Obituaries for June 11, 2010

Wayne Welch

Wayne Lester Welch, 93, of Baker City, died at Meadowbrook Retirement and Residential Care Facility on June 7, 2010.

At Wayne’s request, there will be no service. A private celebration of his life will be scheduled later.

Wayne was born on Nov. 21, 1916, at Wellfleet, Neb., to Delbert Webster and Clara Beth Cooper Welch. He grew up on a farm in Nebraska.

After graduating from Logan County High School, he joined the U.S. Navy where he spent four years. He returned to Nebraska where he married Idris Dillon on March 8, 1941. They lived on a farm in Nebraska until they moved to Vernonia in 1952.

Wayne worked for the school district, becoming a maintenance supervisor for the four schools. He retired from there after 27 years.

Wayne started playing a saxophone in his early teen years. He played for many dances in Nebraska and still loved to play until a few months ago. Wayne loved to hunt and fish. He also did wood carvings for a hobby.

Wayne and Idris moved to Baker City in 1998.

Survivors include his wife, Idris; sons, Larry, and his wife, Lorna Welch, of Zeballos, British Columbia, Canada, Ronald and his wife, Sandy Welch, of Vernonia, Leon “Shorty” Welch of Richland, Darwin and his wife, Linda Welch of Vernonia; daughters, Darlene, and her husband, Bryan McLeod, of Vernonia, and Gayle and her husband, Clifford Yokley, of Atwater, Calif.; one sister, Betty Zufall of Loudenville, Ohio; sister-in-law, Toni Welch of Fresno, Calif.; 12 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Memorial contributions may be made to a charity of one’s choice through Gray’s West & Co. Pioneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey Ave., Baker City, OR 97814.

Mary Boyd

Her graveside funeral will be at noon PDT Saturday at Riverside Cemetery in Payette, Idaho. There will be a viewing from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. PDT prior to the service at Shaffer-Jensen Memory Chapel in Payette. Condolences may be made to the family at:

www.shaffer-jensenchapel.com.

Mary Alice Neal was born on July 31, 1917, at Clearmont, Mo. She was the fifth child born to Alvin Luther and Harriet Susan Taylor Neal.

She attended the rural Independence one-room school through the eighth grade, which was all that was offered. She loved school and was allowed to repeat the eighth grade to further her education while helping on the family farm.

She met her future husband, Loral Eugene Boyd, at the community church they both attended. They were married on Sept. 4, 1935. Times were hard with the Depression, drought, and the grasshoppers eating all of the crops on the family farms.

In August of 1936, they traveled west with Loral’s parents in a Model T Ford, arriving at Boise with two suitcases and $50. It looked like heaven to them with the green fields of row crops, orchards, and irrigation ditches filled with water.

After a few years of working to pick fruit and hops in Idaho, cranberries on the Washington Coast and various other agricultural-related jobs, they settled down at Payette, Idaho, where their daughter, Wanda Jean, was born.

Being a carpenter’s daughter, Mary Alice could saw a board or pound a nail and helped build the home she lived in for the next 50 years.

Mary Alice worked hard as a homemaker, raising chickens, growing a big garden and canning fruits and vegetables. She was always a good cook, loved to sew, and could make a dress without a pattern. She made beautiful hand-stitched quilts, embroidered and crocheted.

In later years, she enjoyed word or number-find puzzles as well as playing Mexican Train Dominoes. After 32 years of service, Loral retired from the Payette School District and they were able to spend most of their summers in the McCall, Idaho, area.

Some of her happiest moments were spent attending her grandsons’ academic and sports events. On Aug. 5, 1995, Mary Alice and Loral moved to Baker City to be closer to family. Loral died the next day.

 Mary Alice enjoyed the Baker City community and surrounding mountains. She loved to travel with Wanda and Vic in their RV when they attended bowling tournaments all over the Northwest.

She attended her great-grandchildren’s events as long as she could and made each of them a quilt. She continued to raise a garden even in her declining years and always enjoyed flowers and the birds she fed.

She will be remembered for always listening to someone’s problems and offering sage advice in a quiet way, showing interest in the activities and well-being of others, the wonderful family dinners she cooked and her love of holidays, her family said.

The family expressed special thanks to Annette, Carol, Debra, Lois, Toni, and Alice, whose dedicated care allowed her to remain at home for the past two years.

She was preceded in death by her parents; two brothers, Edgar Alvin and John Henry Neal; and a sister, Helen Neal.

Survivors include her daughter, Wanda, and son-in-law, Victor Groshens, of Baker City; a brother, Ercille Neal of Keaau, Hawaii; a sister, Irma Myers of Washougal, Wash.; two grandsons and their wives, Steve and Lynne Hawkins of Baker City and Scott and Leslie Hawkins of Union; a stepgrandson, Harry Groshens of Pendleton; great-grandchildren, Victoria Hawkins, Laura Hawkins, Jillian Hawkins and Caleb Hawkins, all of Baker City; and two stepgrandchildren, Nichole Groshens and Brandon Groshens of Pendleton.

Memorial contributions may be made to Heart ‘n’ Home Hospice, Doernbecher Hospital, or the charity of one’s choice, through Shaffer-Jensen Memory Chapel, P.O. Box 730, Payette, ID 83661.

Fairy Hammerberg

At the family’s request there will be no service.

Fairy was born on May 29, 1923, at Stonewall, Ark., to Bill and Mary Trotter Keys. She was home schooled. Her first husband was Roy Mitts.

She later married Dick Hammerberg. Fairy was a homemaker and she cleaned houses professionally. Fairy loved fishing, crocheting, sewing and gardening. She had quite the green thumb.

She loved raising her children and making people happy and was a great money manager, family members said.

She was preceded in death by her parents; 11 brothers and sisters; three children, Gail Mitts, Wayne Mitts and Donald Mitts; her first husband, Roy Mitts; and her second husband, Dick Hammerberg.

Survivors include five children, Jerry Mitts of Haines, Janet Mitts of Richland, Wash., Donna Hardy of Richland, Wash., Bert Mitts of Spokane, Wash., and Lori Davis of Astoria; 16 grandchildren; and 18 great-grandchildren.

Memorial contributions may be made to a charity of one’s choice through Gray’s West & Co. Pioneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey Ave., Baker City, OR 97814.