Biography of J. L. Stout

J. L. STOUT. – The proprietor of the townsite of Sea View on the weather beach, a city which boasts of a population of from five to eight thousand during the summer bathing season, is from the Buckeye state, having been born in Ohio in 1824. During his boyhood his father took him to Illinois; and he passed his early life on the frontier. he came up with a generation of men whose natural force and enterprise led them into the most exalted position in the great West which their energies had developed. While in Illinois he was ever restless, … Read more

Shively, Kay Mrs. – Obituary

Kay Shively, 76, of Portland, and a former Baker City resident, died Dec. 14, 2000, at Portland. A memorial Mass will be this morning at St. Peter Catholic Church in Portland. A graveside service will be Thursday at 11 a.m. at Mount Hope Cemetery in Baker City, with a reception following at St. Francis de Sales cathedral. Mrs. Shively was born Oct. 28, 1924, at Nampa, Idaho. She moved to Baker City when she was a child and attended school here. She moved to Portland in the 1940s and was a secretary for the Catholic Archdiocese of Portland for 10 … Read more

Biography of Hon. Peter G. Stewart

HON. PETER G. STEWART. – Peter Grant Stewart was born on the 6th of September, 1809, in Stanford, Delaware County, New York. When eight years of age he moved to Jefferson, Scohane County, where he received a common-school education, and learned the trade of a watchmaker. He followed the occupation of watchmaker and jeweler in Middlebury until the spring of 1838, when, with a selected stock of watches, jewelry, etc., he started for the West, going by way of Niagara Falls, Buffalo, Toledo and Fort Wayne to Mount Vernon, Indiana, and from there to Morganfield, Union County, Kentucky, where he … Read more

Biography of William D. Stillwell

WILLIAM D. STILLWELL. – William D. Stillwell was born in Logan county, Ohio, on the 16th of November, 1823. While he was still quite young his parents moved to Michigan, and to Iowa in1838. After living there five years, he concluded in 1843 to emigrate to Oregon. Finding it too late to join the emigration trains, he stopped in Missouri until the following year, when he was among the first to camp at the starting point near Independence. The emigration company were slow in their preparations for starting, and, as Mr. Stillwell was eager to be off, he started out … Read more

Hall, Izora Gregory Mrs. – Obituary

Izora Gregory Hall, 96, of Santa Barbara, Calif., and a former Baker City resident, died Dec. 19, 2000, at Santa Barbara. She will be interred in the Lostine Cemetery next to her husband, Wade B. Hall. A memorial service will take place next spring in Northeastern Oregon. The time and place will be announced later. Mrs. Hall was born Oct. 8, 1904, near Elgin, the first child of J. Frank and Tennessee Allen Gregory. She grew up on Smith Mountain near Wallowa. After graduating from Wallowa High School, Mrs. Hall taught for three years in rural Wallowa County schools Goff, … Read more

Pederson, Enid Clark Mrs. – Obituary

Baker City, Baker County, Oregon Enid Pedersen, 86, of Baker City, and a Baker County native, died May 19, 2006, at St. Elizabeth Care Center. Her funeral will be Friday at 11 a.m. at Gray’s West & Company Pioneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey Ave., followed by a vault interment at Haines Cemetery. Pastor Ralph Holcomb of the Baker City Christian Church will officiate. Friends are invited to join the family following the services for a reception at the Baker City Christian Church, 675 Highway 7. Visitations will be today until 7 p.m. at Gray’s West & Co. Enid Hester Clark was … Read more

Backlund, Donna Ratliff Kowing Mrs. – Obituary

Baker City, Oregon Donna Kowing Backlund, 61, of Baker City, died Sept. 27, 2002, at John Day. Her memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26, at the home of her son and daughter-in-law, Joe and Shiela Kowing, who live up Laycock Creek in the John Day area. Mrs. Backlund was born May 4, 1941, at Tillamook to Lawrence and Frieda Ammeter Ratliff. She grew up on a homestead near Washougal, Wash., where she was schooled. She later attended Blue Mountain Community College and was a certified dental assistant employed at Baker City for several years. On Dec. … Read more

Biography of William Wallace Thayer

The typical Western man is popularly conceived as a man of liberal ideas, of generous and hospitable instincts, imbued with a spirit of adventurous enterprise, and withal hardy and courageous. He is not punctilious in minor questions of etiquette or inclined to make much of mere forms and ceremonies. He is a friend to his friends, a man of sterling integrity and of firmness of character developed by habits of self-reliance. Such men are the State builders whose names and deeds are a part of the history of the newer States of the American Commonwealth. Every western community contains individuals … Read more

Fisher, H. S. – Obituary

“Fall Is Fatal To H.S. Fisher” While helping wreck box cars at the East Oregon lumber yard Saturday, H.S. Fisher fell to the ground. He struck the back of his head on a flat car and fractured his skull and suffered other severe bruises and was taken to the hospital unconsciousness and passed away late Monday night. Funeral services were held at the Booth chapel yesterday afternoon, conducted by Rev. H.G. Luscombe of the Methodist church and burial was in the Wallowa cemetery. Hiram Sloan Fisher was born at Tillamook, March 3, 1865, and was a son of D.C. Fisher, … Read more

Kinnaman, Junior Issac “J.I.” – Obituary

Junior Issac “J.I.” Kinnaman, 82, a former Baker City resident, died June 30, 2007, at Tillamook. Interment was at Columbia Memorial Cemetery in Pasco, Wash. Waud’s Funeral Home of Tillamook was in charge of arrangements. J.I. was born on May 24, 1925, at Fruitland, Idaho, to Elza and Vasie Ventrees Kinnaman. He attended high school until he joined the U.S. Navy at the age of 16. He served his country honorably for three years, until March of 1946. On June 20, 1946, he married Mary Detmer at Payette, Idaho. Together they owned and operated a wheat and dairy farm in … Read more

Havlik, Wanda Helen Clark Mrs. – Obituary

Baker City, Oregon Wanda Helen Havlik, 82, of Baker City, died Oct. 12, 2004, at St. Elizabeth Health Services. Her funeral will be at 1 p.m. Friday at the Baker City Christian Church, 2998 Eighth St. Pastor Roger Scovil will officiate. Friends are invited to join the family for a luncheon at the church after the service. There will be a second funeral at 1 p.m. Tuesday at the Rockwood Church of God in Portland. There will be a reception afterward at the church. Vault Interment will be at Willamette National Cemetery in Portland. Wanda Helen Clark was born on … Read more

Biography of Philip F. Castleman

PHILIP F. CASTLEMAN. – Those who now make the trip in the palatial car across the continent from the populous cities and thickly settled districts of the union, and view the Pacific Northwest in its present development, can but faintly realize the dangers and privations the sturdy pioneers experienced in reaching here, nor yet understand the troubles they had with the red man who then roamed its confines at will, and knew no law save what pleased the savage heart the best. They often meet among its residents not a few upon whom the snows of many winters have fallen, … Read more

Curtiss, Anna L. – Obituary

La Grande, Oregon Anna L. Curtiss, 71, of La Grande, died April 17 at home surrounded by her family. A graveside service will begin at 10 a.m. Friday at Grandview Cemetery. Loveland Funeral Chapel and Crematory is in charge of arrangements. Anna was born Jan. 1, 1937, to John and Gladys (Ratcliffe) Rom in Portland. She was raised and educated in Portland and attended two years of college at Columbia Basin College in Tri-Cities, Wash. She married William Curtiss on Oct. 17, 1955, in Downey, Calif. Anna moved to La Grande from Tri-Cities about nine years ago. She owned and … Read more

Storm, Myrtha Lee – Obituary

Myrtha Lee Storm, 79, died Feb. 5, 2008. She was born Oct. 20, 1928, to Jesse William Poulson and Vella Boswell Poulson in Steamboat Springs, Colo. As a young girl, Myrtha and her family moved to Oregon, where she attended a one-room grade school in Imnaha. Some of her high school years were spent at Lincoln High in Portland. She returned to Wallowa County for graduation from Enterprise High in 1946. Myrtha and Robert Storm attended Eastern Oregon College following Bob’s discharge from the Army. They married Dec. 22, 1946. Two children, Carole Lynn and Jon Ervin, were born in … Read more