RECORDS AND MORE
SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 2021
COMMUNITY
Meetings
• UNION — The Union City Council
will meet Monday, April 12, at 6 p.m.
for a work session followed by a reg-
ular session at 7 p.m. Both sessions
will be at the Union City Hall, 342 S.
Main St., Union. The council will dis-
cuss park lighting at the work session,
and address the city’s old ranger sta-
tion at the regular meeting.
• LA GRANDE — The La Grande City
Council and Planning Commission
will meet for a joint work session on
the city’s housing needs and pro-
duction strategy Monday, April 12,
at 6 p.m. The public may view the
live session at www.facebook.com/
CityofLaGrande.
• LA GRANDE — The Union County
chapter of Health Care for All Oregon
will hold a virtual meeting via Zoom
Tuesday, April 13, at 6 p.m. The
agenda includes planning activities
for the coming months: a book club,
fi lms, parades, the La Grande Farmers
Market, and hosting Les Leopold in
an online workshop. The meeting is
open to the public. For access infor-
mation, email unioncounty@hcao.org
to attend.
• LA GRANDE — La Grande’s Commu-
nity Landscape and Forestry Commis-
sion meets Tuesday, April 13, and the
La Grande Arts Commission meets
Wednesday, April 14. Each commis-
sion will meet virtually at 5:30 p.m. via
Zoom. For access information, con-
tact Stu Spence, Parks and Recreation
director, at 541-962-1348 or sspence@
cityofl agrande.org.
• LA GRANDE — La Grande’s Plan-
ning Commission will hold a regular
session beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday,
April 13, by electronic communi-
cations. The commission plans to
hold a public hearing on an Airbnb
conditional use permit. To view the
meeting, go to www.facebook.com/
LaGrandeCityManager. The public
may submit comments or questions
on the agenda by 5 p.m. on the date
of the meeting by emailing mbo-
quist@cityofl agrande.org.
Menus
Union County Senior Center
takeout lunch menu
Pick up 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
at 1504 N. Albany St., La Grande. For
delivery, call 541-963-7532 before
10 a.m. Age 60+, $3 suggested
donation; all others, $5. Public is
welcome.
APRIL 12-16
Monday: sausage and kraut
hoagie, dill pickle, potato salad,
apple pie.
Tuesday: mac and cheese (with
or without ham), salad greens, fresh
fruit slices, cobbler.
Wednesday: fried chicken,
mashed potatoes, gravy, steamed
vegetables, salad greens, cake.
Thursday: meatloaf, whipped
potatoes, brown gravy, steamed
caulifl ower, salad greens, sliced fruit.
Friday: Swiss patties, mashed
potatoes, brown gravy, steamed
peas, salad greens, roll, dessert.
Children’s free takeout break-
fast and lunch menu
Free breakfast and lunch for any-
one age 18 and younger, available
on days school is in session. Pick up
11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at any La Grande
elementary school. Fresh vegeta-
bles, seasonal fruit and 1% milk are
off ered daily. Meals are handed out
at La Grande schools for on-campus
students.
APRIL 12-16
CENTRAL AND ISLAND CITY
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Monday: BREAKFAST: strawber-
ry-cream-cheese-fi lled bagel, fresh
fruit; LUNCH: Italian meatball sub.
Tuesday: BREAKFAST: mini waf-
fl es, canned fruit; LUNCH: (Central)
hamburger and golden French fries,
(Island City) sloppy joe.
Wednesday: BREAKFAST:
strawberry yogurt, graham crackers,
orange juice; LUNCH: turkey deli
sandwich, goldfi sh crackers.
Thursday: BREAKFAST:
cinnamon rolls, canned fruit; LUNCH:
chicken-bacon-ranch wrap.
Friday: BREAKFAST: blueberry
muffi n, cheese stick, orange juice;
LUNCH: fi sh sticks, dinner roll.
GREENWOOD ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL
Monday: BREAKFAST: pancake
on a stick, fruit or juice; LUNCH:
meatballs and gravy, mashed
potatoes, dinner roll.
Tuesday: BREAKFAST: mini
donut, cheese stick, fruit or juice;
LUNCH: cheeseburger, tater tots.
Wednesday: BREAKFAST: mini
pancakes, fruit or juice; LUNCH:
biscuits and gravy, cheese stick.
Thursday: BREAKFAST: break-
fast stacker sandwich, fruit or juice;
LUNCH: deli sandwich, potato chips.
Friday: BREAKFAST: breakfast
cereal bar, cheese stick, fruit or juice;
LUNCH: pizza.
LA GRANDE HIGH AND
MIDDLE SCHOOLS
Monday: BREAKFAST: toaster
pastry, cheese stick, fresh fruit;
LUNCH: meatballs and gravy, brown
rice.
Tuesday: BREAKFAST: mini-cin-
nis, canned fruit; LUNCH: ham deli
sandwich, kettle chips.
Wednesday: BREAKFAST:
cereal bar, cheese stick, orange juice;
LUNCH: chef salad, breadstick.
Thursday: BREAKFAST: ham-
egg-cheese biscuit, canned fruit;
LUNCH: chicken cordon bleu.
Friday: BREAKFAST: sausage-
egg-cheese bagel, orange juice;
LUNCH: hot dog, tater tots.
OBITUARIES
Joett L. (Oldham)
Williams
Gerald ‘Jerry’ A.
Brookshire
1934-2021 • La Grande
1967-2021 • Formerly of Union
County
Joett Lucille Williams,
87, of La Grande, died
April 5 at Grande Ronde
Hospital. A
graveside ser-
vice will be
held April
13 at 2 p.m.
at the Island
City Cem-
etery. Attendees must
wear a mask and practice
social distancing to meet
COVID-19 guidelines.
Joett was born March
4, 1934, in Nocona, Texas,
to Issac Claude and Allie
Martha (Ritchey) Oldham.
She resided in Texas,
Medford, Joseph and La
Grande. She spent her
school years in Medford
and graduated from Med-
ford High School in 1951.
She married Kenneth Earl
Williams Aug. 22, 1952.
Joett was a homemaker,
sold Avon for a short time,
and cleaned many homes
in the area. She partici-
pated in her church as a
Bible school teacher and
was involved with the Red
Hat Society. She served as
the Riveria PTA president
and was a den mother for
the Cub Scouts.
Joett’s fondest mem-
ories were times spent
with her sons, family
and friends, and being
a wife of 53 years. She
enjoyed reading, gar-
dening, traveling, camping
and hunting for mush-
rooms. She loved Country
Western, hymns and clas-
sical music. Her favorite
was “Rock of Ages.” She
was proud to have received
a Kiwanis Orchestra
award.
Surviving relatives
include her sons, Donald
L. Williams of La Grande,
Earl R. Williams of La
Grande, and David G.
Williams of Umatilla;
four grandchildren; and
eight great-grandchil-
dren and two great-great
grandchildren.
She was preceded in
death by her husband,
Kenneth Earl Williams;
parents, Claude and Allie
Oldham; and sisters, Joy
Erleen Schroeder and
Allie Maxine Polina.
Online condolences
can be made to Loveland
Funeral Chapel at www.
lovelandfuneralchapel.com.
Gerald “Jerry” Arthur
Brookshire, 53, formerly of
Union County, died March 9
at his home in Boise, Idaho,
from kidney cancer. A cel-
ebration of his
life will be held
May 15 from
2-5 p.m. at the
Riverside Hotel
in Boise. A
graveside ser-
vice will begin at 2 p.m.
May 17 at the Union His-
toric Cemetery, followed by
a reception at the Catherine
Creek Community Center,
Union. Arrangements are by
Bowman Funeral Directors,
Garden City, Idaho.
Known as Jerry, he was
born April 20, 1967, in
Madras, to Paul and Mabel
Brookshire. In 1969 his
family moved to Union,
where Jerry attended grade
school and high school. He
played football for Union
High and also competed in
basketball and track and
was a member of the band.
He graduated from Eastern
Oregon University with a
degree in business.
After graduation Jerry
served as the executive
director for the Blue Moun-
tain Council of the Boy
Scouts of America. He
developed many lifelong
friendships while serving
in this capacity. Jerry also
owned and operated a pizza
franchise and an insurance
agency, and he was active in
the La Grande Rotary until
his move to Boise in 2004.
Jerry built his life around
his daughter, Sierra, wishing
to provide her with life
experiences and expose her
to opportunities so she could
have the adult life of her
choosing. He took Sierra to
her fi rst street dance at age
2, taught her snow skiing in
the winter and river rafting
in the summer. At 16, when
Sierra got her fi rst car, he
walked her through how to
maintain it. Today, Sierra
is an expert skier, accom-
plished dancer (enjoying
swing dance), and is
studying mechanical engi-
neering at Utah State. Jerry
was a proud papa.
Jerry met his life partner,
Rhona Roberts, in 2012
skiing at Bogus Basin.
In a very short time they
both knew they wanted to
Jerald ‘Jerry’ D.
Rickman
1943-2021 • Union
Jerald “Jerry” Dean
Rickman, 77, of Union, died
April 4 at his residence. A
service will be planned for
this summer.
Known
as Jerry, he
was born
Dec. 15, 1943,
in Aurora,
Missouri,
to D.J. and
Ruby (Davis)
Rickman. He
resided in sev-
eral places in
southwestern
Missouri; Page, Ari-
zona; and various places
in Eastern Oregon. He
attended elementary school
mostly in Missouri; high
school in Halfway and in
Page, Arizona; and college
in Blythe, California.
Jerry married Gayle
Bradford and enjoyed 52
years of marriage with her.
He served in the U.S. Air
Force, including two tours
of duty in Vietnam.
Jerry was a ranch hand,
worked for the Oregon
Department of Transporta-
tion, worked for the Barry
County, Missouri, Sheriff ’s
Offi ce, and was an owner/
operator long-haul truck
driver. He enjoyed riding
and training quarter horses.
He loved to calf rope and
team rope and enjoyed
Upcoming local services
Please follow guide-
lines regarding face cov-
erings and social dis-
tancing at all services.
April 10 —
DOUGLAS CARPER:
2 p.m. graveside service,
Cove Cemetery (view
livestream at www.love-
landfuneralchapel.com).
April 10 — BRUCE
ARBOGAST: 11 a.m.
graveside service, Cove
Cemetery; reception fol-
lows at Cove Sportsman
Club.
April 10 — VERLA
HENRY: 11 a.m. grave-
side service, Island City
Cemetery.
April 10 — ELIZA-
BETH McCALLISTER:
1 p.m. celebration of life,
Grande Ronde Academy,
507 Palmer, La Grande.
April 13 — DICK
WHEELER: 11:30 a.m.
memorial service, Enter-
prise Seventh-day Adven-
tist Church; private
inurnment at Enterprise
trading horses.
As a young man, Jerry
loved to play basketball. He
received many awards and
was recognized as an out-
standing basketball player
in both high school and col-
lege. Later in life, he loved
watching his daughter and
granddaughters play basket-
ball, volleyball and softball.
He especially loved watching
his daughter coach the girls
high school basketball team
for the past seven years. He
was her biggest fan.
Surviving relatives
include his wife, Gayle;
son, Steven J. Rickman of
Oregon; daughter and son-
in-law, Rhondie R. and
Corey Johansen of Oregon;
brother, Larry Rickman of
Missouri; brother and sis-
ter-in-law, Gary and Karla
Rickman of Missouri; fi ve
grandchildren; and nine
nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death
by his parents, D.J. and
Ruby Rickman, and sister,
Judy Lauderdale.
In lieu of fl owers, memo-
rial contributions can be
made to the Bobcat Founda-
tion Scholarship Program,
Cemetery.
April 13 — JOETT
WILLIAMS: 2 p.m.
graveside service, Island
City Cemetery.
April 18 — LARRY
ROBBINS: virtual cel-
ebration of life; details
TBA.
April 24 —
RICHARD BIDWELL:
2 p.m. graveside service,
Elgin Cemetery.
April 24 — BECKY
ROBERSON: 2 p.m.
celebration of life, Elgin
Community Center.
May 1 —
MICHELLE SAN-
DOVAL: 10 a.m. cele-
bration of life, Riverside
Park Pavilion, La Grande.
May 17 — JERRY
BROOKSHIRE: 2 p.m.
graveside service, Union
Historic Cemetery; recep-
tion follows at Cath-
erine Creek Community
Center, Union.
June 26 — DAVID
COUNCIL: 1 p.m. cel-
ebration of life, North
Powder City Park.
— calendar cour-
tesy of Loveland Funeral
Chapel, La Grande
P.O. Box 91, Union 97883.
Online condolences
may be made to the family
at www.lovelandfuneral-
chapel.com.
Kaz E. Marsh
2020-2021 • Elgin
Kaz Eugene-Lester
Marsh, 3 months, of Elgin,
died March
31 at his
residence.
Kaz was
born Dec.
23, 2020, in
La Grande,
to Andrew and Reanna
(Duncan) Marsh. He
enjoyed smiling, watching
his brother, Trenton, play,
talking to his mom and dad
and being held by Jessie and
Grandma.
Surviving relatives
include his parents, Andrew
and Reanna; brother,
Trenton; aunt and uncle,
Jessie Wise and Sam Wise;
grandmother, Tenu Duncan;
and grandfather, Rowdy
Wise.
Online condolences
may be made to the family
at www.lovelandfuneral-
chapel.com.
Contest winner spots gags, and thus proves she was no fool
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Those
researchers The Observer
reported on in the News
of the Weird feature on
Thursday, April 1, sure
seemed to be pushing the
boundaries of reality. Sev-
eral readers thought so as
well and correctly identi-
fi ed “Research team reports
breakthrough in turboencab-
ulator, more” as the gag we
ran for an April Fools’ Day
contest.
But Rebecca Wortman
won the contest, having
found six of the popular cul-
tural references we built into
the feature, the most of any
entry.
The turboencabulator
started in the 1940s as a jar-
gon-fi lled joke among engi-
neers, even showing up in
some journals. The joke
found its way onto faux
training fi lms in the 1970s
and ‘80s and has more
recently appeared in modern
video games.
We spiced up the joke
with references to popular
culture. Here they are, in
the order they appear in the
joke (we also note the ones
Wortman spotted):
• ARKHAM, Mass.
— Researchers at Miska-
tonic University in Arkham:
Wortman named Miskatonic
U as from the stories of the
late H.P. Lovecraft, writer of
cosmic horror. But Arkham
also is a fabrication from
Lovecraft.
• Lee/Kirby transmis-
sion: Wortman gets par-
tial credit here for saying
there was a connection to
the TV series “Marvel’s
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” Stan
Lee and Jack Kirby indeed
crafted characters that
appeared in the series, but
they are largely responsible
for the creation of Marvel
Comics and its multitude of
characters.
• MacReady bearings:
Refers to R.J. MacReady,
central protagonist in John
Carpenter’s “The Thing”
(1982).
• dilithium capacitive
duractance: Dilithium, as
Wortman noted, is from
Star Trek, and without it, the
U.S.S. Enterprise would not
be going boldly anywhere.
• Initech interface: Ini-
tech is the name of the com-
pany in the 1999 comedy
“Offi ce Space.”
• interocitor: Alien tech-
nology from the 1949 story
“The Alien Machine,” which
became the plot for the 1952
movie “This Island Earth.”
• Flux capacitor: A
device from the “Back
to the Future” fi lms, and
which Wortman identifi ed
correctly.
• Ian Donnelly: Wortman
Many people have been asking us??
Can we move our pre-arranged funeral plan to your funeral home?
YOU CAN! And it is easy. Loveland Funeral Chapel
accepts and honors almost all pre-arranged funeral plans from other
funeral chapels. We understand that changes occur and you can easily
transfer your plan to Loveland Funeral Chapel. Theses transfers can
take place ahead of time or even when someone passes away.
Lottery
1508 Fourth Street
La Grande
Go to lagrandeobserver.com for
lottery results.
DELIVERY ISSUES?
If you have any problems
receiving your Observer, call 541-
963-3161.
spend the rest of their lives
together. Rhona felt blessed
to not only have Jerry in her
life, but also to have Sierra
as a part of it, enjoying the
opportunity to watch Sierra
grow into a beautiful young
woman.
Jerry lived his life with
passion. He had an amazing
energy and presence that
was contagious. He could
make people smile with his
crazy sense of humor and
positive outlook on life, no
matter the circumstances.
Survivors include his
mother, Mabel Brook-
shire; sister, Kathy Ganung;
brothers, Walt Brookshire
and Dennis Brookshire;
daughter, Sierra Brookshire;
and life partner, Rhona
Roberts.
He was preceded in
death by his father, Paul
Brookshire.
Condolences may be
made to the family at www.
bowmanfuneral.com.
THE OBSERVER — 3A
Union County's Only Crematory
Call 541-963-5022
noted this is a character
from the science fi ction fi lm
“Arrival” (2016).
• oscillation overthruster:
Another piece of sci-fi tech,
this time from the 1984
movie “The Adventures of
Buckaroo Banzai Across the
8th Dimension.”
• Wayland-Yutani Corpo-
ration: Wortman also got this
one; the big evil company in
the Alien franchise. (Really,
if Wayland-Yutani is backing
the research, it’s a red fl ag.)
Wortman will receive
a $20 gift certifi cate to
the local restaurant of
her choice. We want to
thank her and others who
participated.
“This was FUN!”
Wortman said in her mes-
sage to The Observer.
If you have suggestions
for these or other kinds of
activities you would like to
see in The Observer, email
us at news@lagrandeob-
server.com.