Roger Campbell
A memorial service for Roger Campbell will be held at 1 p.m. on
Saturday, Aug. 9, at Gardner Funeral Home in White Salmon.
Roger Owen Campbell, son of Fay Josephine (Marlett)
and Glenn Edwards Campbell, was born Oct. 21, 1958, in Lake
Chelan, Wash. He moved to White Salmon in 1960 then to
Underwood, where he was raised, in 1963.
Though he had been in poor health since his
20s, Roger was a very strong person. He loved music and made his
living as a professional musician, playing keyboard, drums and
guitar.
Roger was a very mechanical person and also
worked at various jobs driving truck, crushing rock, and as a
mechanic. He enjoyed riding his Honda V45 motorcycle and hot
rodding, which he called “throttle therapy.”
Roger passed away in Underwood on Aug. 2,
2008, at the age of 49.
He will be missed by his son, John Frazier,
of Oregon City; brothers and sisters Steve Campbell, of White
Salmon, Cathy Asher, of Vancouver, David Campbell, of Vancouver,
Wendy Schmid, of Trout Lake, Laurie Carr, of Hood River, and
Beth Cummins, of St. Petersburg, Fla. He was preceded in death
by his parents.
Shirley Lee Wilhite
April 4, 1929 – Aug. 2, 2008
A loving tribute by her son, Michael Wilhite
Shirley Lee Wilhite, of Hood River, died at
age 79 of pulmonary hypertension. She is survived by her husband
of 62 years, Raymond A. Wilhite; sons Michael and Bruce,
daughter Karen, three grandsons: Clint, Brian and Jeffrey; six
granddaughters: Teresa, Richelle, Madeleine, Wendy, Stephanie
and Laurel; and nine great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by daughters Wendy
and Cynthia.
A funeral ceremony is scheduled for 2 p.m.
Thursday, Aug. 7, at Valley Christian Church, 975 Indian Creek
Road. Pastor Terry Abbott of the River of Life Assembly of God
Church will officiate. A viewing is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 5
p.m. at Anderson’s Tribute Center, 1401 Belmont Ave., Hood
River, on Wednesday, Aug. 6.
Shirley was born in Hollywood, Calif., as
Shirley Lee Shaw, to Gladys Raush and Carlos Shaw. The mother
and child were later taken in by Gladys’ parents in Denver,
Colo., where Shirley attended East High School and worked as a
retail clerk for Denver Dry Goods.
At age 16, Shirley met Raymond A. Wilhite,
recently discharged from the U.S. Navy and player of tenor
saxophone in a dance band. Following a brief courtship, Ray and
Shirley married on Nov. 30, 1946.
The couple moved to Boulder where Ray
attended the University of Colorado. Their first child, Cynthia,
was born in 1949. Ray graduated in 1950, and the young family
moved to Las Cruces, N.M., where Ray worked at White Sands
Proving Grounds and Shirley for Douglas Aircraft. Following the
path of Ray’s career, the family moved next to Phoenix, Ariz.,
where son Michael was born in 1951, then to San Mateo, Calif.,
where daughter Wendy was born in 1956.
In 1956, the family settled in La Habra,
Calif., where they lived and prospered until 1975. They were
active members of Temple Baptist Church, where both Shirley and
Ray taught Sunday school. Their son, Bruce, was born in 1959.
Shirley was a devoted mother, supporting her
children’s interests in school, sports and music. She also
pursued craft work and oil painting. Daughter Wendy was stricken
with childhood leukemia and died at age 8 in 1964.
In later years Shirley applied the strength
and knowledge gained from this painful ordeal to the work of
helping others in their times of need. The couple’s fifth and
youngest child, Karen, was born in 1966.
In 1972, Ray and Shirley made their first
visit to Hood River Valley. It was love at first sight. In 1975,
the family moved into their present home on Thomsen Road and
began operating a 50-acre apple and pear orchard.
Shirley took charge of the 1911 house and
also helped on the orchard. She taught home economics at the
Horizon Christian School. An upstairs room of the home became
her art studio, and she produced many oil paintings, and
handcrafted sewn creations under the name “Countryside Charm by
Shirley.”
Shirley made many friends in the Hood River
Valley, at church and through other connections in the
community. She loved to entertain, and often took charge of
hospitality for church events. The home on Thomsen Road was a
favorite meeting place for bible study, social events, and for
family gatherings.
One such occasion was Ray and Shirley’s gala
50th wedding anniversary celebration in November 1996. Shirley
took a loving interest in the lives of her grandchildren, and
each to this day remembers special times on the farm with
grandparents.
As the years passed and grandchildren started
families of their own, a new generation of Wilhites has come to
know and love their great-grandparents.
In later years, Ray and Shirley enjoyed road
trips throughout the western states. Among Shirley’s favorite
destinations were Calgary, Jackson Hole and Santa Fe. At home,
Shirley loved the nature around the farm, such as the squirrels
in the walnut tree outside her kitchen window. Other simple
pleasures included the family dog, Annie; “Days of our Lives”
every day at 2 p.m., the Portland Trail Blazers, and shopping;
her last trip was to IKEA, complete with walker and oxygen.
On Tuesday, July 29, 2008, a few days before
her death, Shirley received visits from two newborn
great-grandchildren. When there was nothing left to be done for
her rare condition, she asked to be brought home to Hood River.
Shirley was lucid and cheerful to the end;
Aug. 1 was a day of loving conversation and prayer with family,
and she passed quietly on Aug. 2.
Shirley will be remembered as a devoted wife,
mother, grand- and great-grandmother, a treasured friend, a
great force for good in the community, and a loyal servant of
God.
Katherine Couch
Katherine “Hap” Couch was born to Robert and
Myrtle Vaughan, of Hood River, Ore., on Oct. 31, 1909. She grew
up on 13th Street in a home that her father built in 1906. She
graduated from Hood River High School with the class of 1928.
She was on the tumbling team, a precursor to gymnastics.
At the height of the Great Depression she
moved to Portland to work at the Jantzen factory, sewing
swimsuits. She met and married Harold Bryant and they had two
sons, Robert and William. After Harold’s death in 1943, she
worked at the Diamond Fruit cannery and in the office of Dr. W.T.
Edmundson to support her family.
In 1948 she married John Couch and settled
into life on their Tucker Road pear orchard. Together they had
two children, Martha and David. John and Hap were members of the
“One Hundred Club,” a formal dance club held monthly at the
Columbia Gorge Hotel in the late 1940s and ‘50s.
She served on the Hood River School Board in
the 1950s and on the Hood River County Fair Board into the
1970s. She was a member of the Hood River Garden Club and the
Riverside Church, and she played bridge monthly with the same
group of women friends for more than 50 years.
Hap loved music, especially jazz from the
1920s and ‘30s, and played piano by ear. In retirement she and
John traveled to the Southwest and into Mexico in their motor
home and annually created wonderful flower and vegetable
gardens, passing their love of growing things on to their
children and grandchildren. The annual fall Cider “squeezin’s”
was one of her favorite events with family and friends.
Her four sisters and two brothers preceded
her in death. Her son, Bill, preceded her in death in 1980 and
her husband, John, in 2004 after 56 years together.
Hap is survived by her son, Bob Bryant; her
son, David Couch, and daughter-in-law, Mary; her daughter,
Martha Couch, and son-in-law, Wally; and many grandchildren and
great-grandchildren, and nieces and nephews.
The family thanks the great staff at
Brookside Manor, who cared for Hap for seven and a half years
until her death at age 98 on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2008.
Family and friends are invited to Brookside
Manor on Saturday, Aug. 9, from 1-3 p.m., to share in
remembrance.
Arrangements are under the direction of
Anderson’s Tribute Center (Funerals, Receptions, Cremations),
1401 Belmont Ave., Hood River, OR 97031. Please visit
www.andersonstributecen-ter.com to sign the guest book for
family.
Sayre Taft Colt
Sayre Taft Colt was born in White Salmon,
Wash., on Aug. 6, 1998, and died Aug 2, 2008, at Doernbecher
Children’s Hospital after a failed 30-day attempt to fight off a
MRSA bacteria that had consumed his lungs and finally all his
major organs.
Sayre was a very outgoing and well-loved
young boy throughout the Hood River and Stevenson communities;
his smile and personality affected everyone he came in contact
with. He will be missed by all of his classmates at May Street
Elementary and his teammates in the many sports in which he
participated.
He loved windsurfing, snowboarding, played
tennis and soccer and was most recently selected the “Most
Improved Player” by his coaches and teammates on the Les Schwab
Little League Baseball team.
This fall Sayre was to have started his first
year in football through Hood River Community Education. He was
very excited about this and looking ahead to when he could play
for his favorite team, the Indianapolis Colts. He was destined
to be a great man; we all suffer from his loss and can now only
be grateful for the short time he brightened our lives.
Sayre Taft Colt is survived by his father, J.
McGregor “Greg” Colt, of Hood River; his mother, Charmaine
Conlan Colt, of Stevenson, Wash.; and six siblings: Kaylee Ann
Colt, 12, of Hood River, Courtney Ann Colt, of Los Angeles,
Maurice Conlan Colt, of Stevenson, Parisa Tangestani-Nejad, of
Los Angeles, Amir Tangestani-Nejad, of Los Angeles, and Harley
Hays Colt and his wife, Laurie, and two children, Ian and Riley,
of Puyallup, Wash.
Present in his room at his passing were his
mother and father, eight of his aunts and uncles and five of his
siblings. The outpouring of support and prayers from the entire
Gorge community during the final days of his life was phenomenal
and greatly appreciated by the entire family.
Funeral services will be held at 3 p.m.
Friday, Aug. 8, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, 1501 Belmont
Ave., Hood River. Graveside rites will follow at St. Mary’s
Catholic Cemetery. Following the graveside committal everyone is
invited to a reception behind St. Mary’s in the baseball field
where Sayre enjoyed many afternoons.
All who knew Sayre are encouraged to attend
the services and the celebration of his life immediately
following the graveside services.
Arrangements are under the direction of Anderson’s Tribute
Center (Funerals, Receptions, Cremations) 1401 Belmont Ave.,
Hood River, OR 97031. Please visit
www.andersonstributecenter.com to sign the guest book for
family.