Baker City, Oregon
Pearl E. Harkness, 92, a longtime Baker City resident, died June 14, 2002, at the Evergreen Vista Health Center in La Grande.
Her graveside funeral will be at 2 p.m. today at Mount Hope Cemetery. Pastor George Rau of Elkhorn Ministries will officiate. Visitations were Monday at Gray’s West & Co. Pioneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey Ave.
Pearl was born on Jan. 22, 1910, at Blackrock, Ark., to John and Oma Guntharp Smith. She attended school at Blackrock. In 1925, she married Eugene H. Harkness at Powhatton, Ark. While living in Arkansas, Pearl gave birth to five children.
The couple moved their family to Northeastern Oregon in 1939, and in 1945 they moved to Molalla. While living at Molalla, Pearl worked at a cannery for a while, then at a flax plant at Woodburn. The family moved to Baker City in 1965, where she worked as a certified nurses aide until her retirement.
Pearl enjoyed fishing, the outdoors, crocheting and reading various types of books, including her Bible. She was a member of the Baker City Assembly of God Church.
Survivors include two daughters, Billie Dix, and her husband, Bud, of Cottage Grove and Ruth Watson and her husband, Robert, of La Grande; numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren and nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Eugene Harkness; two daughters, Freda Harkness and Emma Roy; and a son, Thurlow Harkness.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Baker City Senior Center through Gray’s West & Co., P.O. Box 726, Baker City, OR 97814.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, June 21, 2002
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor