Bertha Rowena “Betty” Oliver, 91, a former Ironside resident, died Dec. 12, 2007, at her home in Baker City.
Visitations began Monday and will continue from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Gray’s West & Co. Pioneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey Ave. Her funeral will be at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at Gray’s West & Co. Pioneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey Ave. Pastor Loren Calkins will officiate.
Bertha Rowena Murray was born on Sept. 20, 1916, to Hardy and Bertha Murray in a log cabin nine miles east of Unity. She completed Grades 1-12 in Baker where she stayed with her grandmother, Angeline Murray.
During her school years, Betty was a competitive swimmer. Her grandfather ran the Baker Natatorium (now the Oregon Trail Museum.) She was a 1934 Baker High School graduate. She loved helping her father on the ranch during the summers. She was pegged as being quite a tomboy, her family said.
Betty met her husband Ernest “Scotty” Oliver in 1934. He worked as a miner at the Record Mine on Bull Run Mountain. They married in 1938 and moved to New Bridge where Ernest worked for another mine company. After the mine closed, they moved back to the Murray Ranch to help Betty’s parents.
Their first child, Rowena, was born in 1942. In 1943, they bought the ranch from Betty’s parents. David was born three years later.
Several years later, they bought a neighboring ranch. In 1966, they incorporated it with their children, and called it the “Flying O Cattle Co.”
Ernest and Betty were very active community members. They belonged to the Ironside Grange and went to many dances. It was a sad loss when Ernest died in 1965.
Survivors include her children, Rowena Gardner, and her husband, Dale, of Ironside and David Oliver and his wife, Sandy, of California; seven grandchildren, Everett Baumeister, Robin Pugh, Janet DeLong, Kristy Loverin, Becky Czuppon, Bonnie Oliver and Bo Oliver; and 11 great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Ernest; a brother, Bruce Murray; and a great-granddaughter, Deidra Baumeister.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Ironside Cemetery or the Oregon Trail Museum through Gray’s West & Co., 1500 Dewey Ave., Baker City, OR 97814.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, December 18, 2007
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor
