwin Huff, 80, died Sept. 24, 2007, at her home in Halfway.
There will not be a formal service, but family and friends will gather for a dinner in the spring of 2008.
Bethel was born Sept. 13, 1927, in Baker City to A. Niles “Shorty” Goodwin Sr. and Emma Marie Sanders Goodwin.
Bethel married her high school sweetheart, Jimmy Huff, on Christmas Eve, 1947 in Baker City. They would have celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary at Christmas this year.
Bethel was raised and attended grade school in Cornucopia and Jimtown, graduating from Pine Valley Union High School in Halfway in 1946. She and her one brother and three sisters later moved to the ranch above Jimtown, then to the Endrupp sawmill (later the Goodwin Sawmill) located on Goodwin Sawmill Road at Jimtown. She was the first of the girls to drive the ’29 Chev wood truck delivering wood locally.
Bethel worked at a number of places up and down Main Street through the years. She was a telephone operator for what is now Pine Telephone, spent many years as a bookkeeper at the Pine Merc, and retired from U.S. Bank as a teller. Bethel was a special person, her attitude was always, “Get it done, now” and she did.
Bethel was a person with unlimited energy; every day of her life she worked from can to can’t (can see to can’t see), arising early to have her housework completed before going to work. Her reason for being was to care for her husband Jimmy, her sons, Lyle and Gordon, her grandchildren and her great grandchildren, nieces, nephews and her home.
She loved huckleberry, mushroom and late fall fishing seasons. She never came home empty handed and rarely revealed her mushroom-hunting locations. She enjoyed the mountains, camping and fishing with her family. Bethel especially enjoyed decorating her yard to fit the seasons and holidays, lights and all.
Bethel is survived by her husband, Jimmy of Halfway; her son Lyle and his wife, Lauran, of Haines, Alaska, son Gordon Huff of Cambridge, Idaho; three grandchildren, three great-great-grandchildren plus one on the way; her sisters, Ada Marie Litts of Longview, Wash., Grace Gulick of Halfway,. and Gerrilyn Sneedon of Reedsport; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Bethel was preceded in death by her parents, Emma and A. Niles “Shorty” Goodwin; her brother, A. Niles “Sonny” Goodwin Jr., who was killed in action in February of 1945 in Germany during World War II; and her grandson Rory Huff, in 2005.
Contributions in memory of Bethel may be made to the charity of your choice through Tami’s Pine Valley Funeral Home P.O. Box 543 Halfway, OR 97834.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, October 3, 2007
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor