Prairie City Oregon

White, Ruby Jewel Sanders Mrs. – Obituary

Ruby J. White, 75, a resident of Baker Valley, died April 2, 2005, at her home. Her funeral will be at 1 p.m. Friday at Coles Funeral Home, 1950 Place St. Private interment will be at Mount Hope Cemetery. Ruby Jewel White was born March 3, 1930, at Shoshoni, Wyo., to Raymond and Kristen Sanders. She attended school at Canyon City, Prairie City, Belshaw District 20 and was a graduate of Grant Union High School. She worked for Smith Brothers Moving and Storage and then for Ellingson Timber and Ellingson Lumber, retiring in 1994 after 35 years. Ruby lived for … Read more

Pratt, Larry Arnold – Obituary

Larry Arnold Pratt, 67 of Prairie City, died at his home April 28, 2005, after a long illness. A graveside service will be held Thursday May 5, at the Haines Cemetery in Haines at 2 p.m. A reception dinner will follow at Haines Baptist Church. There will be a visitation from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on May 5 at Grays West & Company Pioneer Chapel in Baker City. Larry was born Dec. 2, 1937, to Louis and Edythe (Boyce) Pratt in Baker County. He was raised on the North Powder River and attended North Powder school, graduating in 1956. … Read more

Pratt, Larry Arnold – Obituary

North Powder, Union County, Oregon Larry Arnold Pratt, 67, of Prairie City, who was raised in North Powder, died April 28, 2005, after a long illness. His graveside service will be at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Haines Cemetery. There will be a reception dinner afterward at the First Baptist Church in Haines, 714 Cole. Visitations will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at Grays West & Co. Pioneer Chapel , 1500 Dewey Ave. He was born on Dec. 2, 1937, to Louis and Edythe Pratt and was raised on the North Powder River, and attended North Powder School. He was … Read more

Patterson, Ethel Hazel Reed Mrs. – Obituary

Ethel Hazel Patterson, 97, of John Day, died Oct. 9, 2005, at Blue Mountain Nursing Home in Prairie City. Her graveside memorial service will be Saturday at the Fox Cemetery in Fox. Ethel was born on Aug. 11, 1908, at Fox to George and Amanda Medlin Reed. She grew up in the Fox Valley and attended school at Cottonwood, John Day and Hood River. In 1924, Ethel married John Smith at Hood River. She and John remained married for about 25 years before they divorced. She operated a dress shop and restaurant at Condon for a while. A few years … Read more

Vandetta, Ray – Obituary

Ray Vandetta, 55, of Baker City died Jan. 4, 2005, at St. Elizabeth Health Services. His memorial service will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Moose Lodge, 61341 Highway 97, in Bend. Ray was born on Sept. 20, 1949, at Prairie City to Choicey Aldura Jones and Charles Freeman Vandetta. He grew up at Monument. At the age of 12, the family moved to Bend. Ray lived most of his life in John Day, until moving to Baker City in 2002. Ray was an avid hunter and fisherman; he enjoyed anything that included being in the great outdoors. He … Read more

Asher, Mabel Roland Mrs. – Obituary

Mabel Roland Asher, 94, of Prairie City, a former Baker City resident, died January 10, 2005, in Prairie City. Her funeral will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at Coles Funeral Home, 1950 Place St. Private vault interment will be at Mount Hope Cemetery. Visitations will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday at the funeral home. Mabel was born on Jan. 18, 1910, in Wheeler County. She was the oldest of five children. Mabel lived in the Wheeler County area from birth until shortly before her marriage. Like many children of the era, Mabel rode a horse to at … Read more

Gowey, O. J. – Obituary

The sad news came over the wire Monday morning that O. J. Gowey, of Prairie City, had departed this life. Mr. Gowey was formerly of this place and was well respected and loved – being “grandpa” to our whole community. Wallowa County Reporter, Wallowa County, Oregon, Thursday August 16, 1917

Opperman, Paul V. – Obituary

Prairie City, Grant County, Oregon Paul V. Opperman, 37, died June 6, 2006, in Hillsboro in an auto accident. A memorial service is planned at noon on Friday at Fir Lawn Mortuary, 1070 West Main St. in Hillsboro. Graveside services will be on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Prairie City Cemetery. Paul was born in Ontario on Jan. 2, 1969, and grew up in Prairie City, where he graduated in 1987. Known for his strong will, sense of humor and sometimes larger than life antics, a favorite saying of his family and close friends was, “you can take the … Read more

Biography of Cornelius G. Morehead

A native of the Web foot State, the son of about the earliest pioneers of this state, raised amid its environments, both eastern and western Oregon, the subject of this article is thoroughly an Oregonian and a typical representative of its energetic and progressive citizens. Cornelius G. was born in Linn County, Oregon, on June 26, 1865, being the son of Robert M. and Martha (Curl) Morehead. The parents came with ox teams to Oregon in 1848 and settled in the Willamette valley and the father being a millwright, built the first mill of the state. It was located at … Read more

Taylor Brothers

John and Solomon Taylor, composing the term of Taylor Bros., who operate the Prairie City Roller Mills, are natives of that grand old commonwealth Ohio. The older brother, John, became a resident of the county in 1862, and for a number of years was engaged in mining on Canyon creek. In 1881, on the arrival of his brother they became engaged in farming three miles from Prairie City, and today have 640 acres under cultivation, all of it being highly improved. Their home being one of the nicest in the county. In 1891 they bought the mill property which is … Read more

Pratt, Edythe Augusta Boyce Mrs. – Obituary

Edythe Augusta Pratt, 91, of Prairie City, died Aug. 23, 2006, at Blue Mountain Nursing Home in Prairie City. Her graveside service will be Friday at 1 p.m. at the Haines Cemetery, with Pastor Frank Humber officiating. There will be a reception afterward at the Haines Baptist Church. Visitations will be Friday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Gray’s West & Co. Pioneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey Ave. Edythe was born on Aug. 8, 1915, at Baker City to Robert and Leilath Boyce. She had three brothers and five sisters. She married Louis Franklyn Pratt in 1933 and was married … Read more

Meador, Mary Howell Mrs.

Mary Meador, 93, of East Wenatchee, Wash., a former Baker City resident, died March 14, 2005, at her home. There will be a family memorial service at East Wenatchee. Burial will be at the Prairie City Cemetery. Mrs. Meador was born on June 21, 1911, at Prairie City to George Custer and Edna Pearl Howell. She shared ranching with her husband, Garland T. Meador, on their Prairie City cattle ranch for 50 years until retirement when they moved to Baker City and Palm Springs, Calif. For the past 11 years she had lived at East Wenatchee to be near her … Read more

Shreffler, Clem – Obituary

Clem Shreffler, 96, of Prairie City, a former Baker City resident, died Feb. 6, 2006, at Prairie City. His funeral will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Coles Funeral Home, 1950 Place St. Pastor Darrell Johnson of Grace Chapel at Prairie City and Ed Niswender of Calvary Baptist Church at Baker City will officiate. Vault interment will be at Mount Hope Cemetery. Visitations will until 7 o’clock tonight at the funeral home. Clem E. Shreffler was born to Ferd and Mary Shreffler in Culdesac, Idaho, on Feb. 22, 1909. Clem was the fourth of six children in the family. At … Read more

Davis, Wilma D. – Obituary

Wilma D. Davis, 86, of Hood River, a former Northeastern Oregon resident, died Jan. 4, 2005. The family will gather later for burial of her ashes. Wilma was born on April 20, 1918, at Prairie City to Alma Davis and Annie Merle Dalton Davis. She grew up and attended school at Prairie City. She later lived in the Hood River area. Wilma’s dad and his family came from Kansas across the Oregon Trail when he was 5 years old. She is remembered by her family as a very compassionate person who always had a ready smile. Survivors include her brothers, … Read more

Bruce, Braddie May – Obituary

Braddie May Bruce, 79, of Island City, died Jan. 11 at a local care center. A service will be held later in Canyon City. Braddie was born Jan. 26, 1928, to Clyde Willis and Grace Irene (Herburger) Laughlin in Prairie City. She was raised in Dayville and graduated from high school there. On Jan. 12, 1947, she married Ralph Bruce in Canyon City. She worked as a school secretary in Canyon City, Ukiah and John Day. For several years they lived in Fairbanks, Alaska, where she worked for the Episcopal bishop and for a co-op drug company. In her younger … Read more

Brainard, Bertha Alice “Babs” Crawford Mrs. – Obituary

Bertha Alice “Babs” Brainard, 91, a longtime resident of Prairie City, passed away at John Day, on Sunday, November 16, 2003. Babs was born May 29, 1912 in Canby, Oregon to Noah Mac and Suzanna Crawford, and was raised in the Madras area. She married Ben Brainard in Fossil, Oregon on July 18, 1929, and with her husband lived most of the time in Grant County. She was quite active in the outdoors with her husband, and in about 1970 became the Justice of the Peace at Prairie City. She is mostly remembered here as the spark behind the improvements … Read more

Wishard, Mark Rand – Obituary

Mark Rand Wishard, 60, of Prairie City, died June 26, 2009, at his home after a valiant fight against cancer. At Mark’s request, there will be no memorial service. He was born on April 7, 1949, at Prairie City. He attended all his elementary and high school years in Prairie City schools and graduated in 1967. Mark also attended Treasure Valley College at Ontario. His main love and goal in life was always to be a truck driver, family members said. He also loved his children and fishing, boating and camping in the forests of Eastern Oregon and Idaho. The … Read more

Watkins, Patricia Joe Frey Mrs. – Obituary

Patricia Joe Watkins, 76, of St. Helens, a former Baker City resident, died March 18, 2003, at St. Vincent Hospital in Portland. At her request, there will be no funeral. Patricia was born on April 3, 1926, at Baker City to Frank and Neni Eddy Frey. She attended schools at Austin, Baker City and Prairie City and was a 1943 graduate of Prairie City High School. She married Donald Leslie Watkins in 1946. She had been a resident of St. Helens since 1960. She worked for many years at the Bank of St. Helens and Western Bank at St. Helens … Read more

Lippert, Elmer Eugene – Obituary

Elmer Eugene Lippert, 83, of Prairie City, a former Baker City resident, died Dec. 28, 2005, at his home. His funeral was Dec. 31 at Driskill Memorial Chapel. Pastor Denny Diezel of the John Day United Methodist Church officiated. Elmer was born on July 8, 1922, at Baker City to Eugene H. and Mandy Richardson Lippert. He attended school at Granite, Ukiah, and at Ritter, where he spent most of his childhood. He served in the U.S. Army from 1941 to 1944 during World War II. He was in Berlin during the fall of Germany and also spent time in … Read more

Burril, Verna Lee Kirkwood Mrs. – Obituary

Baker City, Oregon Verna Lee Burril, 65, died March 29, 2004, at St. Elizabeth Health Services. A celebration of life will be held Friday at 2 p.m. at the McEwen Bible Fellowship, which is located 23 miles south of Baker City on Highway 7. Verna was born June 6, 1938 to Vernon and Ernestine Kirkwood at Prairie City. In the early 1950s she married Harry “Ted” Barnhart and had three children, Terry, Ted and Mitch. They were divorced in the early 1970s. She later remarried. Her son Ted now resides in Lolo, Mont., and Terry and Mitch live in Baker … Read more