Search Archived Marriage Records
Verna Howell
Verna Howell, a Hood River, Ore., resident, died Nov. 21, 2002, at Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital. She was 61 years of age.
Services were held on Monday, Nov. 25, 2002, at 11 a.m. at Anderson’s Tribute Center.
Verna was born Aug. 20, 1941, in The Dalles, Ore., to William and Minnie Wedgwood. She was raised and educated in Goldendale, Wash., graduating from high school in 1959. On Oct. 3, 1959, she and Jim Howell were married
in Goldendale. They moved to Hood River in 1961.
Verna operated a home day care for many years and then worked as a sales clerk at Wal-Mart for the past seven years. She was involved with child foster care for ten years, caring for over 100 children. Verna enjoyed caring for her grandchildren, cross stitching and traveling.
A daughter, Laura Jean Howell, in 1981 preceded her in death.
She is survived by her husband, Jim Howell of Hood River, Ore.; daughter Pamela Kealaiki of Salem, Ore., and two sons, Daniel Howell of The Dalles and Dennis Howell of Hood River, Ore. Twelve grandchildren, Jenny, Larry, Jason, Tabitha, Leaha, Riley, Calista, Amanda, Sarah, Josiah, Breana, Trayvon and Kardell, and two great-grandchildren, Saul and Victoria, also survive.
Interment will be at Idlewild cemetery.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Hood River County Chapter of the American Red Cross, Doernbecher Children’s Hospital or the Make A Wish Foundation c/o Anderson’s Tribute Center, 1401 Belmont, Hood River, OR 97031.
Margaret Flory
Margaret G. Flory, a Parkdale, Ore., resident, died at the Hood River Care Center on Friday, Nov. 22, 2002. She was 95 years of age.
Margaret was born on Nov. 3, 1907, in Staples, Minn., to Melzer and Mary Clausen. She grew up and attended school in Staples. Following high school she continued her education at Normal Teaching Training School and was a teacher in a one-room country school near Staples prior to her marriage in 1928 to Clarence Flory, who preceded her in death in 1970.
She is survived by her daughters, Janette Flory, Clarice Flory, Connie Bork, Betty Guse, Margaret Aune, daughter and son in law, Linda and Dean Norris, one son, Lee Flory, and in-laws Al and Hazel Flory. There are 11 surviving grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.
Margaret was a devoted member of the Parkdale Nazarene Church since 1937, where she served as an accompanist for many years.
A private family service will be held at the Parkdale cemetery.
Arrangements by Anderson’s Tribute Center, 541-386-1000.
Suzanna Davidson
Suzanna P. Davidson, a Hood River, Ore., resident died Nov. 25, 2002, at her residence. She was 72 years of age.
Arrangements are pending at Anderson’s Tribute Center 541-386-1000.
Marie J. Maybee
Marie J. Maybee, a Parkdale, Ore., resident, died Jan. 17, 2003, at her residence. She was 95 years of age.
Services will be held in Bellevue, Wash., with vault interment at Sunset Hills Memorial Park.
She had resided in Washington, Oregon and California. A talented painter and a member of the Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Marie was a woman with great spirit and love, who only wanted to make people smile and to warm their hearts.
Survivors include her sister, Joan Ranaudo, a son, David Maybee and a daughter, Carol Niece. Many grandchildren and great-grandchildren also survive.
Her husband, Dan, preceded her in death in 1992.
Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of the Gorge c/o Anderson’s Tribute Center, 1401 Belmont, Hood River, OR 97031.
Ellen ‘Ike’ Bonnett
Hood River resident Ellen Oneida “Ike” Bonnett died Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2003, at Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital. She was 72 years of age.
A funeral service was held Friday, Jan. 17, at Anderson’s Tribute Center with private interment at Pine Grove cemetery.
Ellen Oneida was born July 13, 1930, to Lee A. and Daisy Alma (Bershears) McClain in Cove, Ore. Mrs. Bonnett spent her childhood in Cove until 1940 when she moved to Hood River, Ore.
Once in Hood River Mrs. Bonnett worked for the U.S. Forest Service for about five years. Her family remembers her sharing about one of her favorite jobs as a “candy striper” at the Hood River Hospital. Ike had a love for people and always was one to lend a hand. She was known for being a caregiver as she spent her time helping those in need or in poor health. Her love for animals was probably her most known trait. Ike would go to great lengths to rescue injured or stray animals.
Mrs. Bonnett is survived by her sons Raymond and David Chaffin of Kansas City, Kans., and Stanley Chaffin of Madison, Wisc., brother Donald McClain of Rufus, Ore., 10 grandchildren and 1 great grandchild.
Mrs. Bonnett was preceded in death by her son, Lucky Ray Bonnett, and daughter, Judy Kay Chaffin.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Oregon Humane Society c/o Anderson’s Tribute Center, 1401 Belmont, Hood River, OR 97031.
Norman Hughes
Norman Peter Hughes, 76, a resident of Hood River, died Thursday, March 27, 2003, at a local care facility.
He was born Jan. 18, 1927, in Orofino, Idaho, to Walter Michael and Olive Mae (Shoemaker) Hughes and grew up there.
He joined the United States Navy at age 17 and retired in 1964. He married
Jo An Schilling on Oct. 28, 1950, in Stevenson, Wash., and they made their home in various places throughout the world as they followed his military career.
Following his return to civilian life he was employed as a purchasing agent for several construction companies in Oregon and California and lived Tigard, Ore., for a number of years before retiring to Hood River in 2002.
He loved the outdoors, particularly fishing and hunting. He had been a member of the Tigard Post of the American Legion.
Survivors include his wife of 52 years, Jo An, of Hood River, sons Peter of Los Alamitos, Calif., and Steven of Hood River, daughters Sharon Mattson of Portland, Ore., and Sandra Hughes of San Diego, Calif. Also surviving are 10 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his son, Michael, in January 2002.
A service in celebration of his life was held March 31 at the West Side Fire Hall in Rockford with Bob Huskey presiding and a reception following. Private interment was at the White Salmon cemetery.
Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of The Gorge, P.O. Box 36, Hood River, OR 97031. Arrangements were by Columbia Cremation & Burial.
John Kesti
John A. Kesti, a former resident of Hood River, died March 30, 2003, in Okanogan, Wash. He was 83 years of age.
John was born Dec. 27, 1919, in Clatskanie, Ore., the son of Charles and Hilma (Jurmu) Kesti.
Visitation will be held on April 3, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Gresham Funeral Chapel, 257 S.E. Roberts, Gresham. A funeral service will be held there on April 4, at 9:30 a.m.
Daniel Smith
Daniel Jay Smith, a Parkdale, Ore., resident, died March 28, 2003, at the Hood River Care Center. He was 55. Arrangements are pending at Anderson’s Tribute Center 386-1000.
Laura Johnston
Laura Johnston, a Hood River, Ore., resident, died March 31, 2003, at the Hood River Care Center. She was 98. Arrangements are pending at Anderson’s Tribute Center 386-1000.
Paul Walden
Retired Oregon radio broadcaster and radio station owner Paul E. Walden, who served three terms in the Oregon State House of Representatives in the 1970s, died Friday. He was 85.
A memorial service is planned for Wednesday, April 2, at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Hood River, where he was a longtime member. The Rev. Rustin R. Kimsey, retired Episcopal Bishop of Eastern Oregon, will deliver the eulogy.
Mr. Walden, the father of U.S. Rep. Greg Walden of Hood River, spent 48 years in radio broadcasting, working as an engineer and station manager at radio stations in Walla Walla, LaGrande and Pendleton. He worked at KODL radio in The Dalles for 27 years before purchasing KIHR radio in Hood River in 1967. He served twice as president of the Oregon Association of Broadcasters.
Mr. Walden earned his license as a Radiotelephone Operator First Class in 1937, after studying broadcast engineering at the Oregon Institute of Technology in Portland. He acquired his radio amateur (HAM) license in 1934, and remained an active radio amateur until quite recently, communicating with other radio amateurs around the globe, both by voice and by Morse Code.
He was in the U.S. Army Signal Corps in 1946 and 1947, stationed at Fort Monmouth, N.J.
Mr. Walden, who was born on a wheat ranch near Prescott, Wash., on May 7, 1917, to Ernest Edmund and Nellie Angeline Purdy Walden, grew up in Milton-Freewater and graduated from Mac-High in 1935.
He was a descendent of Oregon pioneers; his family came to the Oregon Territory by wagon train in 1845. The diary that his great-grandmother, Sarah J. Walden Cummins, kept of her journey on the Oregon Trail has been published as “The Autobiography and Reminiscences of Sarah J. Cummins.”
Mr. Walden’s survivors include three sons and their wives: Bob and Connie Walden of Phoenix, Ariz.; Bill and Sandy Walden of Gresham; and Greg and Mylene Walden of Hood River.
He also is survived by a stepson, two stepdaughters, and their spouses: Mike and Val Tenney of The Dalles; Barb and Mitch Hosford of Hood River and Jo Ann and Lewis Wixon of The Dalles.
Other survivors include two grandsons, Mathew Walden of Gresham and Anthony Walden of Hood River, and two sisters, Eleanor Day of Kellog, Idaho, and Ginger Delk of Ridgecrest, Calif.
In 1940 in LaGrande, he married
Betty McEwen, who died in 1990. His second wife, Ethel Mae Tenney Walden, died in 1999.
He served as a lay reader in the Episcopal Church for 50 years, and had been a member of the Diocesan Council for the Episcopal Diocese of Eastern Oregon, serving for two years as council chairman.
Mr. Walden, who greatly appreciated hearing — and telling — a good story, also was a community activist. He was named First Citizen of The Dalles in 1956, where he was president of Kiwanis, twice president of The Dalles Chamber of Commerce, and a member of the chamber’s board of directors. He chaired The Dalles Dam dedication committee, and served as the master of ceremonies when then-Vice President Richard M. Nixon dedicated the dam in the mid-1950s.
He was a former Exalted Ruler of the Hood River Elks Lodge, and also was a member of Hood River Rotary, the Pendleton Masonic Lodge, Al Kader Shrine and Portland Valley of the Scottish Rite.
The family suggests memorials to Hospice of the Gorge, c/o Anderson’s Tribute Center, 1401 Belmont, Hood River, OR 97031.
Ralph Sherrell
Services for Hood River, Ore. resident Ralph Sherman Sherrell will be held on Friday, April 4, 2003, at 2 p.m. at Anderson’s Tribute Center followed by vault interment at Idlewild cemetery.
Ralph Sherrell, age 91, died March 30, 2003, at the Hood River Care Center.
He was born Oct. 25, 1911, in Hood River, Ore., to Charles and Nettie Belle (Crapper) Sherrell. The oldest of 10 children, Ralph was raised and educated in Hood River. He worked as a logger for several years before going to work for J. Mar Lumber Company in the 1940s. Ralph then worked as a Hood River police officer, and also worked for Frigidaire and Puddy’s Tire Shop. In the 1950s he went to work for Apple City Distributors, which he later purchased. He retired in 1974. In 1933, he and Lodene Morrow were married
. She died in 1979. In 1980 he and Theresa Clarke were married
. Ralph had served as Exalted Ruler of the Hood River Elks Lodge. He enjoyed fishing and hunting.
He is survived by his wife, Theresa Sherrell of Hood River; daughter Bev Rowland of Pasco, Wash.; son Ed Sherrell of Black Butte Ranch, Ore.; sisters Wanita Griffith of Hood River, and Marian Hill of Salem, Ore.; brother Wilbur Sherrell of Charbonneau, Ore.; stepchildren John Rath and Kathy Durr, both of Hood River; Tom Rath of California and Rick Rath of Portland, Ore. Nine grandchildren, fifteen great grandchildren, two great great grandchildren, nine step grandchildren, nine step great grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews also survive.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Elks Children’s Eye Clinic c/o Anderson’s Tribute Center.
Lindy Sonnabend
Lindy Leroy Sonnabend (Bull of The Woods), 75, a resident of Hood River, Ore., died at a Portland hospital, on Saturday, March 29, 2003.
Lindy was born May 25, 1927, in Yakima, Wash., the 11th of 13 children to William and Gertrude (Phelps) Sonnabend. He was raised in Yakima and enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1945.
He married
Norma Jeanne Tibbets on April 18, 1950, in Yuma, Ariz.
After the service he returned to the Northwest working construction for Pacific Power & Light and settled in Hood River in 1960. Lindy worked as a lineman for PP and L until the mid-1980s when he retired as a foreman. After a short retirement he returned to the work force doing the job he loved until 1999, when he retired “for the last time.”
Lindy was a member of the Hood River Elks Lodge, enjoyed the outdoors, hunting and fishing and loved his grandchildren.
He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Norma Jeanne; three sons and one daughter and their families, Greg and his wife, Lu Sonnabend, and their children, Johnathan, Christopher, Kristen, Jordan, and Jonah, Anchorage, Alaska; Phil and his wife, Denise Sonnabend, and their children, Shalene and Joshua, The Dalles; Bill Sonnabend and his children, Rachelle Sohler and Skye, Portland; Cheryl Sonnabend and her son Brent Sumner, The Dalles; his brother, Bill Sonnabend; three sisters Rilla Peterson, Betty Turpin, and Darlene Thompson.
Funeral Services will be held at Spencer, Libby & Powell Funeral Home in The Dalles at 10 a.m. on Saturday, April 5, with Rev. Lynn Taylor officiating. A memorial is also planned from 2-4 p.m. Saturday at Hood River Elks. Interment will follow in the Veteran’s Section at The Dalles Parklawn cemetery. Memorials may be made to Meals on Wheels, 1112 W. 9th St., The Dalles, OR 97058.
