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Faye McCormick
Faye McCormick, of Portland, Ore., and
formerly of Hood River, passed away on Monday, Dec. 22, 2008, at
West Hills Health and Rehabilitation Center in Portland at 82
years of age.
She was born on Wednesday, Oct. 13,
1926, in Hood River. She was the only child of Francis William
and Verna Faye (Surrett) Absten. The family lived on Seventh
Street, right next door to her maternal grandparents, W. Frank
and Olive O. (Morse) Surrett, and their son, “Uncle Cliff.”
Little Faye dubbed her grandparents “Ma and Dada” and in return
was called “Tink,”
She grew when pianos, not televisions,
held the central part of the living room, and Faye started
singing and playing sitting next to her mother. A note tucked
away in her Bible 20 years after her mother’s death describes
that lasting memory.
Faye attended church and schools in Hood
River as she grew up. She was a member and sang in the choir of
the Asbury United Methodist Church. In high school she sang in
the girls’ glee club, started collecting sheet music and
records, and dated Jack McCormick. She made her first money
picking berries and apples, scooping hard ice cream and ushering
at the Rialto Theater when she was not at games or dances with
Jack.
While Jack was in the army, she
graduated and worked for the First National Bank downtown. Faye
and Jack married on Nov. 27, 1944. After World War II they lived
in “the project” apartments downstairs from their lifelong
friends, Bob and Zelma (Bryant) Level. There is not enough time
to tell all those stories, but they were good times.
Baby boomer number one, Jennifer Faye,
was born on Jan. 19, 1947, and Faye and family moved to Eighth
Street. After a few years baby boomer number two, Colleen Rae
McCormick, arrived on Dec. 19, 1950. Like her mother, Faye
taught her girls to sing harmony and to love all types of music,
which resulted in the living room productions of “The McCormick
Sisters.”
After moving to Portland, Faye and Jack
divorced and she started working for U.S. National Bank of
Oregon where she remained for more than 32 years before
retiring.
Faye married Richard Davies in 1957, but
the marriage was annulled about a year later. In 1960 she
married Charles “Chuck” Pearson and became a stepmother to his
son, Mark. Together Faye, Chuck and family enjoyed some great
camping and fishing trips around Oregon, Wisconsin and British
Columbia.
At home they divided their time watching
football and Faye’s favorite classic movies. She never missed an
opportunity to see “White Christmas” and “The Wizard of Oz”
anytime they were shown.
In 1966 she got her driver’s license and
became a grandmother for the first time when Jennifer and her
husband, Richard, had their son, Richard.
The next year, 1967, was a very tough
year; Faye was with her mother when she died of cancer in
February, and weeks later with her daughter when she was
notified that her husband had been killed in Vietnam. Shortly
after her third grandchild was born, Faye lost her father to
cancer and Faye and Chuck divorced.
Faye shared housing with friends over
the years after her divorce: Louise Knight, of Portland, and
Dorothy McCormick and “Bud” Carr, both formerly from Hood River.
Dorothy and Faye traveled to New York
and Hawaii during their time together, a real high point for
both of them. Bud and Faye attended jazz events and camped
around the state visiting lots of mutual friends and listening
to lots of music.
The 1980s brought her three grandsons
and lots of trips to Lake St. Louis, Mo.
Faye moved back to Hood River to an
apartment in 1990, and was able to spend lots of time with her
hometown friends. In 2000 she suffered a bleeding stroke that
made living on her own impossible. After a year of physical
therapy and convalescence she was one of the first residents in
the Hawks Ridge Assisted Living apartments. She lived there for
five years, where she celebrated her 80th birthday with friends
and family.
In June of 2007 after a short hospital
stay she moved to the West Hills Health and Rehabilitation
Center in Portland, where she continued to sing when the mood
struck her.
Arrangements are under the direction of
Anderson’s Tribute Center (Funerals, Receptions, Cremations),
1401 Belmont Ave., Hood River, OR 97031; (541) 386-1000. Please
visit
www.andersonstributecenter.com to sign the family guest
book.
Evelyn Mann
Evelyn Jennie Mann, an Odell, Ore.,
resident, died Jan. 6, 2009, at Oregon Health Sciences
University Hospital in Portland, Ore. She was 88 years of age.
Funeral services will be held on
Saturday, Jan. 10, at 10 a.m. at Anderson’s Tribute Center. A
reception will follow.
Evelyn was born March 12, 1920, in
Morland, Kansas, to Lawrence and Jennie (Wills) Matheson. She
came to the Hood River Valley in 1935 and attended Odell High
School. On Aug. 20, 1938, she and Carroll “Dykie” Mann were
married.
Evelyn had worked as a teacher’s
assistant at Odell Grade School and also worked seasonally at
local packing houses. She was a member of the Odell United
Methodist Church and the Sunset Circle at Odell United Methodist
Church. Evelyn enjoyed traveling, fishing, hunting, her flower
garden, sewing, making quilts and collecting artifacts and
antiques.
She was preceded in death by her
parents, husband and three brothers, Leonard, Charles and
Robert.
Evelyn is survived by two sons, Richard
Mann, of The Dalles, Ore., and Gary Mann and his wife, Jeanne,
of Gresham, Ore.; grandchildren Tracey Bluhm and Keenan, Rachel,
Stephanie and Tom Mann; great-grandchildren Jade, Jordan, Ronnie
and Max Mann and Tanner Burns. Step-grandchildren Angela Davis
and Bryan Westby, step-great-granddaughter, Azure Navarro, and
numerous nieces and nephews also survive.
Interment will be at Pine Grove
Cemetery.
Memorial contributions may be made to
Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in care of Anderson’s Tribute
Center (Funerals, Receptions, Cremations), 1401 Belmont Ave.,
Hood River, OR 97031; (541) 386-1000.
Please visit
www.andersonstributecenter.com to view and print the
obituary and sign the guest book for family.
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