Augusta Pauline Page, 87, a former Baker City resident, died April 20, 2008, at the Kaiser Sunnyside Hospital in Clackamas.
At her request, there was no service. Her ashes will be buried at Mount Hope Cemetery Friday alongside her husband, Jim, and her mother, Florence.
She was born on Dec. 13, 1920, at Baker City to Florence Burnside Hardy Morgan and William Thomas Hardy.
She was married in 1939 to William N. Blank and lived at Baker City. Her husband served in the army during World War II. He was drafted at the time of impending parenthood in 1944 and was unable to witness the birth of their only child, William T. Blank.
The emotional scars left by the wartime prisoner of war and battle experiences suffered by her husband wore on the marriage and by 1948 they divorced, although she always thought of him as the love of her life.
In 1951, she met Jimmy Page. She was a single mother and worked as a restaurant waitress near the train depot in downtown Portland. They were married at Vancouver, Wash., on New Year’s Eve, and they lived in Portland where he worked as a longshoreman.
They remained happily married for 17 years. A silly argument over a home remodeling project led to a separation and eventual divorce.
She returned to Baker City and worked at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital as an aide and later for the State of Oregon social services.
After a brief marriage to an old childhood sweetheart she met in Baker City, Jim Brendan, she returned to Portland to visit her son and sister, and as chance would have it, she met Jimmy Page again at a restaurant in Sellwood on Mother’s Day.
By this time Jimmy had retired. They dated awhile and decided to remarry. They remained married until his death in 1991.
She continued to live at Portland, and later moved to Milwaukie into a home her son provided to house her and her many collectibles. She also continued to visit their favorite McDonald’s restaurants, and her collection of McDonald and Disney toys and other collectibles of more than 30 years continued to expand.
Her life changed again in March of 1993 when she became a grandmother. Her grandson, Christopher, became the most important part of her life.
She and her husband Jimmy were often referred to as “Mickey and Minnie” because of their love of Mickey Mouse collectibles. They made many friends over the years at flea markets and thrift stores as they pursued their hobby.
Her relationship with her sister, Georgia, was extremely close. They talked for hours and everyday on the phone. One of their most memorable times was a Greyhound Bus trip across the country together.
They purchased unlimited travel tickets, touring the United States, visiting places they had always wanted to see such as New York City and Washington, D.C. After it was clear that Pauline could no longer live at home alone, she moved to live with Georgia and her family in north Portland.
She was generally healthy until a series of mini-strokes and kidney failure reversed her lifestyle in 1999. She and her sister went to dialysis together on Tri-Met Lift and became part of the family at the dialysis center in Northeast Portland.
She later fell and broke a hip, and was diagnosed with breast cancer. She successfully beat the cancer.
Her most recent incident was a fall at her sister’s home. Due to her inability to recover to the level of independence needed to continue treatment at her dialysis clinic, she made the decision to discontinue her dialysis and she entered her final days with grace and dignity and on her own terms in hospice, her family said.
She had battled renal failure and underwent dialysis three times a week for nearly the past nine years.
“Everyone who knew her thought the world of her because she was a caring and loving lady,” her family members said. “And anyone who knew her, knew she danced to the beat of a different drummer.”
Survivors include her sister, Georgia Andre, Georgia’s daughter and her special niece, Donna Burkett, Donna’s sons, Robert, Charles and Ronald; her son, Bill Blank, his wife, Raelyn, and their son, Christopher, of Scappoose; and nieces, Lavene, Trudy, and Pat and their families, to whom she was always “Auntie” or “Aunt Pauline.”
Memorial contributions may be made to the Oregon Kidney Association or the Ronald McDonald House for the families of critically ill children.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, May 1, 2008
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor