Baker County OR

Quartz Mining, Baker County Oregon

About two thousand claims on quartz lodes have been recorded in Baker County since 1862. More or less development work has been done on most of them, perhaps one half of them having been worked to the extent which the law requires in order to make the claim secure. Nineteen quartz mills have been built, ranging in capacity from two to sixty tons per day. The first one built was the Ruckles mill at Baker City, which was put in operation in 1864. The mill was run by waterpower, and was built to work the ore from what was then … Read more

Witham, Harvey Edward – Obituary

Harvey Edward Witham, 89, a fourth-generation Baker City resident, died Oct. 19, 2005. His memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at Gray’s West & Co., 1500 Dewey Ave. Pastor Lennie Spooner of the First Church of the Nazarene will officiate. Harvey was born on April 30, 1916, in Baker City to William and Maud Moeller Witham. He attended Brooklyn Elementary School and was a 1934 graduate of Baker High School. Thereafter he worked for his uncle, Ed Moeller, in Baker City. As a young man he worked on many of the projects of Baker City. He was hod … Read more

Baird, Margaret C. McCord Mrs. – Obituary

Halfway, Oregon Margaret C. Baird, 94, a longtime Halfway resident, died Sept. 1, 2006, at Baker City. There was a celebration of her life today at the Pine Baptist Church in Halfway. Pastor Shawn Thatcher officiated. Interment was at Pine Haven Cemetery in Halfway. The daughter of Charles S. and Bertha Jane Crabill McCord, Margaret was born at 1503 10th St. in Baker City on Nov. 8, 1911. She attended school at Weiser, Idaho, until her family moved to Halfway in 1923. She married Everett Baird in 1928. For the next 25 years she assisted Everett in their Halfway funeral … Read more

Ward, Ralph Cole – Obituary

North Powder, Oregon Ralph Cole Ward, 80, of North Powder, died July 17, 2002, at the home of his son and daughter-in-law, Douglas and Kathryn Ward, of North Powder. His graveside memorial service was this morning at 11 o’clock at the Cove Cemetery. Disposition was by cremation. Mr. Ward was born April 1, 1922, at Baker City to Glenn H. and Hattie Cole Ward. He spent his early life in the upper Burnt River Valley, graduating from Hereford High School in 1940. He attended Eastern Oregon College in La Grande before entering the U.S. Navy in 1943. While in La … Read more

Jordan, Edna H. – Obituary

Imbler, Oregon Edna H. Jordan, 101, of Grants Pass and formerly of Haines, Imbler and La Grande, died Nov. 16 at her home. A memorial service will be held at a later date in Imbler. Arrangements are under the direction of Hull & Hull Funeral Directors of Grants Pass. Mrs. Jordan was born Edna Grace Henner Sept. 18, 1905, in Baker City and grew up in Haines. In 1931 she married Ben Rich Jordan. They lived in Imbler from 1936 to 1989, when they moved to La Grande. Her husband died in 1999, and she moved to Grants Pass in … Read more

Townsend, Delores Jane – Obituary

Baker City, Baker County, Oregon Delores Jane Townsend, 76, of Baker City, died Jan. 4, 2006, at Settler’s Park. Her funeral will be at 11 a.m. Monday at Coles Funeral Home, 1950 Place St. Mike Smith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2nd Ward, will conduct. Private interment will be at Mount Hope Cemetery. Delores was born on March 27, 1928, at Portland to Clinton Field and Hazel Patricia Irene Kesler Townsend. She worked as a diet kitchen assistant for more than 40 years at St. Elizabeth Hospital and then at St. Elizabeth Nursing Home after the … Read more

Lloyd, Madge M. Colton Mrs. – Obituary

Baker City, Oregon Madge M. Colton Lloyd, 84, a former Baker City resident, died Aug. 24, 2004, in Yakima, Wash., after a prolonged illness. A celebration of her life will be announced at a later date. Services are tentatively scheduled for Sept. 15 in Baker City. Madge, the daughter of John and Nora (Gilkison) Colton, married Robert H. Murray in 1939 and together they had 10 children. At the time of her husband’s death they lived in Richland, Ore. With eight children to raise she decided to move to Baker City, where she returned to college to acquire skills for … Read more

Callaway, Roy D. – Obituary

Keating, Baker County, Oregon Roy D. Callaway, 84, Keating Star Route, an employee of the Oregon Lumber Co. in Baker for more than four decades, died Saturday, August 14, 1982, at St. Elizabeth Community Hospital. His funeral will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Grays West & Co. Pioneer Chapel. The Rev. Ralph Holcomb of the First Christian Church will officiate. Interment will follow at Mt. Hope Cemetery. Mr. Calloway was born may 13, 1898 in Muscatine, Iowa, the son of George and Mary Jane Allen Callaway. He moved as a young man to Baker County, where he and his … Read more

Huff, T. C. – Obituary

Haines Druggist Dies Suddenly T.C. Huff, Former Bakerite, Born In Iowa T. C. Huff, Haines druggist and former Baker resident, died Wednesday night while clerking in the Huff drug store. He had been in poor health for sometime, but his death came unexpectedly. Mr. Huff was born January 3, 1870 near the town of Missouri Valley, Iowa. He was married to Laura Hoar in Valisca, Iowa December 24, 1895. Mrs. Huff died in Haines May 3, 1936. Mr. Huff engaged in farming in Baker valley when he first came to Baker in 1907. He was employed in the Rexall drug … Read more

Foersterling, Vivian – Obituary

Baker City, Oregon Vivian Foersterling, 82, long time Baker City, Ore., resident died Oct. 1, 2006, at her home in Baker City. Arrangements are being made by Coles Funeral Home, Baker City, Ore. Used with permission from: The Record Courier, Baker City, Oregon, October, 2006 Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor

Fogle, Sarah Elvina Churchill Mrs. – Obituary

Sarah Elvina Fogle, 93, of Baker City, died Dec. 3, 2006, at Meadowbrook Place. There will be a celebration of her life on June 9, 2007, at Baker City. Sarah was born on June 8, 1913, at Sterling, Neb., to Thomas and Celia Churchill. The family moved from Nebraska to Idaho in 1922, where Sarah met Walter T. Horton. They were married in 1929. Walter died in 1968. Sarah lived and worked in Idaho until the mid-1980s and then moved to Baker City. Sarah enjoyed gardening and being with family and friends. She enjoyed fishing and camping with her friend, … Read more

Brown, Helen Louise Emerson Mrs. – Obituary

Helen Louise Brown, 86, of La Grande, a former Baker City resident, died Oct. 29, 2004, at a La Grande care center. Her graveside service was Nov. 1 at the Island City Cemetery. Mark Schlessman of the First Christian Church in La Grande officiated. Loveland Funeral Chapel was in charge of arrangements. Mrs. Brown was born on Feb. 11, 1918, to Jack W. and Mabel Clara Vest Emerson at Wallowa. She was the descendant of early Wallowa County pioneers, William Harvey Vest and Ellen Mollissia Cole. She attended elementary school in Baker City for a year and graduated from La … Read more

Sherwood, Clarissa Fisher Mrs. – Obituary

Clarissa Sherwood, 94, of Roseburg, a former Halfway resident, died July 11, 2007, at Bend. Her funeral was today at Chapel of the Roses. The Rev. Dwayne brown of the First Presbyterian Church officiated. Private entombment was at Roseburg Memorial Gardens. Clarissa was born on Nov. 25, 1912, and was raised at Halfway. She was the daughter of Alva and Gladys Fisher and the first of six children. After graduating from Halfway High School, she attended Eastern Oregon Normal School at La Grande, graduating in 1933. She began her teaching career with 12 students in a one-room school house at … Read more

McMurren, Bruce Joseph – Obituary

Baker City, Oregon Bruce Joseph McMurren, 67, a lifelong Baker City resident, died June 10, 2004, at his home. Friends and family will officiating at Bruce’s service at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Gray’s West & Co. Pioneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey Ave. Bruce’s family would like family members and friends to join them for a reception and to visit at Joan’s house after the service. Visitations will be at Gray’s West & Co. on Thursday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday from noon to 8 p.m. There will be a private family inurnment later at Mount Hope Cemetery. Bruce … Read more

Brown, Mrs. M.E. – Obituary

Eagle Valley, Oregon As the noon hour approached Wednesday, Mrs. Eula M. Brown, widow of Geo. M. Brown, deceased, who died last February, died at the protestant hospital in this city after an illness of several months. Eula Perry was born July 10, 1884 at Windsor, Missouri. She came with her parents to Oregon as a baby and spent her entire life in Baker county, first in Eagle Valley, later in Baker where she had lived for about 30 years. She is survived by a son, Ray, and a daughter, Cornelia Brown, and three brothers, Charles Perry, postmaster of Richland, … Read more

Obituary of William Charles Knechtel

William Charles “Bill” Knechtel (1926-2008) of Baker City, Oregon, passed away on June 14, 2008, at St. Elizabeth Care Center. Born on May 8, 1926, in Pittsburgh, he served in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. Bill earned a bachelor’s degree in forestry from Penn State and worked as a forester for the U.S. Forest Service, retiring in 1981 after 33 years of service. He married Dorothy Barbara Lorez on September 1, 1946, and they had three children. Bill was an avid gunsmith and outdoorsman. He was survived by his wife, two sons, a brother, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. A graveside memorial service was held on June 28, 2008, at Mount Hope Cemetery.

Emele, Laura – Obituary

Mrs. Laura Emele, 76, of 2005 Grove Street, died Saturday morning at St. Elizabeth Hospital. Mrs. Emele was born on April 19, 1882, to Lambert and Emily Hough at Memphis, Scotland County, Missouri. She came to Oregon with her family in 1900 and settled in Barker. She attended her last year of high school in Baker, then taught school for three years in Baker county. She was married to Ben D. Emele in Baker on October 9, 1907. They moved to Haines in 1908 where she lived until she moved back to Baker in 1955. She was a member of … Read more

Stanciu, Lorin George – Obituary

Richland, Oregon Lorin George Stanciu, 76, a Richland native, died Feb. 11, 2001, at St. Mary Medical Center at Walla Walla, Wash. His funeral will be at 11 a.m. Friday at the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Richland. Vault interment will be at the Eagle Valley Cemetery in Richland. Mr. Stanciu was born on Nov. 18, 1924, at Baker City to Eli and Rose Stanciu. He attended Pleasant Ridge Grade School and was a 1942 graduate of Eagle Valley High School at Richland. He married Churby Densley on Oct. 20, 1948, at Richland. He farmed with his father, Eli, and brother, … Read more

VanSickle, Mrs Naomi M. Warfield – Obituary

Naomi M. VanSickle, 95, a former Baker County resident, died June 25, 2009, at Good Shepherd Medical Center in Hermiston. Her graveside funeral was Monday at the Hermiston Cemetery. Naomi was born on May 20, 1914, at Alsea to William and Tressa Goodman Warfield. She was raised at Alsea where she attended schools. She later moved to Eagle Valley and then to the Baker City area where she lived for many years, working as a nurses assistant at St. Elizabeth Hospital. She moved to Hermiston in the mid 1970s. She enjoyed her family, reading and traveling. She is survived by … Read more