Last Updated on November 26, 2011 by
Summerville, Union County, Oregon
Was First Woman to Ride Into Grande Ronde Valley in Stage Coach
Clarissa Lucinda Slack, who is said to have had the distinction of being the first woman to ride into the Grande Ronde valley on a stage coach, passed away at her home near Summerville last night after a lingering illness. She was a pioneer of this valley, coming across the plains to Oregon from Iowa in 1870 by train and by stage coach. Mrs. Slack was born Jan. 20, 1845 in Ohio and at the age of six, she moved to Iowa where she grew to womanhood. She was married to F. Slack in 1870, the year they came west.
Mrs. Slack is survived by three sons, Burr, Dennis and George, of Summerville; three daughters, Allie Slack, Mrs. Della Walker and Mrs. Emma Burnaugh, three grandchildren, two sisters, Mrs. Mary Pierson of Iowa, Mrs. Saphronia Winchell, of Nebraska, and one brother, J. B. Nables [Nobles], of Washington.
Funeral services will be held tomorrow afternoon at 2 o’clock at the Summerville chapel with burial, in charge of the Snodgrass and Zimmerman mortuary, to take place in the Summerville cemetery.
La Grande Evening Observer
Wednesday December 4, 1929
Front Page