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Senior Stars: Necia DeWitt
By Karen Miller
cia succeeded, along with her sisters, in
locking their brother out of the room,
Elgin, Oregon...a Union County after he bragged that they couldn’t, she
farming town nestled on the North Ore- tells, laughing. Necia says there are only
gon border; incorporated in 1891; named three girls left from her graduating class
after Lady Elgin—a ship lost on Lake and they have gotten together a time or
Michigan; and nicknamed the “Jewel of two to reminiscence.
the Blue Mountains.”
Necia is full of stories to share,
What makes this little town so little tidbits that give us a glimpse of
special?
what rural life was like for her and her
It was here in 1924 that a real family.
jewel was born. The second of four sib-
Necia was the smallest in her
lings, little Miss Necia Evers DeWitt class, but I can see she wasn’t the lazi-
was born to a hard working farming man est or weakest. After high school she
and his wife—he from Vermont coming was touted as the fastest worker as she
clear across the country to marry an El- climbed twelve to fourteen foot lad-
gin maiden named Pearl. Seems only fit- ders to the tops of trees, picking the
juiciest and heavi-
est
cherries—her
boss claiming she
must put rocks in
her cherry baskets,
they were so heavy!
He didn’t want to
“overpay” her his
whopping
three
cents a pound!
Among
Ne-
cia’s other work,
she raked pea stub-
bles with a dump
Necia DeWitt working around her place.
rake and horses and
ting that a Pearl would produce a jewel! worked on a dairy farm milking cows by
When Necia was five her parents hand, where her boss paid her one dollar
packed up their belongings and along a day. When Necia threatened to leave,
with Eloine, Jack, and Lorena (now de- it was upped to three dollars a day, and
ceased), moved to Vernonia where they Necia decided to stay, sometimes work-
took up residence in a box car, yes a rail- ing up to sixteen hours a day.
road car, with three rooms and no indoor
To this day Necia has a hard time
plumbing, in the then town of Keasey, spending money on herself. Back then,
a little logging community some of you with her hard earned money she proudly
might remember. Their home was locat- bought herself a Pioneer .22 rifle, which
ed not far from where Necia lives today. she still owns. She also bought herself a
Her dad ran a “speeder,” a little radio so she could listen to country west-
car that ran on the railroad tracks, trans- ern music and bought her hard working
porting equipment, supplies, groceries mother a gas iron, as they had no elec-
and more up to the logging camps. You tricity.
can read about life back then in a book at
Necia says her dad had a ‘28
our local library called Images of Ameri- Chevy called “Shove it or leave it,” be-
ca: Vernonia.
cause Necia had to get it started on a hill
After seven years of railroad life, to get it going.
the Evers family packed up and returned
Necia also worked in the town of
to Elgin in 1936 where Necia attended Joseph as a caregiver for the manager of
Cunningham Grade School, a one room a variety store that was owned by Walter
school house, at which, as she recalls, Brennan—most of you know him as the
her family made up half the student body. star of the TV series “The Real McCoys”
During her high school years, Necia, her which ran from 1957-1963. Necia fond-
two sisters and brother boarded together ly recalls sitting around the dinner table,
in a room closer to the school. Shy Ne- heartily laughing at Walter’s jokes.
june14
2011
At the ripe old age of twenty-
six, around 1950, Necia relocated back
to Vernonia, getting a chance to become
reacquainted with cowboy Ted DeWitt.
Recalling her billy goat story from when
she was around ten years old, Necia tells
how one day she got off the school bus
and an ornery goat took off af-
ter Ted’s mother (not knowing
Blanche would someday be her
future mother-in-law)—Ted he-
roically saved his mother and that
act was all it took; in 1950 when
Necia returned to Vernonia, she
took up with Ted and truly be-
came a Cowboy Sweetheart when
they wed later that year. Ted
worked at Oregon American until
1957 when the mill shut down.
Necia and Ted bought
property near Keasey in 1953 and
have remained there since, cut-
ting their own lumber to build
their home. They raised three
children there—son Larry born in
1952, Jerry in 1954 and daughter
Kathy in 1955. Ted also worked
for Pettyjohn at Detroit Lake and
in 1963 became County Survey-
or, earning $2.80 an hour, much
to Necia’s delight. Ted retired in
1980 and passed away three days
short of his 82 nd birthday.
Today Necia enjoys gardening,
feeding hummingbirds that eat her out
of house and home, growing and pick-
ing berries, and gathering eggs from her
chickens. She still cans, plays pinochle
every Friday at the Senior Center, re-
cently retired from the Senior Center
Board, was involved in Extension,
which she joined in 1950 and which con-
tinued to meet until recently, and Yodels
every Wednesday with the Golden Old-
ies Band. Her yodeling incidentally was
instrumental in propelling her to win-
ning the title of “My Fair Lady” at the
Columbia County Fair in 2005.
Truly, Necia enjoys singing
“I’m a Cowboy Sweetheart” to the ador-
ing crowd at the Senior Center--come
listen some time, it’s a real treat. You’d
never guess Necia was the shy one back
in her Elgin days.
Necia loves and lives life to the
fullest and keeps busy at home when she
isn’t being Grandma to five grandkids:
son Jerry and wife Valerie’s Chad, Ken-
dra, Colton and wife Nicole and Karly
21
DeWitt; Kathy’s son Eric and wife Joy;
and two great grandkids: Silas Schaum-
burg and Grady DeWitt.
On her place today, Necia has a
forty gallon barrel that she and daughter
Kathy use to spray scotch broom, which
garnered praise from forestry service
Necia DeWitt winning the
2005 My Fair Lady Pageant
employees, saying they couldn’t have
done it better!
Necia says the only reason she
has been able to maintain her house and
acreage is due in a large part because
of help from her daughter Kathy, who
comes out every weekend. “Kathy has
always been there for me and Ted,” says
Necia.
Asking Necia about her travels
(she and Kathy’s favorite form of relax-
ation), and where she would recommend
someone visit, Necia replied, “The un-
derground Chinese caves in Pendleton.”
Will Necia ever slow down? Not until
she fulfills her bucket list: 1)flying in an
airplane, 2)visiting Australia, 3)or going
to Ireland, 4) or Hawaii.
Thanks Necia for sharing, and
send us a postcard!
Editors Note: Necia DeWitt has retired
as author of this Senior Stars column.
Thanks Necia for all your hours of inter-
view and entertaining Vernonia’s Voice
readers with stories about the lives of
our beloved Senior Stars.
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