North Powder, Oregon
Anna Mae Whiting Flower, 86, of La Grande, who taught school for many years in Eastern Oregon, died Jan. 18, 2004, at La Grande.
Her funeral will be at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Island City Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
She was born on April 11, 1917, at Mount Glenn to Edward Daniel and Mary Emelia “Mille” Olsen Whiting. She married Jake Cecil Flower on Jan. 17, 1944, at Los Angeles. They were later divorced. The couple had three children, Kay, Lee and Keith.
Anna attended schools at Mount Glenn and La Grande. She was a 1934 graduate of La Grande High School. She attended Eastern Oregon Normal School from 1934 to 1936 and graduated with a life teacher’s certificate. She was a member of Phi Beta Sigma and president of the Women’s Athletic Association in 1935 and 1936.
She first taught at Kimberly where she boarded with the Clyde Jackson family. The next two years she taught at Sumpter and then moved back to La Grande and taught there 7 years before marrying and starting a family.
She lived at North Powder and taught school there for 28 years. During that time she studied and received her bachelor’s degree at Eastern Oregon College in 1958 and later her master’s degree at the University of Oregon at Eugene. She taught grade school, home economics and was one of the first teachers to be certified as a media specialist in library science.
She was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served in many capacities. She played the organ for church at Mount Glenn and for the 1st Ward in La Grande and also led the singing for Sunday School at La Grande 1st Ward.
She helped start a Primary class at North Powder where 35 children attended. She played the piano for MIA at Union Ward and was in the MIA Presidency in the Union Ward where she earned the leader’s award.
She taught the Gospel Essentials classes in Union and Baker 2nd Ward. She was in the Stake MIA Presidency as a counselor. She was the Compassionate Service leader in the Baker 2nd Ward. She filled a mission to the Virginia, Roanoke and Mesa, Ariz., Mission in 1982-83. She belonged to Daughters of the Utah Pioneers.
Her hobbies included gardening, teaching piano lessons and playing piano and organ, crocheting afghans, reading and learning and storytelling and being with her grandchildren. She had a great desire for truth and knowledge and passed that on to her children.
She was preceded in death by her parents; a sister, Blanche Whiting Quebbeman; a brother, Edward Jens Whiting; two grandchildren, Summer Flower and Autumn Flower; and a great-grandchild, Tanys Flower.
Survivors include her children, Kay Flower Hall and her husband, Joe, of Rock Springs, Wyo.; Lee Flower, and his wife, Ann, of La Grande and Keith Flower and his wife, Laura, of Firth, Idaho; 15 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, January 30, 2004
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor