Carole June Kenworthy, 74, of Baker City, died April 1, 2008, at Meadowbrook Place.
Visitations are today from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Gray’s West & Co. Pioneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey Ave.
Her graveside memorial service will be at 1 p.m. May 3 at Mount Hope Cemetery.
Carole was born on March 4, 1934, at Ontario to Ganelle Wilburn and Kenneth LaVern Jeffries. She was raised on her grandparents’ Crane Creek homestead ranch near Ontario where her father was a partner with her grandfather, Tom Wilburn.
She loved to recount stories about riding her pinto pony for hours on lazy days and the carefree adventures that she enjoyed with her sister, Peg, brother, Gary, and the many cousins who also lived at the ranch. When she was 11 or 12 her dad came to Baker City to help out a friend on his ranch. The two- week project evolved into the family relocating here.
She married the love of her life, Leonard Kenworthy, on Nov. 12, 1949. They enjoyed 55 years of married life and four children together.
Carole was known for her talented decorating skills and fashion sense. She could tell one the name of nearly any gemstone or fabric known.
Her four children especially benefited from her good organizational skills and work ethic. She taught them lifelong lessons in this area of living.
She will be greatly missed by her family who was by her side during her final two-year struggle with emphysema, family members said.
Survivors include her four children, Marge Garrett and her husband, John, of Baker City; Richard Kenworthy and his wife, Joni, of Montrose, Colo., Gina Harris and her husband, Mike, of Albany and Julie Cunningham and her friend, Jerry Hubbard, of Baker City; sister, Peg Watterson of Redmond; brother, Gary Jeffries, and his wife, Dorothy, of Idaho Falls, Idaho; brother-in-law, Merle Kenworthy and his wife, Margo, of Baker City; stepfather, Edward Fitzgerald, of Baker City; 11-grandchildren, Merrilee Catt, and her husband, Jason, Paul Garrett and his wife, Rhianna, Casey Garrett and his wife, Heather, Travis Harris and his wife, Ruby, Krista Cleveland and her husband, Chad, Mandy Macy and her husband, Bari, Aimee Kenworthy, Kellie Kenworthy, Lindsey Byers and her friend, Eric Howell, Shyanne Cunningham, and Sierra Cunningham; nine great-grandchildren, Kelsey Catt, Sam Catt, Molly Garrett, Austin Garrett, Natalie Garrett, Khail Kenworthy, Addison Macy, Briana Harris and Michael Harris; and many nieces, nephews and cousins.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Leonard Kenworthy; her mother, Ganelle Fitzgerald; and her father, LaVern Jeffries.
Memorial contributions may be made to the American Lung Association through Gray’s West & Co. Pioneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey Ave., Baker City, OR 97814.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, April 8, 2008
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor