Sample, Lois L. – Obituary

Wallowa County, Oregon Lois L. Sample died at St. Mary Medical Center in Walla Walla, Wash., July 9, 1987. She was 65. No funeral services were held at her request. Memorial contributions may be made to the Shriner’s Hospital for Crippled Children or the Elks Eye Clinic through Munsell-Rholdes Funeral Home Chapel in Milton-Freewater. Sample was born in Wallowa to Cecil and Thelma (Crow) Childers, on April 29, 1922. She attended schools in Lostine and Joseph, completing high school at Enterprise in 1940. She moved to Weiser, Idaho following high school graduation and attended the National Youth Business College. She … Read more

Slack, Lyle B. – Obituary

Lyle B. Slack, 1915 Davis St., died at his home Wednesday. He was 64. He was born Oct. 14, 1914, at Summerville, Ore. He attended elementary schools at Summerville and Imbler, and graduated from La Grande High School. Later, he lived in Wallowa County for five years. He was in the Army during World War II. Mr. Slack married Ruth Hopkins at Cheyenne, Wyo., June 4, 1943. They farmed in the Summerville area several years before moving to Milton-Freewater in 1962, where he owned and operated Slack Upholstery Shop. Survivors are his wife; son, Donald, Hermiston; daughter, Mrs. Don (Kathy) … Read more

Farr, Grace Lee – Obituary

Grace Lee Farr, 91, a pioneer resident of the Flora area, died in Milton-Freewater on Wednesday, July 9, 1980. She had been in failing health about a year. She was born on Nov. 17, 1888, in La Grande, the daughter of James Jackson and Bell Martin Berner. The family moved in the spring of 1889 to Fora, where Mrs. Farr lived until last August when she moved to Milton-Freewater. On Dec. 12, 1912, she was married to Claude Cole in Flora; he died on May 10,1944. On September 20, 1950, she married Walter Farr in Lewiston, Id. He preceded her … Read more

Molstrom, Eldon Walfred – Obituary

Eldon Walfred Molstrom Umatilla Co., OR Eldon W. Molstrom, 46, Adams resident for many years, died at his home [September 19, 1952] at Milton-Freewater Friday from cancer. Funeral services will be at 3 p.m. Monday at Folsom’s in Pendleton with the Rev. Truman Robbins, First Christian Church at Milton-Freewater, officiating. Burial will be at Olney Cemetery. Pallbearers will be Jasper Hodge, Frank Tubbs, and William Coppock, all Adams; William Allen, Milton-Freewater; Glen Bayne, Walla Walla, and Latcher Norvel, Helix. Born in Pendleton Dec. 27, 1905 Mr. Molstrom received his early education in rural schools, later graduating from Pendleton High School … Read more

Hodge, William – Obituary

Enterprise, Wallowa County, Oregon William Henry Hodge, 87, died Saturday, Dec. 25, 1993, at Elzora Manor Care Center in Milton-Freewater. Funeral services will be held Thursday, Dec. 30, 10:30 a.m. at Munselle-Rhodes Funeral Home in Milton-Freewater. Internment will be in the Enterprise Cemetery, Thursday, Dec. 30 at 2:30 p.m. Mr. Hodge was born Aug. 11, 1906, in Enterprise, the son of Steve and Barbara (Hammock) Hodge. He attended school in Joseph. He worked as a logger/tree faller, a sheepherder and on cattle and grain farms. On June 30, 1929, he married Nellie Cooper. They lived in Enterprise until 1939 when … Read more

Rose, Arthur Delbert – Obituary

La Grande, Union County, Oregon Arthur Delbert Rose, 87, died Friday, Sept 30, 1994, at the Grande Ronde Retirement Residence, La Grande, after an extended illness. A graveside service will be conducted at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Enterprise Cemetery with the Rev. Ed Morrison officiating. Bollman Funeral Home of Enterprise is in charge of the arrangements. Mr. Rose was born Jan. 24, 1907, in Mabton, Wash., to George and Matilda Rose. When he was a young boy his family moved to Wallowa County. He attended the Swamp Creek School. He married Isabelle (Belle) Heskett on May 10, 1932. He … Read more

Carder, Mary Nell Isitt Midkiff Mrs. – Obituary

Mary Nell Carder, 84, of Baker City died April 10, 2005, at Meadowbrook Place. There will be a private family inurnment at the Milton-Freewater Cemetery. Mary was born on June 11, 1920, to Rueben and Lenna Reusaw Isitt at Elgin. Her family moved by wagon from Milton-Freewater to Elgin. She was married to Elmer Midkiff in 1941. Together they raised two children, Bernadine J. Stillwill and David E. Midkiff. After Elmer’s service in the U.S. Navy, the family traveled to Oregon following his work in construction. They spent most of their time in Klamath Falls and Umatilla. The couple later … Read more

Colpitts, Georgie – Obituary

There will be a graveside celebration of her life at 11 a.m. Saturday at Pine Haven Cemetery in Halfway. A potluck reception is scheduled afterward at the Pine Valley Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall in Halfway. Visitations will be Friday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Tami’s Pine Valley Funeral Home in Halfway. Georgettae Pearl was born on May 26, 1938, in Enterprise to Richard and Dellourias Whitmore Brock. She was raised and educated at Enterprise, graduating from high school in 1956. That very year, in December, she married Harvey Colpitts. They had four children, Audrey, Alice, Arlene and … Read more

Carper, Mary A. – Obituary

Wallowa, Oregon Mary A. Carper died Oct. 7, 2005, at the Regency At the Park. She was 78 years old. She was born Oct. 19, 1926 in Enterprise to Emmet and Erma Chenoweth Landers. Mrs. Carper attended school in Wallowa. On Dec. 31, 1947 she married Fredrick C. Carper. They lived in Wallowa, Elgin and then in Milton-Freewater until 1962. Mrs. Carper worked for Lynden – Umatilla Cannery, Rogers Cannery and also the Carters Tree Farms. Later in life she worked for the school district in Athena and St. Mary Medical Center. She enjoyed the outdoors, hunting and fishing. She … Read more

Estes, Sonja Larson Mrs. – Obituary

Sonja Estes, 64, of Richland, died Feb. 21, 2005, at St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center in Boise. A memorial service celebrating her life will be at 1 p.m. Friday at the Richland Methodist Church. Friends are invited to join the family for a potluck afterward at the Richland Grange. Sonja Lou was born in Bend on Sept. 6, 1940, to Leonard and Lucille Larson. She lived in Central Oregon most of her childhood. She moved to Milton-Freewater with her family where she graduated from high school in 1958. She married James Franklin Estes on June 13, 1968, at Lewiston, Idaho. … Read more

Molstrom, Grace Herr – Obituary

Grace E. Molstrom, 88, of Milton-Freewater, died Friday, October 15, 1999, at her home. The funeral will be held at the First Christian Church in Milton-Freewater, on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. Private vault interment will be at Olney Cemetery in Pendleton on Friday morning. Mrs. Molstrom was born July 13, 1911, at Milton-Freewater to Herbert and Nellie Herr. She and her two sisters Ruby and Stella, grew up on the family farm along the old Walla Walla Highway. She was a graduate of Ferndale School, McLoughlin High School and Eastern Oregon College. In 1936 she married Eldon Molstrom at Walla … Read more

Hammack, Lester E. – Obituary

Lester E. Hammack 89, of Jamison, died July 13, 1989, in a Vale nursing home. Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Monday at the First Christian Church in Vale, Rev. Paul Ratzlaff officiating. Internment will follow at Valley View Cemetery in Vale, under the direction of Lienkaemper Chapel of Vale. He was born June 12, 1900 in Lostine, Oregon, the son of John L. and Alice Bohannon Hammack. He moved with his parents and lived in Elgin, Echo and Milton-Freewater, Oregon before moving to Cow Valley in 1918. He moved to Jamison in 1920 where he ranched and farmed. He … Read more

Rose, Belle – Obituary

Enterprise, Wallowa County, Oregon Belle Rose, 73, died at Milton-Freewater Sunday Belle Rose was born June 6, 1913, in Wallowa County, to Willard B. and Grace (Feagins) Heskett. On May 10, 1932, she married Arthur Rose in Enterprise. She was a homemaker and a member of the Enterprise Community Church and Emerald Rebeckah Lodge. Survivors include her husband Arthur in Enterprise; daughter, Arthene Sigsbee of Milton-Freewater; brother, William Heskett of Portland; sister, Olive Wart of Milton-Freewater; three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. The funeral will [be] held at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Bollman Funeral Home in Enterprise. The Rev. Ed Morrison … Read more

Wheeler, Lydia – Obituary

Wallowa, Oregon Lydia I. Wheeler, 77, formerly of Wallowa, died Sunday, Sept. 13, 1987 at her home in Milton-Freewater. She was born June 26, 1910 at Kirwin, Kan., daughter of Daniel and Alpha Vest Lare. The family lived in Kirwin, where she attended school until October, 1916, when the family moved to Oregon. They settled at Wallowa, where she graduated from high school. On Sept. 8, 1930, she married Joseph R. Wheeler at Enterprise. They moved to Freewater in the spring of 1931 and moved to a home on the South Fork of the Walla Walla River in the spring … Read more

Johnson, James “Mike” – Obituary

Wallowa native, James “Mike” Johnson, 69, died October 2, 1988 at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Walla Walla, Washington. He had been a patient there since May. He was born September 12, 1919 at Wallowa, the son of Charles and Mabel (Fields) Johnson. Johnson attended schools in Wallowa, graduating in 1937. He attended Abilene Christian College in Texas for one year. He served in World War II as a flight navigator on a B-29 in the Army Air Corps. He married Helen Moffit in Wallowa, They divorced. He married Vesta Tippett. They later divorced. Johnson was a logger and … Read more

Hook, Vivian Lee Lovell Mrs. – Obituary

Vivian Lee Lovell Hook, 77, a former Baker City resident, died Sept. 12, 2006, at her brother’s home at Milton-Freewater. The rosary will be said at 7 p.m. Friday at the Bollman Funeral Home at Enterprise. Mass will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Katherine Catholic Church in Enterprise. Interment will be at the Enterprise Cemetery. Vivian was born on Feb. 27, 1929, at Enterprise to Garrett Samuel Lovell and Evelyn Billerbeck Lovell. She attended Hurricane Creek School on Alder Slope and schools at Enterprise and Joseph. She married Carl Eugene Hook on Aug. 3, 1946, at Baker City. … Read more

Sutton, Kathleen Elizabeth Ann “Kate” Winn Mrs. – Obituary

Kathleen “Kate” Elizabeth Ann Winn Sutton, 90, of La Grande passed away at a local care facility on June 22, 2005. Loveland Funeral Chapel is handling the arrangements. Celebration of Life Services were held on Monday, June 27, 10 a.m. at The Elgin United Methodist Church. Viewing was held on Sunday, June 26 from 1-4 p.m. at Loveland Funeral Chapel 1508 4th Street, La Grande. She was born on Nov. 6, 1914, in Milton-Freewater, Ore., to Henry and Ethel Dougherty Winn. She graduated from Maclaughlin High School in Milton-Freewater. She married Harold L Sutton on Dec. 2, 1932, in College … Read more

Heskett, Jesse C. ‘Jerry’ – Obituary

Pendleton–A graveside funeral for Jess C. “Jerry” Heskett will be held Saturday, 1 p.m. at the Enterprise Cemetery. Heskett, 76, of Pendleton, formerly of Milton-Freewater, died Wednesday, September 18, 1985, at Amber valley Nursing Home, Pendleton. He was born May 31, 1909, in the Leap area near Enterprise, the son of Willard and Grace (Feagins) Heskett. He attended schools at Trout Creek and Joseph and upon completion of his schooling Heskett farmed with his parents. He lived in Wallowa County until the mid-1960s when he moved to the Milton-Freewater area. He came to Pendleton in 1981 where he entered Amber … Read more

Ransom, Paul E. – Obituary

La Grande, Oregon Paul E. Ransom, 83, of La Grande and formerly of Milton-Freewater, died Aug. 8 at Rose Cottage, an adult care center, in Kennewick. A memorial service will begin at 2 p.m. Friday at Mountain View-Colonial DeWitt, 1551 Dalles Military Road, Walla Walla. Pastor Roger Holden will officiate. A reception will follow at the funeral home. Paul was born Sept. 30, 1924, to Ernest and Lou Hahn Ransom in Walla Walla. He attended elementary school on Government Mountain then the Forks School on the Walla Walla River. He started high school in Prescott, Wash. His family then moved … Read more

Wright, Gladys – Obituary

Joseph, Oregon Gladys Wright, a former teacher who taught at a country school on the Sheep Creek Divide, died Sept. 11, 1987 at the Odd Fellows Home in Walla Walla, Wash. She was 81. Funeral services were held Sept. 14th at Munselle-Rhodes Funeral Home Chapel in Milton-Freewater with Rev. Edward Morrison officiating. Ritualistic services were conducted by Integrity Rebekah Lodge. Graveside services and burial followed later the same day in the Prairie Creek Cemetery near Joseph. Wright was born April 22,1906 in Evelyn, Wash., the daughter of Douglas and Edith Eaton Towers. She was the eldest of nine children. Following … Read more