Baker City, Oregon
Kermit J. Myers, 87, of Baker City, died June 6, 2001, at Meadowbrook Place.
His graveside funeral will be Monday at 1:30 p.m. at Lakewood Funeral Home in Hughson, Calif.
Mr. Myers was born April 18, 1914, at Los Angeles to Catherine and Windom Myers. He was raised and attended elementary and high schools in North Powder, later graduating from Eastern Oregon Normal School in La Grande. He then began a 50-year career in education, starting in Vale as superintendent/teacher. He served Baker City schools for 20 years and completed his career as an educator in Modesto, Calif., as a principal and teacher.
On May 9, 1939, he married his soul mate, Thelma Harris, and they built a home in Vale and started a family. During World War II he was head of the ration board for Malheur County and continued as an educator there until 1946, when the family moved to Baker City. While teaching in Baker City, he raised his family, built a house, farmed, milked cows and kept bees on the 10-acre plot of ground on North Cedar Street which had originally been homesteaded by his parents years before.
In 1967 he and his wife moved to Ceres, Calif., where they lived until 1996, when Mrs. Myers passed away. In July 2000 Mr. Myers returned to the 10 acres in Baker City that he had farmed years before, to again enjoy the area and the support of family and friends at Meadowbrook Manor, an assisted living facility built on ‘his’ 10 acres.
This incredibly positive, unselfish, hard-working man enriched so many lives with his grateful and giving heart and his strength and wisdom. He loved and respected life, nature, and especially his family.
Mr. Myers is survived by his sisters, Fern Galligan of North Powder and Shirley Spence of Haines; his brother, Kenneth H. Myers of McMinnville; his children, Kenneth J. Myers of Haines and Sharon Kirklin of Placerville, Calif.; grandchildren, Hal Kirklin of Oxnard, Calif., Wendy Kirklin of Sebastopol, Calif., and Jacob Myers of Port Orchard, Wash.; two great-grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.
Contributions in Mr. Myers’ memory may be made to the American Lung Association or the charity of your choice in care of Gray’s West & Co., P.O. Box 726, Baker City, Ore., 97814.
Used with permission from: The Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, June 8, 2001
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor