Obituaries: Fred Reynolds, Ella Tarter

Fred Reynolds

Fred E. Reynolds, 82, of Baker City died Sept. 14, 2006 at St. Elizabeth Health Services.

Visitations will be from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. today at Coles Funeral Home, 1950 Place St.

His funeral will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Coles Funeral Home. Bob Richmond of the Blue Mountain Masonic Lodge will officiate. Friends are invited to a reception at the family home after the funeral. Private interment will be later at Mount Hope Cemetery.

Fred was born on Oct. 21, 1923, at home, near Judsonia, Ark., to Louisa and William Reynolds. He was the youngest of eight children. He attended grammar school in Arkansas, moving to California in 1938 where he started high school. He was a 1942 Modesto High School graduate.

He then went to work as an aircraft mechanic in Sacramento, Calif., before enlisting in the U.S. Army Air Force in April of 1943. In May of 1943 he married Elaine Bertsche at Sacramento.

In August, he was shipped to England with the 8th Air Force, working on B-17s. He returned to the states in August of 1945.

After his discharge, the couple moved to Modesto, Calif., where he worked as a land leveler. In 1951, they bought property at Pleasant Grove, Calif., where he farmed until retiring in 1981. In 1991 he moved to Baker City, where he enjoyed hunting deer and elk and fishing.

He was a past master of Nicolaus Lodge 129, AF&AM of Wheatland, Calif., a past patron of Wheatland Chapter of Order of Eastern Star of Wheatland, Calif., and a member of the Baker Valley Scottish Rite Bodies of Oregon.

Fred was preceded in death by his parents, four sisters and three brothers.

Survivors include his wife Elaine; his children, Nadine Gibbs and her husband, Rick, and son, Bill Reynolds, and his wife, Jane; grandchildren, William Reynolds and his wife, Jeanette, Marie Kustner and her husband, Philip, and John Gibbs and his wife, Lora; three great-grandsons and five great-granddaughters; and nieces, Thelma McClelland and Bonnie Bordie, and nephews, David, Kenneth and Jim Reynolds.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Shriners Hospital for Children or the charity of one's choice through Coles Funeral Home, 1950 Place St., Baker City, OR 97814.

Ella Tarter

Ella Bell Huff Tarter, 95, a lifetime Pine Valley resident, died Sept. 11, 2006.

Her funeral was Friday at the Pine Valley Presbyterian Church in Halfway. Leonard Hill officiated. Ella was buried beside her husband, Walt, at Pine Haven Cemetery in Halfway. Friends joined the family after the service for a reception and luncheon at the Pine Valley Presbyterian Fellowship Hall.

Ella was born to Bert and Gladys Oliver Huff on Nov. 6, 1910, in Pine Valley. Like her mother before her, she rode horseback or walked to all of her years of school. Ella's grandparents were the ninth family to settle in Pine Valley in 1880. Like her pioneer ancestors, Ella spent her entire life working the land.

Ella and her late husband, Walt, were married the summer of 1933 and spent their honeymoon in a Forest Service Lookout in Idaho. They purchased their ranch on Sunnydell Lane in 1944 and remained on this ranch for the rest of their lives.

Ella was an avid gardener and homemaker. She worked side by side with Walt in all aspects of ranching. Although she and Walt had no children of their own, they helped raise all of Ella's nieces and nephews.

Survivors include one sister, Billee Howard; and six nieces and seven nephews.

Memorial contributions may be made to the charity of one's choice through Tami's Pine Valley Funeral Home, P.O. Box 543 Halfway, OR 97834.