Cole, Erma Willey Mrs. – Obituary

Erma Cole, 95, a former Baker City resident, died Jan. 18, 2005, in a care home at Aloha. She was born on Feb. 26, 1909, and was raised at Baker City. She was the 11th child of Eva Lovina and John Dexter Willey. She was a tomboy growing up. She loved reading history and graduated from Baker High School. She met Leonard “Doc” Cole at a Grange Hall dance at Hereford where she was visiting a sister. Doc was working on the highway construction at that time. They were married on Feb. 2, 1929, at his sister’s home in Vale. … Read more

Schwendemann, Margie Evelyn – Obituary

Summerville, Oregon Margie Evelyn Schwendemann, 87, formerly of Wallowa and Union counties, died April 26 in Portland. A funeral service will begin at 11 a.m. Friday at Daniels-Knopp Funeral Center, 1502 Seventh St. in La Grande. A graveside service will follow at 2:30 p.m. at the Wallowa Cemetery. Marge was born Nov. 18, 1920, in Wallowa, the youngest child of Benjamin H. “Dick” and Martha M. (Wise) Anderson. She married John M. “Jack” Schwendemann on Sept. 10, 1946, in Boise. The couple lived in Camas, Wash., Portland, Lake Oswego and Boring, moving to Summerville in 1967. They owned and operated … Read more

Shannon, Aletha Gray Mrs. – Obituary

Aletha Gray Shannon, 98, a former Baker City resident, died Feb. 19, 2004, at Lake Oswego. Her body was cremated and she was buried in the Gray family plot at Ashland. At her request, there was no funeral. There will be a celebration of her life from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. March 27 at 45 Eagle Crest Drive at Lake Oswego. She was born on March 26, 1905, at Baker City to Charles E. and Pearl Osborn Gray. She was the oldest of their five children. She was preceded in death by her brothers, Neil, Richard and Marshall; and … Read more

Hallock, Joseph Homer – Obituary

Joseph Homer Hallock, Lake Oswego, builder of Portland’s first commercial radio station and an early radio announcer died Saturday [September 17] in a Lake Oswego convalescent home. He was 85. A native of Eastern Oregon, Mr. Hallock came to Portland in 1927 and with his partners, the late Clifford Watson and Roy Young, built and sold the first commercial radio receiving sets in the Northwest. He then built the first commercial radio station KFJR (later KALE, KPOJ and now KPOK) and the first police radio station. During the 1930’s he was an announcer-actor for Portland radio stations, appearing on live … Read more

Ball, Margaret Ann Carroll – Obituary

La Grande, Oregon Margaret Ann Carroll Ball, 80, of La Grande, died July 2 at her home. The funeral will begin at 10:30 a.m. Friday July 6 at the First Baptist Church, at Sixth Street and Spring Avenue, with Pastor Kent Hug officiating. Graveside services will follow at Grandview Cemetery. Viewing will be from 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday July 5 at Daniels Chapel of the Valley, 1502 Seventh St. Mrs. Ball was born April 27, 1926. to Mr. and Mrs. J.P. McCann of Hattiesburg, Miss. She married Herb Carroll in March, 1946. They lived in Corvallis and Valley Falls, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of George W. Prosser

GEORGE W. PROSSER. – George W. Prosser was born in Des Moines, Iowa, December 20, 1846, and crossed the plains in 1852-53 with his father and mother. They wintered at old Fort Hall, and left there the following spring, arriving in Clackamas county, Oregon, on the 25th of June, 1853. He with his father first settled eleven miles east of East Portland. they abandoned that claim, and took up a claim three miles west of Oswego; and the subject of this sketch discovered and opened the iron mines now owned by the Oregon Iron & Steel Company, on said claim. … Read more

Wilson, Ruth M. Mrs. – Obituary

Baker City, Oregon Ruth M. Wilson, 93, of Lake Oswego, a former longtime Baker City businesswoman, died May 2, 2003. Her memorial service was May 17 in the chapel of River View Cemetery at Portland. Ruth was born on Aug. 8, 1909, at Schofield, Wis. Her mother, Mrs. Durkee, owned a knitting shop in Baker City for many years. Ruth and her first husband, Bill Stofft, had two children, Paul William and Lois Elaine. In 1935, the Stoffts opened a corner grocery store at Sixth and Broadway streets in Baker City. It was this family owned and operated business that … Read more

Strenke, Rosanna Taylor Mrs. – Obituary

Rosanna Strenke, 76, of Lake Oswego, a former Haines resident, died Dec. 7, 2002, at Tualatin. Her graveside service will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Crescent Grove Cemetery at Tigard. Rosanna Taylor was born on Aug. 7, 1926, at Haines. A lifetime Oregon resident, she moved to Portland during World War II to work in the shipyards. She was a welder and burner. She married Oscar Strenke in 1946. They were employed as long-haul drivers in the 1940s and were members of the Teamster’s Union, No. 305. Mr. Strenke died in 1976. She was a member of the … Read more

Biography of Captain Joseph Kellogg

CAPTAIN JOSEPH KELLOGG. – The old People’s Transportation Company of the Willamette has a record in the annals of early navigation scarcely less glorious than that of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company of the Columbia. Of this company, Captain Kellogg was one of the originators. The Kelloggs are of old revolutionary stock, the father, Orrin Kellogg, having been born at St. Albans, Vermont, in 1790. He was married to Miss Margaret Miller, in Canada, in 1811. In 1812 they went to Canada; and, the war between Great Britain and the United States breaking out, they as Americans were not allowed … Read more

Biography of J. C. Trullinger

J.C. TRULLINGER. – There is scarcely a man in Oregon who has been engaged in more various, or, on the whole more successful enterprises than the man whose name appears above. With a tendency, possibly, to push his efforts a little beyond the line of safety, and to overcrowd himself with different schemes, he has nevertheless a substantial grip on property and business which proves his sagacity. If his love of making inventions and introducing improvements incline him to temerity, his career shows that he has a solid judgment which warns him when to put on the brakes. Oregon owes … Read more

Biography of Rev. St. Michael Fackler

THE REV. ST. MICHAEL FACKLER. – The Reverend Mr. Fackler was the first clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal church in Oregon. He was a native of Staunton, Virginia, first moved to Missouri, and then crossed the plains for his health in the year 1847. This was greatly improved by the trip; and he soon undertook such work as he could do, teaching and preaching as opportunity offered. For a short time he taught in the Methodist school at Salem, the progenitor of the present Willamette University. At an early day he secured a farm not far from Butteville, where he … Read more