Ward, Mary Jane Mullen Mrs. – Obituary

Mary Jane Ward, 85, of La Grande and formerly of Baker City, died Aug. 2, 2003, at a local care facility. A private family service and interment will be at Mount Hope Cemetery. Mrs. Ward was born on Feb. 26, 1918, to James Levi and Daisy B. Bishop Mullen at Westfall. She was a 1936 graduate of Ontario High School. She married Frank Eldon Ward at Payette, Idaho, on July 24, 1948. They later moved to Baker City where they owned and operated Scotty’s Tavern. Mr. Ward died on Oct. 16, 1972. She continued to operate the business until 1979 … Read more

Burgess, Eliza Ann Horn – Obituary

Services for Mrs. Eliza A. Burgess, 66, Vale resident for the past 35 years who died in her home Sunday [January 7, 1968], was at 2 p.m. Wednesday in Chapel of the Roses at Payette, with Elder Harry Sunday Fry of Payette Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints officiating. Mrs. Burgess was born in Ellensburg, Wash., Oct. 16, 1901. In 1915 she moved with her family to Oregon, settling in Curry County. She was married to Fred Burgess, December 19, 1922 in Coquille, Ore. They lived in Curry County 11 years and came to Vale in 1933. They … Read more

Witham, Hertha Mrs. – Obituary

Baker City, Oregon Hertha Witham, 85, of Baker City, died March 5, 2003, at St. Elizabeth Health Services. Her memorial service will be at 3 p.m. Saturday at Calvary Baptist Church at Third and Broadway streets. Pastor Ed Niswender of the church will officiate. There will be a reception afterward at the Calvary Baptist Church Fellowship Hall. Mrs. Witham was born on Jan. 30, 1918, at Idaho Falls, Idaho. She was raised by Eugene and Mattie Lee LaBrier. Her early education was received in Boise and at Middleton, Idaho. She graduated from high school at Ontario in 1935. After graduation, … Read more

Hickerson, Mabel Boyce Mrs. Obituary

Mabel (Boyce) Hickerson, 98, a former resident of Payette, Idaho, died at her Salem home Monday, Feb. 3, 2003. Mabel’s family were pioneers in the Baker Valley. A graveside service will be held at Riverside Cemetery, Tuesday, Feb. 11 at 1 p.m. Survivors include daughters, Beverly Perkins of Fruitland, Idaho, and LaVelle Lasher and her husband, Frank of Salem; 11 grandchildren; 26 great-grandchildren; 12 great-great-grandchildren; and a sister, Helen Brown of California. She was preceded in death by her husband, Art (1959); daughters, Genevieve Brown (1999) and Evelyn Cainan (2002); and three sons-in-law. Memorial contributions may be made to Payette … Read more

Biography of Garner Miner

For thirty-eight years Garner Miner has been a resident of Idaho, having come to the territory in 1861, when the development of this great northwest was in its incipiency and the frontiersmen had to meet many privations and dangers. The Indians were frequently on the warpath, carrying death and devastation wherever they went; and separated from the base of sup-plies, from the comforts and luxuries of the east the pioneers endured hardships undreamed of by the present generation. In those days brave hearts were necessary, indeed, but the same spirit of Anglo-Saxon daring, fortitude and stability, which, has characterized the … Read more

Pullen, Raymond Francis – Obituary

Baker City, Oregon Raymond Francis Pullen, 86, a longtime Baker City resident, and former longtime mayor/police chief and fire chief in Haines, died Sept. 10, 2001, at his home. His graveside funeral will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Haines Cemetery. Pastor Sally Wiens of the United Methodist Church of North Powder will officiate. Visitations will be from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. today at Gray’s West & Co., 1500 Dewey Ave. Mr. Pullen was born Feb. 27, 1915, at Wakefield, Neb., to Marion Francis Pullen and Emma Lena Fuoss Pullen. His family lived on a small farm near … Read more

Hall, Lois Jean Beamguard Sanford Mrs. – Obituary

Lois Jean Beamguard Sanford Hall, 78, of Boise, a former Baker City resident, died Oct. 3, 2007, at her home. There will be a memorial service to celebrate and honor her life at 10 a.m. MDT Wednesday at the First United Methodist Church, Cathedral of the Rockies, in Boise. The Rev. Steve Tollefson and Ralph Lawrence will officiate. Burial will be at 1:30 p.m. MDT at the Rosedale Cemetery in Payette, Idaho, near her parents, William Clark and Vinnie Beamguard. Visitations will be from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday at The Cathedral of The Rockies, First United Methodist Church. … Read more

Biography of Joseph F. Griffin

For more than a half century Joseph F. Griffin, of Ketchum, has resided in the northwest. A native of Kentucky, he was born in Cumberland County, December 10, 1831. The family is of Scotch origin, and the first American progenitors were early settlers of South Carolina and participants in many of the events which form the colonial history of the south. Jesse Griffin, the grandfather of our subject, was one of the pioneers of Kentucky, where occurred the birth of Burrell Bell Griffin, the father of Joseph. Having arrived at years of maturity he married Miss Sally Thogmorton a native … Read more

Schock, Berniece Parker Mrs. – Obituary

Baker City, Oregon Berniece Schock, 71, of Hermiston, died Nov. 10, 2004, at the Good Shepherd Medical Center in Hermiston. Her graveside service will be at 1 p.m. Sunday at Eternal Hills Cemetery in Klamath Falls. She was born on Oct. 11, 1933, at Baker City to Clifford and Cecelia Bowman Parker. She married Harold H. Schock on May 23, 1952, at Payette, Idaho. The couple lived at Pondosa and later in the Baker City area for more than 30 years. They moved to Ashland in 1990. Harold died in 1992. Berniece returned to Baker City in 1994 and lived … Read more

Fales, Alta Faye Wunder Mrs. – Obituary

Alta Faye Wunder Fales, 71, of Payette, Idaho, died June 28, 2008, at Holy Rosary Medical Center in Ontario surrounded by her family. There will be a celebration of her life at 1 p.m., Saturday at the Payette Christian Church. The Rev. Ralph Pearson will officiate. Cremation and services are under the direction of Shaffer-Jensen Memory Chapel, Payette. Alta was born on Aug. 6, 1936, in Baker City to Clive and Nina Payton Wunder. She lived at various mining towns in Baker County until she was 6 and her family moved to Baker City, where she grew up and met … Read more

Smith, Robert Darrel – Obituary

Robert Darrel Smith passed away peacefully early October 16, 2004, at Ivy Place in Boise, Idaho. Darrel was born in the Crane Creek, Idaho area, April 20, 1904, to Alex and Effie Anne Cochran Smith, the youngest of three children. The family lived on their father’s homestead until Darrel was 2 years old, when they moved to Payette, Idaho. When he was 7, the family moved to the ranch his father purchased near Durkee where he rode a horse to a one-room schoolhouse and completed the eighth grade. After attending his high school freshman year in Brownsville, Ore., he returned … Read more

Williams, Russell Davis – Obituary

Muddy Creek, Oregon Russell Davis Williams, 91, who grew up on his family’s ranch in Muddy Creek, died Dec. 13, 2004, in Sun City, Calif., of emphysema. He is a descendent of two early pioneer families of North Powder: his grandparents, Lemuel and Amanda Ellen Stewart Williams, and John Samuel and Susan Dealy Davis. Mr. Williams was born Sept. 16, 1913, at Muddy Creek to Harry Chatterton and Ida Belle Davis Williams. He was the youngest of seven children and graduated from Muddy Creek High School. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1935 and served on the USS … Read more

Storm, Hazel Lightfoot Mrs. – Obituary

Baker City, Oregon Hazel L. Storm, 78, of Culver, a former Baker City resident, died May 26, 2004. Her graveside funeral will be at 2 p.m. Thursday at Mount Hope Cemetery. Mrs. Storm was born on Aug. 20, 1925, at Payette, Idaho, to Richard and Julia Nelson Lightfoot. She married her high school sweetheart, Joe Storm, on March 20, 1943, at Weiser, Idaho. She worked as a salesperson for Payless Drug Store. She was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Ladies Auxiliary, Post 3048, in Baker City, serving as president in 1962-63. She enjoyed gardening, camping and reading. … Read more

Biography of William A. Coughanour

For almost fourteen years Payette has numbered William A. Coughanour among its most prominent and progressive citizens. He may well be termed one of the founders of the city, for he has been the promoter of many of its leading business enterprises, and the growth and development of a city depend upon its commercial and industrial activity. His connection with any undertaking insures a prosperous outcome of the same, for it is in his nature to carry forward to successful completion whatever he is associated with. He has earned for himself an enviable reputation, as a careful man of business, … Read more

Starry, Beverly C. “B.C.” – Obituary

Beverly C. Starry, better known as “B.C” or “Bunk,” 93, a former Baker City resident, died July 1, 2003, at Fresno of lung cancer. His memorial service was July 9. B.C. was born on Jan. 14, 1910, at Louisburg, Kan., to Beverly Cashman and Elizabeth Starry. The family included a brother and four sisters. He married Edith L. Livingston on May 10, 1931, at Louisburg, Kan. They had two children, Beverly Ann and John Livingston Starry. B.C. worked in Southern California from 1936 to 1944 in the grocery business. The family then moved to Mount Morrison, Colo., to operate their … Read more

Courtney, Pinkney L. – Obituary

Mrs. B.T. Long received word Thursday evening of the death of her father, P. L. Courtney at Payette, Idaho and left for that place Friday. M. O. Courtney of Lostine accompanied her. P. L. Courtney was one of the earliest settlers of the valley and lived here until recent years when he was compelled to try a different climate to relieve asthma from which he was a sufferer. He spent the past year in California from there going to Payette only two weeks ago and on the trip contracted the influenza to which he succumbed. Pinkney L. Courtney was born … Read more

Biography of William Lauer

Since the establishment of Payette William Lauer has been identified with its development and upbuilding, and his labors have been most effective in promoting its welfare. He is the pioneer hardware merchant of the town, and still continues in that line of business, his well directed efforts bringing him success. He is among the worthy citizens that the Fatherland has furnished to the New World, his birth having occurred in Germany on the nth of November 1833. In his youth he crossed the Atlantic to New York with his father, Isaac Lauer, who made his home in the eastern metropolis … Read more

Biography of Z. C. Mills

Z.C. MILLS. – Z.C. Mills of Seattle, Washington is a native of the Empire state, and was born in 1834. While yet in his boyhood, his parents moved to Illinois, where he grew to manhood and received his education. After he had reached his majority, he engaged in business with his father. He was successful; but, when an American has once felt the excitement of moving, it is almost impossible for him to be contented, so long as there are new countries to be found beyond the Western horizon. Accordingly, in 1859, when the Pike’s Peak gold excitement reached his … Read more

Hauser, Melvin Michael “Mike” – Obituary

Melvin Michael “Mike” Hauser, 34, of Fruitland, died Sept. 1, 2004. Graveside services will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 4, at Riverside Cemetery in Payette, Idaho. Pastor Dick Wilson will officiate. Visitations will be until 7 o’clock tonight at Shaffer-Jensen Memory Chapel in Payette. Services and arrangements are under the direction of Shaffer-Jensen Memory Chapel. Mike was born to Marietta and Melvin Hauser on Feb. 1, 1970, at La Grande. He attended Brooklyn Elementary School and Baker High School at Baker City. He earned an associate’s degree at Treasure Valley Community College in law enforcement and was … Read more

Morehead, Alice F. MacDonald Mrs. – Obituary

La Grande, Oregon Alice F. MacDonald Morehead, 97, of La Grande died June 26, 2003, at her home. Her funeral will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Daniels Chapel of the Valley in La Grande. The Rev. Norman Shrumm of the First Presbyterian Church will officiate. Committal and interment will be at Hillcrest Cemetery in La Grande. Visitations will be until 6 o’clock tonight at Daniels Chapel of the Valley. Mrs. Morehead was born on June 15, 1906, at Knappa to Angus and Lenore MacDonald. She moved with her parents to a homestead near Ontario. She attended Pioneer schools, Payette, … Read more