Hayward O. Tibbs, 84, of Salem, and a former Haines resident, died April 21, 2001, at Oregon Health Sciences University Hospital in Portland.
His funeral will be at 1 p.m. Friday at the First Church of the Nazarene, 1250 Hughes Lane. The Rev. Ron Kratzer of the First Church of the Nazarene will officiate. Interment will be in Mount Hope Cemetery.
Visitations will be from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday at Gray’s West & Co. Pioneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey Ave.
Mr. Tibbs was born on Feb. 18, 1917, at McEwen. In 1922, the Tibbs family moved to the Rock Creek area where he received his education at Rock Creek Grade School and then at Haines High School.
He was quite the jokester as a young man, playing many jokes on his younger sister. He learned to play the piano at an early age and played razzmatazz style. He formed a band, which played for dances from Baker City to Pendleton. The band was paid $3 an hour for its three to four hours of playing.
In 1946, Mr. Tibbs accepted Christ into his life and quit playing for dances. After leaving school, he went to work using a team of horses to haul ore from a mine in the Rock Creek Butte area to Haines, where it was loaded on rail cars. He also logged in the Bates area.
He married Marjorie Trimble in 1937. They had seven children.
In 1941, he and his wife bought their first ranch in the Rock Creek area. They milked cows and raised sheep. Mr. Tibbs also broke wild horses.
They sold this ranch in 1943 and purchased his parents’ place, continuing their ranching activities. In 1944, he made his first large machinery purchase, a Massey Harris combine that he bought for $2,540. The combine came in several crated pieces and Mr. Tibbs had to assemble it.
They leased out the Rock Creek Ranch so they could lease a 2,100-acre ranch in Pyles Canyon in 1945. Mr. Tibbs worked this ranch and did custom combining until 1952, when they sold the Rock Creek ranch and moved to Baker City.
His first job in Baker City was working for Earl Stiff’s Blue Mountain Oil Co. On Feb. 10, 1953 “ the day their son, Douglas, was born “ Mr. Tibbs signed a dealership contract with Massey Harris Machine Co. Massey Harris floored the machinery and Mr. Tibbs purchased $3,000 in part.
The first location of Tibbs Equipment Co. was on a small corner lot at 10th and E streets. The next year, Mr. Tibbs purchased land farther north on 10th Street where he built a 40-by-60-foot building featuring a show room and parts department.
Mr. Tibbs cancelled his contract with Massey Ferguson and leased the shop and land to Carroll Adams. He later bought the Ford tractor dealership from Adams and sold it in 1965.
The Tibbses leased a ranch from Marion Inman and farmed there until 1970. While living in Baker City, they purchased a large home on the corner of Fourth and Estes streets and rented out rooms in their basement to boarders.
Mr. Tibbs was very active in the Nazarene Church throughout his adult life, teaching adult Sunday school classes for many years.
In the fall of 1970, Carroll Adams offered Mr. Tibbs a sales job at his Ford tractor and New Holland dealership at Walla Walla, Wash. Two years later, Adams offered him the job of managing the John Day dealership. Mr. Tibbs lived there until he retired in 1982.
After retiring, he and his wife moved to Salem to be near their youngest son, Dan. Mr. Tibbs lived in Salem until his death. During his retirement years, he enjoyed the many winters they spent at Yuma, Ariz., as well as hunting and fishing when at home in Oregon.
He was preceded in death by his parents, James and Martha Tibbs; brothers, Walter and James Jr.; sisters, Pearl, Effie and Ellen; and their first two children, Martha and Herbert.
Survivors include his wife, Marjorie of Salem; daughters, Marlene Ritchie of Las Vegas, Nev.; Anita Raymond of Bend; Bonnie Bartholomew of Concord, Calif.; sons, Douglas, of Meridian, Idaho, and Dan of Salem; 23 grandchildren; 30 great-great-grandchildren; and sisters, Jessie Tartar and Margie Chubb of Hermiston.
Memorial contributions may be made to the First Church of the Nazarene through Gray’s West & Co., P.O. Box 726, Baker City, OR 97814.
Used with permission from: The Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, April 30, 2001
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor