Verdice Ham, 83, of Nevada City, Calif., a former Baker City resident, died March 27, 2003, at her daughter’s home in Nevada City.
Her funeral will be at 1 p.m. Tuesday at the Coles Funeral Home, 1950 Place St. Bishop Greg Baxter, 1st Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will conduct the service. Vault interment will be at Mount Hope Cemetery. Visitations will be from 9 a.m. to noon Tuesday at the funeral home.
Verdice Ham was born Dec. 16, 1919, at Weiser, Idaho, to Andrew L. and Ida Jackson Van Leuven. She was the youngest of 15 children.
At the age of 3, she moved with her family to Baker City where she spent the rest of her childhood. At the age of 18, she married Beryl Ham on April 24, 1938, at Weiser.
As the wife of a logger, she spent most of her married life moving around the state following the logging industry. She was widowed in March of 1957. The next 10 years were devoted to raising her seven children.
When her youngest was around 10 years old, she went to work at the Oregon Trail Motel as a maid. Shortly after that, she started working at Emrich Furniture where she stayed for several years and then went to work for Leo Adler. After retiring in 1984, she moved to California to live with her oldest daughter
She was preceded in death by her husband, two sons and all but one of her siblings.
Survivors include her children Sharon Carpenter and her fiance, Bob Pollock, and Pam Barker of Baker, Virginia and Rick Tittle and Ron Carpenter of Haines, Iris and Mike Craigmile of Aloha, Keith and Carleen Ham of Medford, and Mike Ham and Ida Personeni of Nevada City, Calif.; 16 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren; a sister-in-law, Josephine Zemmer of St. Helens; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Memorial contributions may be made to the American Diabetes Association or the American Heart Association through Coles Funeral Home, 1950 Place St., Baker City, OR 97814.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, April 4, 2003
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor