Wednesday, December 16, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
7
Sisters remembers Edith Leithauser
By Bonnie malone
Correspondent
“She was the first person I
met when we moved here, and
wanted to know everything
about me,” said a 50-year
resident of Sisters and friend
of Edith Leithauser.
That was Edith’s style.
There was never a more
friendly, happy, or interested
person in Sisters history.
The character of Maude, in
the 1970s cult movie “Harold
and Maude” could have been
inspired by Edith Leithauser.
“You really like people, don’t
you, Maude?” asked Harold.
Maude looked at him with an
impish grin and responded,
“They’re my species.” That
was the philosophy of Edith.
Leithauser, a resident of
Sisters for nearly 75 years,
died on December 2. She
and her husband, Pete, left
an imposing heritage on what
has become one of the most
popular tourist destinations in
Oregon.
Leithauser family influ-
ence has graced Sisters since
1911, when Pete’s grandfa-
ther opened a barber shop on
the corner of Fir Street and
Cascade Avenue. In 1941,
Edith and Pete acquired the
Leithauser Grocery from his
father, who had opened the
market in the early 1920s in
the former barber shop.
The Leithausers raised five
children in the back of their
grocery store, which eventu-
ally encompassed the current
Sisters Bakery, Sisters Drug
& Gift and Melvin’s Fir Street
Market, as both the family
and the grocery expanded.
The couple had a profound
effect on their Catholic faith,
rodeo, and social life in Sis-
ters Country.
The family attended St.
Thomas Catholic Church in
Redmond until they and other
local Catholics influenced the
church to build St. Edward
the Martyr Catholic Church in
Sisters. One of their sons was
the first altar boy.
The church, first estab-
lished on the corner of Larch
and Cascade (across from
the elementary school tennis
courts), was moved to Trin-
ity Way in the 1970s. At both
locations, Edith traditionally
sat in an aisle seat by which
all parishioners passed after
receiving communion. She
had her reasons. From this
vantage point, she was able to
smile and greet every single
church member every week
for seven decades.
The thing about Edith,
as anyone who knew her
would tell you, is that she
was always smiling, always
interested in children and the
status of families and sure to
know where there was need
and how she could help.
She was a natural, there-
fore, behind the counter of
a grocery store, where she
could converse with custom-
ers and keep up on local news.
Every year, before school
opened, she checked with the
school district to learn what
school supplies were needed
so Leithauser Supermarket
would have those supplies
in stock, down to number of
crayons in a box. There were
always several sets of sup-
plies stored in the backroom
to quietly donate to children
whose families were finan-
cially strapped.
“She was always so nice,”
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edith Leithauser had a big impact on the shaping of sisters.
recalled Ray Hennings,
who was a regular shopper.
“She always took time for
everybody.”
As a dedicated parent and
volunteer, Edith was among
the volunteers who passed out
“sugar pills” of the first polio
vaccine to Sisters youth. She
was very proud to own the
first automatic dishwasher
in Sisters, declaring that her
kids never go sick because
she owned that machine.
“We had to wash every sin-
gle dish before we could load
the washer,” said her daugh-
ter, Karen Marsh. “They were
See LeItHauser on page 26
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