10 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
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Kevin John Lemmon
He was able to live at
home with his family until
the early 1970s at which
time he started living in
various facilities that of-
fered care for developmen-
tally disabled persons. Two
of the programs that Kevin
was in while living in
Pendleton were the Nova
and Horizon projects. He
spent several years in the
Bungalow Care Center
in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Kevin spent his last few
months at Chrysalis Care
Center in St. George, Utah.
The family appreciates the
care given Kevin by these
facilities.
Kevin enjoyed life the
best he could. His favorite
things were being with
family, riding bicycles,
playing basketball, danc-
ing, hiking, tossing
fi rewood into a truck ,
and riding a motorcycle
(minus the engine, etc) by
propelling it with his legs.
He enjoyed cowboy boots,
ties, sun glasses, hats,
and milk shakes. Kevin
had a keen memory for
remembering people he
had met and had not seen
for a period of time. He
enjoyed socializing with
other people. He enjoyed
participating in Special
Olympics and proudly
wore all of his medals.
He was preceded in
death by his mother, Mona
Jean Lemmon, father,
Richard Lemmon, brother,
Jeff Lemmon, and broth-
ers-in-law, Mike Jackson
and Steve Frazier.
Kevin leaves behind his
step-mother Dona Lem-
mon, brothers Andrew
Lemmon (Cathy), and
Scott Lemmon (Kathy);
sisters Rhonda Gardner
(Gil) Elaine Fresh (Ste-
phen), Diana Lemmon, and
Jolene Simpson (John) and
47 nephews and nieces.
A Memorial service was
held at Metcalf Mortuary
in St. George February
18th.
A graveside service will
be held for Kevin at Mt.
Hope Cemetery in Baker
City, Oregon at a later
date. Coles Tribute Center
in Baker City is in charge
of funeral arrangements.
To light a candle for
Kevin or to leave a condo-
lence for the family, please
visit: www.colestribute-
center.com.
Fred Eugene Palmer
Baker City, 1928-2017
Fred Eugene Palmer, 88,
of Baker City, Oregon
passed away at home on
FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2017
— Obituaries —
March 6,
2017, from
complica-
tions of
prostate
cancer and
advancing
Fred
age. Coles
Palmer
Tribute Cen-
ter has been
entrusted with the arrange-
ments.
Fred was born in Port-
land in 1928 to Lowell
(Elt) and Eugenia Palmer.
They lived in Sandy, Or-
egon where Fred’s father
was a teacher at the two
room Cottrell School. In
1936 Fred, his parents, and
two younger sisters Pa-
tricia and Janis moved to
Baker City, where Elt had
secured a teaching position
in the high school. He
also served as the school
wrestling coach. This was
deep in the Great Depres-
sion and Fred had vivid
memories of tough times
and cold winters endured
without adequate clothing.
In 1946 Fred graduated
from Baker High School.
With an eye on getting col-
lege support from the G.I.
bill, Fred joined the Navy
and served in California
for two years. He then
attended Reed College and
graduated with a degree
in Sociology. He married
his fi rst wife Ruth (Betty)
Belsey in 1950. After
graduation Fred and Betty
moved to Tulare County,
California, where they
were social services case-
workers. Two years of this
was all they could tolerate,
and after extensive shoe-
string travel in Europe,
Fred entered Oregon State
as a Microbiology major.
He earned his degree and
then attended Scripps In-
stitute of Oceanography as
a PhD candidate in Marine
Microbiology. After earn-
ing his Master’s degree he
had a disagreement with
his major professor and
left Scripps for a research
position at the University
of Washington in 1960.
Fred met his current
wife, then Linda Graves,
when they were both
working at the university.
They became friends while
joining many anti-Vietnam
war protests. They married
in 1976, became parents to
their son Michael in 1983,
and moved to Baker City
in 1984. This began what
Fred considered the happi-
est period of his life: rais-
ing a young son, building
a log home with his wife,
and living a rural life. Fred
enjoyed farming alfalfa
in the summers and doing
fi eld work for the UW as
a research scientist in the
winters until he retired.
The most intensely
important thing in Fred’s
life was his family. But he
was also a man with many
diverse interests and an
enduring curiosity about
all things. He was passion-
ate about the outdoors,
spending eight college
summers as a Forest
Service fi re lookout in the
mountains around Baker.
Five of those summers
were spent on Mt. Ireland,
for which he felt a spiritual
attachment. Fred’s father’s
family were Jordan Valley
ranchers and Fred visited
there throughout his life,
and especially enjoyed ex-
ploring the upper Owyhee
canyon lands. Other
major interests included
a lifelong enthusiasm for
photography, fl ying small
airplanes, progressive
politics, and reading books
of every conceivable type
and subject. Fred loved
animals almost as much
as his family, and in fact
considered his dogs, cats
and horses important fam-
ily members.
Fred was preceded in
death by his parents, Elt
and Eugenia Palmer and
his nephew Michael Fox.
He is survived by his
wife Linda, his son and
daughter-in-law Michael
and Nicole, his new grand-
son Felix, and his sisters
Patricia Carmony and Janis
Taylor; and also by his
nieces Diane Carmony,
Debra Kadiyala, Shel-
ley Fox-Loken and Kim
Lauterbach.
At Fred’s request there
will be no services.
Should friends and family
desire, memorial contribu-
tions in Fred’s honor can
be made to a charity of
your choice through Coles
Tribute Center at 1950
Place St., Baker City, Or
97814.
To light a candle for Fred
or to leave a condolence
for the family, please visit:
www.grayswestco.com.
Books from
local authors
make great
gift s!
Mary Vinecore
writing as Mary Vine
County Clerk gives election information
Submitted by Cindy
Carpenter, Baker
County Clerk
Every two years voters
have the opportunity to
participate in the Special
District Election, held on
the odd-numbered years on
the third Tuesday in May.
This year Oregon’s Special
District Election is May
16, 2017.
1. Will anyone in Baker
County receive all the
candidates on their Spe-
cial District ballot?
No. Voters who are
registered in the District
that will have candidates
will have those positions
on their ballot to vote for.
Example is “Baker County
Library” covers the entire
County so these candidates
will be on every ones bal-
lot. For “Baker Rural Fire
District” only registered
voters who live in that
district would have those
candidates on their ballot.
2. When are Absentee
Ballots mailed?
Absentee ballots may be
requested anytime by fi ll-
ing out an Absentee form
before April 16, 2017. All
Absentee ballots will be
mailed on April 17th, so it
would be necessary to be
at your absentee address
by this date. If you will be
out of town and choose to
come into the Clerk’s of-
fi ce to pick up your ballot,
ballots will not be avail-
able until March 29, 2017.
3. When will ballots be
mailed in Baker County?
Baker County ballots
will be delivered to the
Baker Post Offi ce on
Wednesday, April 26th.
Voters who do not receive
a ballot through the mail
by Wednesday, May 3rd
should call the Election
offi ce at 541-523-8207.
Ballots are not forward-
able. Therefore, if an elec-
tor has moved or changed
a mailing address without
notifying us it is likely
their ballot will be returned
to us as undeliverable. It is
important that the electors
update their voter registra-
tion with their current ad-
dress or for a name change.
4. Why do some voters
receive two ballots?
If a voter changes their
address close to the regis-
tration deadline, they may
receive two ballots. Ballot
envelopes are assembled
for mailing prior to the
registration deadline be-
cause of volume. Only one
ballot will count. The fi rst
ballot is inactivated when
the second ballot is issued.
5. When are write-in
votes tallied?
Write-in votes will not
be tallied on Election Day.
The abstracting process for
determining all the various
write-in names will begin
after Election Day and
continue until completed.
It is anticipated that those
results will be released at
the same time the election
is certifi ed on June 5th.
When there is a candidate
listed on a contest, the
write-in votes are only
abstracted if the total
number of write-ins equal
or exceeds the votes for the
listed candidate.
Per OAR 165-007-0030,
the Vote by Mail Manual,
misspelling or abbre-
viations of the names of
candidates are disregarded
by the Election Board if
it cannot be ascertained
from the ballot for which
the vote was intended. A
fi rst initial is not suffi cient,
but an abbreviated version
of a fi rst name is allowed
(example: Bob for Robert).
Other notable items and
reminders:
Last day to register to
vote is Tuesday April 25th.
To be valid, the voter
registration card must be
postmarked by April 25th
or, go online to oregon-
votes.gov . The online reg-
istration must be submitted
by April 25th by 11:59 pm.
Voter registration cards are
available at DMV, all city
halls and post offi ces. The
County Clerk’s offi ce also
will always have them in
stock.
Election Day is Tuesday,
May 16, 2017. Ballots
must be returned to the
election offi ce either
through the mail, an of-
fi cial drop site or in the
County Clerk’s offi ce by 8
p.m. on Election Day.
Last day to mail bal-
lots is Wednesday, May
10th. If a voter has not
mailed their ballot by May
10th they should deliver
their ballot to a drop site
to ensure their ballot is
received by the deadline.
Postmarks do not count.
Offi cial Baker County
drop site locations are list-
ed on a fl yer in your ballot
envelope and also on the
Baker County web site. Go
to Bakercounty.org, mouse
into Administration then
Clerks and the Drop Sites
are a selection to read.
Public Certifi cation test
in Baker County will be
held Thursday, May 4th,
at 10 a.m., at the County
Clerk’s offi ce. The public
certifi cation test with the
M650 counting machine
that will be used to count
ballots for the May 16,
2017 Special District Elec-
tion. The test is conducted
prior to each election.
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