Biography of Thomas M. Jeffreys

Thomas M. Jeffreys, probate judge and superintendent of public instruction in Washington County, Idaho, is a native of Oregon, his birth having occurred in Yamhill County, on the 7th of April 1852. His father, Woodson Jeffreys, was born in Jackson County, Missouri, in 1825, and in early manhood, in Oregon, married Jane Forrest, also a native of Missouri. They crossed the plains to Oregon in 1845, being nine months in accomplishing the long and weary journey across the plains, their way being beset by many obstacles, difficulties and dangers. They located on government land in Yamhill County, and during the … Read more

Guyer, Wayne R. – Obituary

Wayne R. Guyer, 78, of Weiser, Idaho, died Aug. 15, 2002, at his home. His funeral will be Tuesday at 2 p.m. MDT at the Weiser High School auditorium. Burial will follow at Hillcrest Cemetery in Weiser. Visitations are today from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. MDT at Thomas Funeral Chapel in Weiser. Wayne was born Aug. 10, 1924, at Richland to Ralph Paul and Ethel Olive Haskins Guyer. He was raised and educated at Baker City, graduating from Baker High School in 1942. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy Amphibious Forces in 1942, and during World War II was … Read more

Obituary of Donald R. Orr

Donald R. Orr, 64, of Baker City, died July 19, 2008, at Boise. His memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Thursday at Gray’s West & Co. Pioneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey Ave. Keith Chadwell will officiate. There will be a reception afterward at Community Connection, 2810 Cedar St. Donald was born on Aug. 14, 1943, at Torrance, Calif., to Joe and Ina McNeal Orr. He graduated from high school at Bakersfield, Calif. He married Sharron Kohl in June of 1974 at Weiser, Idaho. Don spent the majority of his working career outside doing various types of logging. Over a 30-year … Read more

Hill, Maggie E. Marx Mrs. – Obituary

Baker City, Oregon Maggie E. Hill, 82, a longtime Baker City resident, died Nov. 10, 2001, at St. Elizabeth Health Services. Her graveside funeral was at 1 p.m. today at the Rosedale Memorial Park Cemetery at Payette, Idaho. Bishop Dick Hindman of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officiated. Mrs. Hill was born on Sept. 17, 1919, at Moroni, Utah, to James R. and Mary E. Daniels Marx. She married Chester W. Hill at Weiser, Idaho, on Dec. 3, 1938. They lived at Weiser where she was a homemaker until moving to Baker City in the late 1960s. … Read more

Biography of Henry H. Abernathy

There are few of the representative and respected men of Idaho whose residence in the state antedates that of Mr. Abernathy, who came to the territory thirty-seven years ago and has been identified with the development of the Salubria valley since 1868. The old Indian trails, the uncultivated lands, the unopened mines and the uncut forests then to be seen, all told that the work of civilization lay in the future, and the subject of this review has been one of the advance guard that has carried forward the work of progress and improvement until Idaho is, indeed, the veritable … Read more

Shephard, La Neva E. Scott Mrs. – Obituary

La Neva E. (Scott) Shephard, 89, of Ontario, died May 7, 2005 in an Ontario assisted-living facility. Funeral services will be Friday at 11 a.m. (MDT) at the First United Methodist Church in Ontario. The Rev. Linda Tucker will officiate. A graveside service will follow at 1 p.m. (PDT) at Mount Hope Cemetery. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Lienkaemper Funeral Chapel in Ontario. La Neva was born July 10, 1915 to Herbert H. and Myrtle F. (Powell) Scott in Oroville, Wash. As a small child she moved and eventually settled with her family in Baker City, where she … Read more

Biography of James Colson

One of the respected pioneer farmers of Salubria is James Colson, who came to Idaho in 1864, and has since been engaged in stock raising. He was born in Ripley county, Indiana, October 23, 1834, a son of John and Polly (Allen) Colson, the former of whom was a farmer in Kentucky, moving to Iowa in 1850, where he was successful as a business man and landowner. He died at the advanced age of seventy years. To him and his wife were born eight children, three of whom survive. James Colson was reared on his father’s farm and received his … Read more

Uhrig, Albert Glenn – Obituary

Albert Glenn Uhrig, 81, of Elgin, died Oct. 6, at his home on Stubblefield Mountain of natural causes. Services were held Oct. 10. Glenn was born May 12, 1926, to Albert and Ethel Seay Uhrig in Weiser, Idaho. He was the eldest of four brothers. Glenn was a veteran of the United States Army, serving his country during the later years of WWII in Korea. Glenn married Ruth Elmer on April 7, 1973, in La Grande. They made their home on the Uhrig Family Ranch on Crane Creek, east of Weiser, Idaho. Glenn was a vital part of a successful … Read more

Shephard, Wallace D. – Obituary

Wallace D. Shephard, 82, of Ontario, a former longtime Baker City resident and well-known chef, died Sept. 22, 2001, at an Ontario hospital of natural causes. His memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at Ontario’s Lienkaemper Chapel. There will be a graveside service at 2 p.m. PDT at Mount Hope Cemetery. Mr. Shephard was born Nov. 13, 1918, at Baker City to Delbert W. and Cordelia Yeager Shephard. He married La Neva E. Scott on June 20, 1937, at Klamath Falls. The couple returned to Baker City soon after their marriage and remained here until 1964. Mr. Shephard … Read more

Gentry, Wanda L. Coffinberry Mrs. – Obituary

Wanda L. Gentry, 83, of Ontario, who with her husband established the Gentry Ford Sales dealership, died July 27, 2005, at her home in the Meadow Brook Retirement Center. Her funeral will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Ontario. Ontario’s Lienkaemper Chapel is in charge of arrangements. Wanda was born on March 18, 1922, at Portland to Walter B. and Verna D. Coffinberry. The family lived at Portland until 1926 when they relocated to Hot Lake and subsequently moved to Halfway in 1928. Wanda was a 1940 Halfway High School graduate. She moved to Portland … Read more

Reece, William J. – Obituary

William J. Reece died Tuesday evening, Feb. 11, 1936, at the home of his daughter, Mrs. E.H. Bonner, at Weiser, Idaho. He had been there only a few days, as his son, Floyd, had taken him there last week from Yakima, Wash., where he had been for some time with another daughter, Mrs. Willard Phillips. Funeral services will be held at the Christian church, Enterprise, tomorrow, Friday, at 2 p.m. and burial will be in the Enterprise cemetery. C.L. Booth has driven to Weiser for the body accompanied by Emerson and Floyd Reece. Mr. Reece was born in Logan county, … Read more

Hopper , Julius Roland – Obituary

Huntington, Oregon Julius Roland Hopper, 80, of Huntington died Aug. 28, 2004, at his home. There will be a potluck to celebrate his life from 11 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Friday at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall at Huntington Julius was born on July 3, 1924, at Weiser, Idaho, to Ira Melvin Bogue and Elizabeth Avaline Queen Hopper. In 1925, the family moved to their “Lost Watch Ranch” in the Mountain View district, 20 miles out of Huntington. To attend high school, Julius moved in with the Sumner family in Ontario, on the Oregon Slope, and worked for his … Read more

Biography of Columbus M. Hixon

Many articles have appeared in the press of our land on the “corruption in politics.” but, while this may be found to some extent in the largest cities, the majority of our American citizens are too practical and public-spirited to wish to entrust their affairs in unscrupulous hands, and especially in the selection of one to manage the financial interests do they show great discrimination in choosing a man of known integrity and unimpeachable honor. It was these qualities which secured to Mr. Hixon election to the responsible position of county treasurer of Washington County. His record in the walks … Read more

Biography of Frank Harris

Hon. Frank Harris, the leading lawyer of the bar of Weiser, and a member of the state senate of Idaho, is a native of California, his birth having occurred at Placerville, on the 20th of June. 1854. He is the second in order of birth in a family of seven children, whose parents were William and T. E. (Saltzman) Harris. The Harris family is of English descent and was founded in Virginia in colonial days. William Harris, the grandfather of our subject, was born in the Old Dominion, and when the Revolutionary war was inaugurated aided in the struggle for … Read more

Bonner, Lois (Reece) – Obituary

Wallowa, Wallowa County, Oregon Lois Bonner, 91 years old, of Weiser, Idaho, died Feb. 14, 1984 at Weiser, Idaho at the Weiser Care Center. Services were Feb. 17, 1984 at the Thomason Funeral Chapel in Weiser. Burial was at the Hillscrest cemetery. She was born Sept. 26, 1892 at Atlanta, Ill., the daughter of William J. & Margaret Reece. She was married to Earl Bonner on Dec. 14, 1917 in Enterprise. Wallowa County Chieftain, Wallowa, Wallowa County, Oregon, Feb. 23, 1984 Contributed by Michelle Drayton-Fisher

Scheloske, Edgar Albert – Obituary

Baker City Edgar Albert Scheloske, 79, a former Baker City resident, died Feb. 22, 2006, at Ontario. His funeral will be at 11 a.m. Monday at Thomason Funeral Home in Weiser, Idaho. Interment will be at Hillcrest Cemetery in Weiser, Idaho. He was born on Jan. 20, 1927, at Weiser, Idaho, to Albert Antone and Addie Rose Glascock Scheloske. He was their fourth child, born after three older sisters: Helen, Georganna, and Maxine. He was known as “Buster” to his family. He was raised on a farm at Weiser and at the family sawmill on Stacy/Manns Creek above Weiser. He … Read more

Graven, Ethel L. Gillett Mrs. – Obituary

Baker City, Baker County, Oregon Ethel L. Graven, 96, of Weiser, Idaho, a former resident of Baker City and Halfway, died Jan. 19, 2003, at an assisted living center in Weiser. Her graveside funeral will be at 1 p.m. Thursday at the Eagle Valley Cemetery in Richland. Pastor Gordon Bond of the Richland Christian Church will officiate. Visitations will be from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Gray’s West & Co. Pioneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey Ave. Ethel Graven was born on Sept. 9, 1906, at Halfway to William T. Clark and Lillie Gillett. Ethel was raised at Halfway by … Read more

Biography of W. B. Kurtz

It is given to few to attain prominence in politics, honor in military affairs or fame in literary life, but respect and esteem await every man who lives worthily, who performs the duties of public and private life faithfully and promptly, and in business has strict regard for commercial ethics. Such an one is W. B. Kurtz, proprietor of the Weiser flouring mill, which was built in 1890, and represents one of the leading industrial interests of the city in which it is located. Mr. Kurtz is a native of Berks county, Pennsylvania, born November 1, 1846, and is of … Read more

Biography of James A. Gerwick

Of the commercial interests of Weiser, James A. Gerwick is a leading representative. He is now engaged in the harness and saddlery business, and enjoys a liberal patronage which comes to him from all sections of Washington county. His conformity to high business principles and honorable methods, combined with energy and enterprise, have gained him a foremost place in mercantile circles, and a well merited success rewards his efforts. Sir. Gerwick came to the west from far-off Pennsylvania. He is a native of Butler County, that state, and is of German lineage. His parents are Fred and Lovina (Winters) Gerwick … Read more

Millhouse, Dale J. – Obituary

Baker City, Oregon Dale J. Millhouse, 64, a resident of Baker City, died Dec. 16, 202, at St. Elizabeth Health Services. Following Dale’s wishes, disposition was by cremation at Gray’s West Pioneer Crematory. No services will be held. Dale was born Sept. 1, 1938, to Harry B. and Marie (Miles) Millhouse in Salinas, Calif. He graduated from high school in El Cahon, Calif., and in 1961 he joined the U.S. Army, where he served in Germany during the occupation of Berlin. Following his discharge from the military in 1964, he continued to reside in California for the next nine years. … Read more