Vivian Clare McGrath Davis, 100, died Jan. 2, 2008, at her home in Spokane, Wash.
Her graveside funeral will be at 1 p.m. Friday at the North Powder Cemetery in North Powder. Thornhill Valley Funeral Home of Spokane is in charge of arrangements.
Through this century,Vivian touched many lives and helped many people, her family said. Whether she was helping out on the family farm or playing music, she was always there to please.
She was born on Sept. 28, 1907, at North Powder, to Walter Vincent and Leila Marquerite Gardner McGrath. She spent 72 years of her life at North Powder.
Being a natural musician, she played drums and piano in the family quartet at dances in Union and Baker counties. The quartet consisted of her brother, Kenneth, on saxophone, her mother on piano and her father on trombone (prior to the 1940s).
During the 1920s, Vivian played piano for silent films in North Powder and Haines making $1.50 a week, 75 cents in each town. Even when she could no longer read the music, Vivian could play more than 100 songs from memory. She played a couple of days a week before the evening meal at Rose Point Assisted Living Facility.
During a childhood stay with her maternal grandparents at the Columbia Mine near Sumpter, Vivian became very ill with appendicitis and was rushed to Baker’s St. Elizabeth Hospital. Because her appendix had ruptured the doctors did not have high hopes for her survival, but performed the operation anyway, which saved her life.
When Vivian was 13, her father decided to move the family to Union to help on the family farm. But because her mother didn’t like Union, they moved back to North Powder.
Vivian’s father, a coal dealer, served as mayor of North Powder for more than 35 years. Davis is the descendant of two early pioneer families in Union and Baker counties, those of her grandparents, Patrick and Mary McGrath and Alfred and Ida Sisley Gardner.
She married William Ernest Davis on Sept. 12, 1925, at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Cathedral in Baker City. They made their home on the John W. Davis ranch, four miles west of North Powder. They lived on the ranch until 1937 when they purchased what was originally Sanders Ranch from their daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Holmes.
Vivian loved the outdoors and worked with her husband and in later years her son, William F. Davis, on the family ranch. She helped harvest the hay, work the cattle and she enjoyed gardening and canning. She was also a very talented cook and would prepare amazing meals for her family and the crew that helped on the ranch.
Vivian joined the Powder Valley Chapter, No. 170, Order of Eastern Star on May 15, 1948, and served as worthy matron for two consecutive years (1974 to ’75 and 1975 to ’76). She transferred to the Alpine Chapter in 1978. She was mother advisor for the Rainbow Girls for three years and also worked on the election board in North Powder for several years.
Vivian had been a resident at Rose Point Assisted Living in Spokane for 28 years. She taught the aerobics class “fitness and fun over 50” three times a week for 18 years until 2005 when she fell and broke her hip. When her eyesight permitted her, Vivian made a latch-hook rug for every one of her grandchildren.
Survivors include her four children, Betty Jean and her husband, Kenneth Myers, of McMinnville, Jeannette and her husband, Robert Kellar, of Colorado Springs, Colo., Jessie Lou Cox of Spokane, Wash., and William Fred and his wife, Marilee Davis, of Nampa, Idaho; grandchildren, Carol Lynn and her husband, Roger Hildebrandt, Martin Davis and his wife, Anne Myers, Scott Jerome and his wife, Tamara Myers, Michelle Ann and her husband, Bruce Vinson, Kimber Lee and her husband, Michael Haley, Kelly Klingbeil, Sue Peplinski, Lucinda and her husband, Tony Higley, Jeffrey John Davis, and Debra Kay Davis; great-grandchildren, Jason Brian and his wife, Sue Myers, Casey Scott and his wife, Lesley Myers, Nichole Ann and her husband, Zack Leonard, Mathew Peplinski, Jonathon Hildebrandt, Kellye Hildebrandt, Jennifer Nicole Myers, Kelsey Dawn Higley, Breanna Marie Davis, James Edward Higley, Allan Robert Klingbeil, Kaitlyn Jean Myers, Robert George Beamish, Eric Coyote Davis Myers and Kambraya Renee Beamish; four great-great-grandchildren, Jordan Savana Myers, Blaine Michael Leonard, Jackson Parker Myers and Garrett Edward Leonard; four nieces, Merry and her husband, Richard Emlaw, Jane Rabe, Diane and her husband, Gary Wilson, and Marianne Green.
She was preceded in death by an infant son, Walter John Davis; her husband, William E. Davis; brother, Kenneth, and his wife, Chris McGrath; sister, Maxine, and her husband, Russell Williams; and son-in-law, Edward Cox.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, January 9, 2008
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor