Baker City, Oregon
Billie Venarie Eastland, 83, of Baker City, died Aug. 2, 2001, at St. Elizabeth Health Care Center.
Her graveside funeral will be today at 2 p.m. at Mount Hope Cemetery. Pastor Roger Scovil of the Baker City Christian Church will officiate. Interment will be at Mount Hope Cemetery.
Mrs. Eastland was born June 8, 1918, at Pocatello, Idaho, to William and Margaret (Lebert) Byrd. The family moved to Nampa, Idaho, where she was raised and educated. She attended beauty school and operated her own beauty shop.
She married Wilfred Eastland on May 8, 1937, at Nampa. They moved to Phoenix, Ariz., where their daughter Margaret was born. They later moved to Los Angeles, where their son Mark was born. In 1972 they moved to Baker City, when their daughter Margaret and her husband, John, bought a ranch in Baker Valley.
Mr. Eastland worked on the ranch with John, and Mrs. Eastland worked at the Eldorado Inn until her health forced her into the nursing home. She had lived at St. Elizabeth Health Care Center for the past 10 years, where she received the loving care of the staff and Sisters of St. Francis.
Mrs. Eastland was the quiet strength of her family, which was her greatest love. She was always involved with her grandchildren. She also enjoyed the arts of crocheting and sewing, and tending her yard, roses and houseplants.
She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Margaret and John Bootsma of Baker City; her son and daughter-in-law, Mark and Anna Eastland of Baker City; a granddaughter, Lanae Jones of Eagle, Idaho; great-grandchildren, Robert Borgen and Taylor Jones of Eagle, Ian Eastland of La Grande, Jessica, Briann and Jacob Eastland of Baker City, and Margaret Elaine Argent of Alabama; and her sisters, Evelyn Sheehe and Dorothy Moore, both of Nampa.
Mrs. Eastland was preceded in death by her parents; her husband of 47 years; and a granddaughter and her namesake, Billie Ruth Bootsma.
Contributions in Mrs. Eastland’s memory may be made to the Billie Bootsma Cancer Fund in care of Gray’s West & Co., P.O. Box 726, Baker City, OR, 97814.
Used with permission from: The Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, August 10, 2001
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor