Union, Oregon
Lucille Bingham, 98, of Union, died June 15. A funeral service begins at 2 p.m. Monday, June 23, at the Union LDS Church. A full obituary will be available later. Daniels-Knopp Funeral, Cremation and Life Celebration Center is in charge of arrangements.
La Grande Observer – June 14, 2008
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Lucille McClellan Bingham, 98, of Union, died June 15 peacefully at her home. Funeral services will begin at 2 p.m. Monday in Union at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Viewings will be at Daniels-Knopp Funeral, Cremation & Life Celebration Center, 1502 Seventh St., La Grande, Monday from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. and from 12:30 to 1:45 p.m. in the LDS Church Cultural Hall prior to the funeral.
Lucille was born Jan. 9, 1920, to Albert Leslie McClellan and Nora Jane Taylor. She married Lavon Webster Bingham in Bountiful, Utah, on April 7, 1928. They had three daughters, Donna Lu, Anna Lee and LaVon. The family moved to Oregon in 1931 and settled in the Grande Ronde Valley. Lucille and Von bought a farm near Hot Lake where they raised their daughters.
Von logged while Lucille began working at Hot Lake and continued in the food service business except for a period of time when she worked for the Union Post office. After her retirement in 1973, she went to work in the yardage department at Quisenberrys to meet the need of ongoing public contact. She later bought a duplex in Union and became a landlord.
The family remembers that Lucille’s career included managing the Sacajawea Coffee Shop Kitchen until its closure in 1970 and moving across the street to run the Top Notch Café until it was turned into a parking lot. She fulfilled her life-long dream by establishing Lucy’s, in Pat’s Alley, which included good food, wonderful pies and excellent customer service upon the request of Pat and Helen Fitzgerald.
Upon her retirement, Lucille pursued another life-long dream of building a house. Once the house was completed, she decided to move closer to town and remodeled a small house on Seventh Street in La Grande.
During this time, she and a friend traveled to many places including Scotland (land of her ancestors), Hawaii, Ireland, France, throughout the United States and Canada. She joined the “snowbirds” while wintering in Arizona.
Lucille was a lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She held many positions in the Relief Society, Young Women’s Organization and the Primary.
She is survived by her daughters, Donna Lu Williamson and husband, Bob of Hurst, Texas, LaVon Hall of Union; many grandchildren; sister, Erlene Ellingson of Portland; sisters-in-law, Emma McClellan and Maxine McClellan; and many nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. She was preceded in death by her husband, Von; daughter, Anna Lee; three grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; a great-great-grandchild; and brothers, Leslie and Albert of Union, and Ronald of California.
La Grande Observer – June 21, 2008