community
By Jeri Cropp
Part 1
Ruth Maxine Bell, known to her
family as Maxine, was born on Novem-
ber 7 th 1924 in a hospital on the Yakima
Indian Reservation in Toppenish Wash-
ington. She was born to Max and Ruth
Doris Kehrer, the eldest of six children
and named after both her father and
mother. Ruth was the only child of the
Kehrer’s born in a hospital.
Maxine’s father, Max Mathias
Kehrer, was of German descent but was
born in Southern Russia in 1880 after
Katherine the Great opened the gate to
immigration and the Kehrer’s relocated.
Amazingly, in 1904 the Kehrer fam-
ily homesteaded in Plaines, WA where
Ruth’s mother’s parents drowned in a
boating accident while hauling feed to
their cattle who were marooned on an
island near Finley during the Columbia
River flooding of 1932.
Max met Ruth’s mother, Ruth
Doris Leader, who was born in 1900 in
Toledo, OH and they married in 1923.
They made their home in Brownstown,
WA. Ruth’s father worked the farm
while her mother cared for their five
children – three boys and two girls. One
sister died when she was only three days
old. In 1932, when Ruth’s sister Mary
was born, her mother died in childbirth.
Ruth’s mother’s sister was due to have a
baby very soon so she took Mary to care
for along with her own. Ruth’s fathers
sister took little George when he was
18 months old. Ruth’s father cared for
the rest of the brood for two more years
while working the farm from sunrise to
sunset. It is of importance to remember
that 1934 was in the depth of the Great
Depression. Many families were forced
from their homes by unemployment and
the Dust Bowl in the Midwest. There
was no welfare or assistance except for
the severely disabled. Maximum subsis-
tence allotment was 80 cents a week less
than $50 a year and few families quali-
fied. Unemployment went from under
500,000 to over 4 million in less than
four months eventually exceeding 9 mil-
lion. The Midwest could no longer farm
after losing most of their topsoil and
homes that were destroyed. Farm pro-
duce hit all-time lows and what banks
existed foreclosed on thousands of farms
and ranches. People moved west in
search of jobs and land. People lived in
riverbeds, culverts and homes construct-
ed of cardboard. These homes were
called Hooverville or Hoover Valley (in
2012
Central Park, NY). Major changes were
needed and the Republicans were voted
out of office for their lack of responsive-
ness to the poor and the unemployed.
Franklin D Roosevelt was elected and
started pouring money into government
projects to employ America’s working
class. He also started Social Security for
the elderly, disabled and children. It was
all part of the New Deal that Roosevelt
proposed to Congress. At one time it
was estimated that over 40% of chil-
dren and seniors suffered from malnu-
trition and suffered untreated illnesses
and in some areas it was over 90% like
in Detroit, the Midwest and mining
towns.
So because of the hardship of
being able to raise a family properly,
Ruth’s father decided to find homes for
his five children. In 1934 he placed an
ad in the Yakima Daily Republic News-
paper offering his eldest daughter and
son up for adoption. William Smith, an
employee of the newspaper, read the ad
and responded to Ruth’s father about
wanting a child. Ruth was taken to the
Smith home, at the age of eight years
old, and left there to live out her child-
hood. The Smith family only wanted
one child, a girl, so Ruth’s brothers
went to live with her father’s sister and
grandparents.
It was quite a shock to Ruth to
discover that she had a new home and
new parents after losing her mother and
her brothers and little sister. Ruth never
knew exactly why this had happened
because she never saw her father again
until 1961. She tried to make the best of
her new situation and loved her adopted
father, “Daddy Smith” very much. He
was a caring father and helped Ruth ad-
just which took away some of the pain of
losing her family. Ruth’s new adopted
mother, Florence Wheeler Smith, did not
allow any visitation from her birth fam-
ily and turned Max away when he tried
to visit. Ruth also was not allowed to
participate in any school sports or func-
tions. Ruth’s new mother changed her
name from Ruth Maxine Kehrer to Ruth
Mae Smith. She was to only to be called
“Ruth” now instead of Maxine. Flor-
ence and Ruth attended the Church of
Nazarene. Her adopted father “Daddy
Smith” was a musician and played the
trumpet in the Eagles Band and at one
time played in the John Phillips Sousa
Orchestra. John Phillips Sousa con-
ducted the Marine Corp Band for many
years. Ruth was allowed to play her
adopted father’s trumpet in the school
band. She later handed this instrument
down to her daughter Marilynn. Ruth
graduated from Yakima High School in
June of 1942.
Ruth met her husband, Dale G.
Bell in Yakima, where he was stationed
for training, in the US Army Air Corp.
They were later united in marriage on
October 11 th 1942 in the Church of the
Nazarene. Dale was a professional
ballroom dancer when they met and he
taught Ruth to dance. They performed
in several competitions and danced for
enjoyment. That all changed after the
war. From Yakima they moved to a base
in Great Falls, MT. It was from this
home, in 1943, that Dale was deployed
to the European Theater in Anzio, Italy.
Ruth went to Hanford, CA to live with
her husband’s parents during his tour of
duty. While living in Hanford, Dale and
Ruth’s first child was born, Marilynn
Ruth in 1944. Ruth’s eldest brother,
Max, was killed in Iwo Jima. Before
he deployed, George was told that the
man he thought was his father was re-
ally his uncle and his uncle Max was his
real father. Meanwhile, in Italy, Dale
was injured when a vehicle he was rid-
ing in was shelled. He came home in
August of 1945, disabled, as the war was
winding down and was lucky to have
survived. Their son, Dale Glenn Bell,
was born in 1947. Ruth was able to vote
in 1945 and not only wanted to vote but
served on the election board. She was a
Republican for many reasons back then
but is a Democrat now.
The Bell family moved to Pan-
orama City, CA. There Dale worked in
electroplating and later got jobs at the
Owned and Operated by
Don & Kim Wallace
Serving breakfast,
lunch, dinner
& ice cream
Family owned and operated for over 40 years.
721 Madison Avenue, Vernonia
(503) 429-5018
Part 2 of this article will be pub-
lished in our January 8, 2013 issue.
ral
Path Health Ser
ces
vi
Mariolino’s
Pizza & Grill
11
Herald Examiner Newspaper and finally
Lockheed from which he retired. Dale
was plagued with problems from his war
injuries most of his adult life suffering
frequent bouts of weakness in his leg and
unable to walk for weeks at a time. The
Veterans Administration granted Dale
Bell disability payments of $10 a month
for his service connected disabilities.
In 1959, Ruth’s neighbor, Mona,
in collaboration with her daughter,
Marilynn, arranged for Ruth to be
featured on the “It Could Be You” TV
Show. They flew the family members
to Hollywood from Washington. Un-
beknownst to Ruth, her daughter and
Mona took her to lunch and the show.
Ruth had mentioned that she wished
she could go home to Washington
State for Thanksgiving. It was not
an accident that it was shortly before
the Thanksgiving Holiday in 1959
that Ruth, her neighbor and daughter
went to lunch and the “It Could Be
You” Show. When they entered the
theater everyone was told that there
was a number under their seat. If your
number was called you were to come
up on the stage. Well, Ruth’s number
was called, she was so surprised as she
went up on the stage and stood in front
of the curtain with Bill Leyden. When
the curtain was raised there was a huge
picture on a movie screen of her brother
Max, who had died in Iwo Jima. Ruth
was pretty speechless as she looked at
the stage table set for Thanksgiving din-
ner. One by one her brothers and sister
came onto the stage. Ruth had not seen
her family since 1934 when she was
eight years old. Of course they did not
really have dinner on TV in Hollywood
but all went to Ruth’s house and had a
nice family Thanksgiving. Ruth recalls
how excited and shocked she was and
didn’t even notice that Frankie Lane had
his arm around her in the green room.
And of course, Ruth’s husband Dale and
her two children, along with neighbors
were in the audience cheering. Ruth was
a cashier at Smiley’s Market at this time,
and her boss remembers that Ruth was
in a shocked daze for three weeks after
her memorable Hollywood family re-
union adventure. Ruth had not seen her
family in 29 years and didn’t locate her
father until 1961. When she did finally
find him he was living in Burns, OR and
came to stay with her in California sev-
eral times.
Na
tu
Senior Stars: Ruth Mae Bell
december25
Dr. Carol McIntyre
Naturopathic & Chinese Medicine
503.429.3928
cccmnd@yahoo.com
naturalpathhealthservices.com
786 Bridge Street
Vernonia, OR, 97064