Obituaries for March 2, 2009

Gracie Valentine

Gracie Lee Valentine, 89, of Baker City, died Feb. 26, 2009, at St. Elizabeth Care Center.

No service is planned at this time.

Gracie was born on Aug. 12, 1919, at Broken Bow, Okla., to Murphy and Edith Leslie Sossaman. She was married and raised her four children at Tulare, Calif. She had lived in Baker County for the last 29 years.

Survivors include her three daughters, Cleta Sanders and husband, Elmer, of Baker City, Helen Clark and her husband, Jim, of California and Kathryn Savio of Baker City; and numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.

Memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society through Gray’s West & Co. Pioneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey Ave., Baker City, OR 97814.

Ellen Roop

Ellen Elizabeth Roop, 93, a longtime Baker City resident, died Feb. 24, 2009, at St. Elizabeth Health Care Center.

Her graveside service was at 10 a.m. today at Mount Hope Cemetery. Pastor Roger Scovil of the Baker City Christian Church officiated.

She was born on March 18, 1915, at La Grande to Avon O. and Ethel C. Plummer Baird. She was the second oldest of 11 children.

She married Harmon Roop in September of 1938.

Survivors include her sisters, Hazel Pearson of Hood River, Ruby Phillips of Pendleton, and Reba Hansen of Baker City; a niece, Annette, whom she raised as her own; and many additional nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, three brothers and four sisters.

Memorial contributions may be made to a charity of one’s choice through Coles Funeral Home, 1950 Place St., Baker City, OR 97814.

Audrey Vaughan

Audrey Elizabeth Vaughan, 46, of Shedd, a former Baker County resident, died Tuesday near Harrisburg.

Visitations with the urn present will be from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. today at Fisher Funeral Home in Albany. Her memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Sweet Home Community Chapel, 42250 Ames Creek Road, Sweet Home.

Audrey was born on Dec. 25, 1962, at Corvallis to John and Barbara Becker Skiles. She grew up in the rural Willamette Valley, attending school at Knappa, where her family dairy farmed.

She then moved to Eastern Oregon, where she was highly involved in the family ranch. She was a 1981 Baker High School graduate.

Audrey attended Eastern Oregon University and then Linn-Benton Community College, where she received her associate’s degree in horticulture. She also studied animal science while she was there. She was very active in 4-H and won many awards for beef, dairy, and swine.

She married James Vaughan at Harrisburg on Aug. 29, 1988.

Audrey greatly enjoyed family gathering, scrapple fees, crabbing, and hunting and fishing trips, as she was an avid hunter and fisherman. She also enjoyed horticulture, crafts, and scrapbooking. She was very creative.

Audrey attended Sweet Home Community Chapel and was a member of the Oregon Thoroughbred Racing Association, as well as her leadership involvement in Greenback 4-H.

Audrey worked for Evanite at Corvallis for several years before devoting her life to her family as a full-time mother and business partner. Most recently, she worked part time for the Shedd Post Office as a rural carrier associate.

Survivors include her husband, James Vaughan of Shedd; son, Morgan Vaughan of Shedd; daughter, Kaylie Vaughan of Shedd; parents, John and Barbara Skiles of Toledo; brothers, John Skiles of Redmond, and Douglas Skiles of Harrisburg; and sisters, Dolly Victorine of Blodgett, and Jacquie Wierup of Astoria.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Audrey Vaughan Scholarship Fund at Central Linn through Fisher Funeral Home, 306 Washington St. S.W., Albany, OR 97321. (www.fisherfuneralhome.com)

Tina Agee

Tina Mae Agee, 40, of Baker City died on Feb. 14, 2009.

A private service will be scheduled later.

She was born on July 21, 1968, at Eugene. Tina moved to Burns and lived there through her high school years.

Tina worked for many years as an over-the-road truck driver and had visited every state except Hawaii.

She enjoyed camping, hunting, fishing and being outdoors. She was very involved in the community of Metolius and was a member of the Madras Lady Elks and Metolius Friends Church.

Survivors include her two children, Rob Hinton Jr. and his wife, Erin, of Fort Worth, Texas, Megan Hinton of Bend; her husband Darrell Agee of Metolius; her parents, Kathleen and Earl Patteeuw of Redmond; brothers, Charles Patteeuw of Redmond, James Patteeuw and Ronnie Patteeuw, both of Burns; sisters, Karen Durfee of Madras, Michelle Patteeuw of Vancouver, Wash., Marie Kay Williams and her husband, Jason, of Warm Springs, and Maria Patteeuw of Burns; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Tina was preceded in death by her grandparents, John and Lois Jones of Boardman; nephew, William Hensley Jr. of Burns; and former mother-in-law, Evelyn Hinton of Hines.

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

‘Charlie’ Stoaks

Charles Alexander “Charlie” Stoaks, 79, of Baker City, died Feb. 25, 2009, at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise.

There will be a celebration of Charlie’s life and memorial service at 11 a.m. Thursday at Calvary Baptist Church, 2107 Third St. Friends are invited to join the family for a reception afterward in Browning Hall.

Charlie was born on Dec. 6, 1929, at Monterey Park, Calif., to Robert and Bessie Shaw Stoaks. The family initially moved to Nyssa when he was in the eighth grade, but after a short time moved on to Vale where the family bought a farm.

Charlie joined the U.S. Navy when he was 18 and in his words, “served one year, one month, one week and one day.” Charlie married Rosalie Bissonnett on Dec. 18, 1949, at Athena. They made their home in Baker City and raised eight children of their own and many foster children.

Charlie worked as a custodian and later in maintenance for the Baker School District 5J for 33 years. During this time he also owned a local monument business.

After his retirement from the school district, he went to work for St. Elizabeth Hospital for nine years.

Charlie enjoyed camping and backpacking when his children were young. He enjoyed riding his motorcycle and was especially talented in oil painting. Charlie always wanted to learn as much as he could about everything.

He was definitely a people person. He loved to talk whether you listened or not. He never knew a stranger and was willing to give, no matter the need, he would offer it if he could.

In 1972, Charlie received the “Father of the Year” award from the Baker County CowBelles. His children say, that every year he was “Father of the Year” to them. Charlie loved his children and each one of them knew they were special in his eyes.

He enjoyed going for car rides. He had a way of seeing beauty when no one else could. He also kept a prayer journal of all of those he had prayed for over the years. And yes, your name is most likely in it.

He was preceded in death by his parents; a son, Robert, who died when he was 12 hours old in 1950; a son, David, who died of a brain tumor at age 11 in 1956; and a brother, James Stoaks.

Survivors include his wife, Rosalie; six children, Jani and Mo Sakultarawattn of St. Helens, Ron and Rochelle Stoaks, Steve and Fran Stoaks, Alida and Rob Saunders and Amy Stoaks, all of Baker City, and Gary and Devin Stoaks of Alaska; foster children, Jim Smith of La Grande and Connie and Ben Wilds of Portland; 32 grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren;  four brothers and four sisters; and many nieces and nephews.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Calvary Baptist Church Youth Group Missionary Trip through Tami’s Pine Valley Funeral Home, P.O. Box 543, Halfway, OR 97834.

‘Tim’ Rutter

Timothy C. “Tim” Rutter, 56, a lifetime Baker City resident, died Feb. 26, 2009, at his home.

His memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Baker City Church of the Nazarene, 1250 Hughes Lane.

Tim was born on Dec. 23, 1952, at Baker City to Lester and Elaine Tracy Rutter. He grew up and went to school in Baker City.

He worked for the Baker City Herald as circulation manager upon leaving high school. He married Dana D. Christy on Sept. 20, 1975, and took on the role of father to her 2-year-old son, Sean.

Soon after their marriage he went to work for the U.S. Forest Service, first as a temporary employee and then full time in the print shop. He also did a summer stint with the Redmond Hot Shots fire crew.

He became a father again in 1976 with the birth of a daughter, Sarah. After several years working in the print shop, he transferred into telecommunications as a technician. He continued to work fires as a communications tech on an incident management team.

Eventually, with promotions, he was hired as the telecommunications supervisor for the Wallowa-Whitman, Umatilla and Malheur Forests. He continued with seasonal fire work moving from working on overhead teams to working as a single resource communications coordinator on large fire complexes.

He would work for at least a couple of weeks each summer at BIFC (Boise Interagency Fire Center). He was also part of a training cadre to teach the skills he learned to train others for tech work on fire teams.

With all these duties, he traveled extensively throughout the United States and worked with people all across the country. He was very respected in his position as telecommunications supervisor and for his work on fires.

He loved this work and continued with the com coordinator work even after his retirement from the Forest Service in February 2008.

Tim loved to golf, ski, fish and to pick mushrooms in the spring and huckleberries in the late summer. He could always find a reason to head for the mountains or the river. His granddaughters brought a lot of joy to his life and he loved them dearly. He was a beloved husband, father, son, brother, grandfather, and friend.

Everyone who knew him knew that he had a quick and lethal sense of humor, family members said. Laughter was never in short supply around Tim.

His family hopes that he will be remembered “as a man with a deep sense of honesty, integrity and love of life.”

He was preceded in death by his father, Lester Rutter; his mother, Elaine Rutter Campbell; an infant sister, Valerie; and brothers, Victor John Rutter and Calvin Dean Rutter.

Survivors include his wife, Dana of Baker City; son, Sean Christy, and his partner, Keli Richardson, and their daughters, Makenzie and Kaytlin Christy, of Portland; his daughter, Sarah Meyer, her husband, Doug, and their daughters, Jordan and Jasmine Meyer, of Waterloo, Iowa; and a brother, Cameron Rutter of Baker City.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Baker City Chapter of Special Olympics through Coles Funeral Home, 1950 Place St., Baker City, OR 97814.