Those of you with long memories will recall that I used to read and to
write about obituaries. I stopped because our local newspaper shrank to the
point that it wasn’t worth subscribing any more. I replaced that subscription
with one to the New York Times, which is a fine morning read but does not
supply the same sort of material. For reasons known only to the Oregonian’s
owners, we’ve now been awarded a free temporary subscription to what’s left of
that paper. This morning I turned to the obits.
Bob Schuberg was born to Hazel Schuberg née Winegar. He flew eighteen
missions as a tail gunner on a B-17. Then he became an elementary school
teacher. Donald “Don” Shine served with the First Cavalry in Vietnam; Larry
David Wood was drafted into the army during the Vietnam war and served two
years. Edward E. Hale joined the navy in 1944 and was reactivated to serve in
the “Korean Conflict.”
Helen Jean Dietrich was schooled in seven colleges, including the Moody
Bible Institute. Anita Witt, daughter of a Jewish mother survived the Nazis,
the obit claimed, because her father was a Protestant doctor and had won the
iron cross in the First World War.
Ann Van Duyn Pagenstecher died at 100 years old.
Marquam Hughes Longwood had a nephew named Tasman. Daniel Duane Sales
died on the big island of Hawaii. “Many believe Madame Pele is crying for his
passing.”
Daniel Deyo Bloomer was a long time square dancer. He was a member of
the “Valley Squares” and the “4n8ers.”
Timothy H. Meyer was raised on a family farm “in” Salem. He graduated
with a philosophy degree from the University of San Francisco, and did further
studies at the Université Catholique de Louvain where he bought a “deux
chevaux” and travelled through Europe and Russia. He attended law school for
two years and then got a degree in International Finance. He worked for a bank
in New York and then moved to London. In 1989 he teamed up with a fellow
Oregonian to launch and manufacture Kettle Chips in Norfolk, England, which is
a brand you may know.
Carry on.
David Ritchie,
Portland, Oregon
