A6
COMMUNITY/RECORDS
East Oregonian
HERMISTON
Thursday, May 5, 2022
COMMUNITY BRIEFING
Faith community
hosts prayer event
HERMISTON — An ecumenical effort
to pray for local, state and national leaders as
well as school board members, chamber of
commerce board members and to lift up the
many concerns facing our nation is planned
in Hermiston.
Held in conjunction with the National
Day of Prayer, people of all faiths are invited
to join together for the event. The all-day
gathering is Thursday, May 5, 6 a.m. to
7 p.m. at Living Faith Church, 1611 Diago-
nal Blvd., Hermiston. Everyone is welcome
to drop in at any time and join the prayer.
For more information, including the
schedule, visit winacity.com/dayofprayer.
For questions, contact Amy Palmer, event
coordinator, at amy.palmer500@gmail.com
or 509-201-2481.
Lexington
celebrates May Day
East Oregonian, File
“Guardian” by Chris Huffman sits on display May 7, 2016, during a past art festival in Herm-
iston. The Hermiston Downtown District is hosting the 2022 Art Festival on May 14 in down-
town Hermiston.
Downtown district hosts art event
LEXINGTON — A full slate of activities
is planned during the May Day Celebration
in Lexington.
The event gets to a sizzling start Satur-
day, May 7, with a breakfast 8-10 a.m. at
the Lexington Fire Hall. A fun run/walk
starts at 9 a.m. and a May Day parade
gets rolling at 11 a.m. Vendor booths will
run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Rebekah
Lodge. Also, a soup/rolls lunch is available
for purchase
Other activities include a cornhole tour-
nament, bouncy houses, food trucks, a raffle,
a silent auction and a car show. Some of the
activities include a participation fee. For
more information, search www.facebook.
com/lexingtonoregon.
Republican women
welcome Bridget Barton
PENDLETON — Republican guberna-
torial candidate Bridget Barton is the guest
speaker for the upcoming meeting of the
Roundup Republican Women.
The no-host gathering is Thursday
May 12, 5:30 p.m. at the Pendleton Conven-
tion Center, 1601 Westgate. A dinner is
available for $17. To RSVP, email round-
uprw@gmail.com or text 541-310-8582.
— EO Media Group
Carroll William ‘Ole’ Olsen
August 29, 1926 - April 17, 2022
By TAMMY
MALGESINI
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — People
are encouraged to mark their
calendars for the 2022 Art
Festival.
Presented by the Hermis-
ton Downtown District, the
event is Saturday, May 14,
10 a.m. to 3 p.m. In addition
to booths on Festival Street,
artists will be set up in a
number of Main Street busi-
nesses. People are invited
to take a stroll along the Art
Walk to view and shop for a
variety of artwork.
As space is available,
professional artists still can
register to show and sell
their work. All media, two or
three dimensional is eligible,
including paintings, sculp-
ture, jewelry, woodcarv-
ing, airbrush, mixed media,
drawings, photography, print-
making, metal sculpture and
ceramics. Also, special space
is reserved for student art.
There is a $25 registration
fee for artists. Forms may be
delivered or mailed to Lucky
Endz Gifts, 239 E. Main St.,
Hermiston.
Professional artists will be
judged based on their body
of work presented during
the Art Festival. Cash prizes
will be awarded, including
a Gold Award ($250), Silver
Award ($100) and Bronze
Award ($50). A People’s
Choice Award of $50 also
will be presented. Student art
(kindergarten through 12th
grade) will be judged sepa-
rately and five awards of $20
each, along with other prizes,
will be awarded.
The event also features
live entertainment on Festival
Street, a storytime presented
by The Next Chapter Book-
store, balloon art and a gift
basket drawing. Also, adults
and kids inspired by the event
can participate in a paint-
ing class offered by Michelle
Walchli — registration and
payment is available onsite.
For more information,
including a link to the artist
registration form, search
www.hermistonchamber.
com/hermiston-live. For
questions, email Mary Corp at
mary.corp@ oregonstate.edu.
Lorraine Brown
Jan. 24, 1929 - April 27, 2022
Beloved mother, grandmother and great-
grandmother, Lorraine Adele Brown, 93,
passed away April 27, 2022, at Wheatland
Village in Walla Walla, Washington.
Lorraine and her twin
sister,
Lavelle,
were
born prematurely to their
parents, Leonard and Bertha
Lorenzen, on Jan. 24, 1929,
at St. Anthony Hospital in
Pendleton, Oregon. Each
weighed around 2 pounds
at birth and 12 days later,
Lavelle
passed
away.
Lorraine spent the first
months of her life in the
hospital, in a shoebox on
top of the radiator. The nuns
who cared for her considered her their
miracle baby.
Lorraine’s family farmed wheat west
of Pendleton in the Stage Gulch area. She
and younger brother, Leonard, spent hours
riding horseback through the wheatfields.
Lorraine helped her mom with household
chores and feeding many farmhands each
summer. During the school year, the
family lived in Pendleton. It was there her
grandma, Adele Kupers, taught her how to
make her famous fruit pies, and Lorraine’s
children spent decades trying to convince
her to start a pie-baking business.
After graduating from Pendleton
High School in 1947, she attended
Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma,
Washington, for two years, then returned
home to work at First Interstate Bank.
Her life changed when her brother
brought home friends from Oregon State
College after Christmas in 1949. She met
Earl Eugene Brown, the man she would
later marry at Peace Lutheran Church in
Pendleton on Nov. 4, 1950. When Earl
passed away in 2019, at age 92, they had
been married 68 years. He will forever be
the love of her life.
After marriage, they moved to
Hermiston, and in 1952 to Milton-
Freewater, where Earl worked for the
Oregon State Extension Service. Lorraine
was a stay-at-home mom for their four
children, Nancy, Ron, Leonard and
Bob. It was more than a full-time job,
especially when the normal household
chores involved with a family of six were
multiplied by farm chores, including
helping the kids change sprinkler pipes
and chauffeuring them to and from work at
the family’s packing houses in the College
Place, Wash., area.
The couple eventually founded Earl
Brown and Sons, Inc., Growing and
Packing in Milton-Freewater in 1977.
They, along with their children, some of
their children’s spouses, and many of their
grandchildren worked alongside each other
to grow the business into what it is today.
Over time, all nine grandchildren
worked in the business, some as a career
and others as a summer job.
When Lorraine’s grandchildren were
growing up, she was always there for them
and their parents. When kids were sick,
Grandma Lorraine always had open arms,
an empty couch, lots of chicken and board
games to play. She and Earl were also the
fun grandparents, who put in an above-
ground pool for them. On
swim breaks, the grandkids
could always pop into the
garage, where she kept a
freezer stocked with root
beer popsicles and home-
made cookies.
Lorraine and Earl loved
taking the grandkids on
motorhome trips around
the Northwest, and the
grandkids loved it even
more!
Lorraine and Earl were
so proud to be charter members of Christ
the King Lutheran Church in Milton-
Freewater, where she remained active in
church functions until late in her life. Her
faith in God and family were the most
important things in her life.
She also cherished the many friends
she made over the years at church, in
her community, at Wheatland Village,
and around the country as she and Earl
traveled with family and friends. She
considered the loving staff who cared for
her at Wheatland among her friends.
Her family, immediate and extended,
say she made each of them feel he or she
was her favorite. She always had a big
smile and a hug to share.
Lorraine is survived by her children:
Nancy and Larry Kezele, Ron and
Gretchen Brown, all of Milton-Freewater;
Leonard and Leslie Brown of College
Place; and Bob and Lana Brown of Walla
Walla; grandchildren, Eric and Becca
Brown of Tacoma, Wash., Dan and Sierra
Kezele, Jared and Jamie Brown, Andrew
and Stephanie Brown, all of Milton-
Freewater; Jenny Kezele of College Place,
Wash., Celeste and Chad Buchaklian, of
Waterford, Wis., Marcus and Jo Jo
Brown, of Chapel Hill, N.C, Stephanie
Brown of Vancouver, Wash., and
Christopher Brown of Tigard, Ore.;
13 great-grandchildren; sister-in-laws,
Betty Brown, of Walla Walla, and Ila
Lorenzen, of Pendleton; dear family
friend, Virginia Hays, of Yakima, Wash.;
and many nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her
parents; husband, Earl; sister, Lavelle
Lorenzen; and brother, Leonard Lorenzen.
A private family graveside service will
be held at 11 a.m. Monday, May 9, at the
Milton-Freewater Cemetery, followed by a
family luncheon. A memorial service will
be at 2 p.m. Monday at Christ the King
Lutheran Church in Milton-Freewater,
with a chocolate-chip cookie (her favorite)
reception to follow. Visitation will be on
Sunday, May 8, 2022 from 3-5:00 pm at
Munselle-Rhodes Funeral Home.
Memorial contributions may be made
to Christ the King Lutheran Church or a
charity of the donor’s choice.
To leave a online condolence visit
www.munsellerhodes.com
Carroll William “Ole” Olsen finished
out his days on his 140-year-old family
farm at Olex, Oregon, on April 17, 2022
Carroll was born on Aug. 29, 1926, to
Axel Neil Olsen and Elsie
Grace Ries Olsen at Condon,
Oregon. He lived all of his
95 years in Gilliam County
except during the tail end of
World War II and 13 years
he lived in Spokane.
Carroll attended Olex
grade school where his
own mother, Elsie, her two
brothers and sister had also
attended, as well as Carroll’s
two brothers, Manley, and
Truman. It was during
these years Carroll enjoyed following
his granddad William Reis around at his
grandparents’ farm in the old established
city of Olex. His grandpa would butcher
calves and take them to the grocery store
in Arlington and he used to watch this
complete process. His dad sold meat to
the local farmers before the harvest and
his mom and dad sold eggs to the store
at Olex plus stores in Condon and later to
the restaurant in Arlington. The cream that
was separated from the milk was put on
the train at Arlington where it would make
its way to Portland and made into butter.
While it was his mother who named
him Carroll William at birth, his granddad
William called him “Billy” and his uncles
called him “Doc.” Growing up between
his parents’ home and his grandparents’
home, his fond memories were swimming
during the summers with his brothers,
uncles and aunt and the Bethold children
in Rock Creek. In the winter they would
wax their sleds, trying every steep hill they
could find. It was in the living room of his
grandparents’ four-roomed home where
he enjoyed a favorite memory of listening
to the radio. In his later years, his favorite
activities were playing baseball, hunting
and fishing. His favorite sports teams were
the Dallas Cowboys and the Portland Trail
Blazers. He was an avid fan of women’s
sports too.
As a young boy, Carroll attended the
one-room Methodist Church at Olex.
There was no running water or electricity
with an outhouse near the building.
This building was later sold to Stanley
Houden who later tore the church down
for its lumber. Carroll’s dad worked for
Ed Irby driving cat. He worked three to
four years at the Condon Grain Growers
at Mikkalo and later for Dick Steinke and
Snell Weatherford. It was all of these jobs
that Carroll watched his dad labor at that
piqued his interest in farming.
Carroll’s mother was the Olex School
Clerk for many years. He grew up
learning how to raise sheep for their meat
and wool. Later his folks raised cattle.
No doubt growing up on the family farm
was a fulfilling young life for Carroll as
a child. As a youngster, Carroll missed a
test day at Olex, so his mom took him into
Arlington where he attended school and
played both football and basketball.
Carroll’s very first job was shocking
hay for Mr. Howden, earning 25 cents an
hour. Following in his dad’s footsteps,
his second job was at 13 and 1 driving
combine during harvest for Herman and
Dick Steinke. During the summer of his
sophomore year, Carroll tended header for
Earl Drake and helped in harvest for the
Ryans at their wheat ranch at Gwendolyn.
In the spring of 1942 and 1943, Carroll
went to work for Newell Reed at Mikkalo
and then worked at the Condon Grain
Growers elevator at Mikkalo before it
caught fire and burned to the ground.
Carroll’s parents, Axel and Elsie,
purchased the old Ries home at Olex from
Ivan Gilbert in 1942. Carroll signed into
active duty on Sept. 29, 1944, to the 79th
U.S. Naval Construction Battalion where
he served at the tail end of World War II
in the Navy as a Seabee. He considered
his service as the “mop-up crew.” Carroll
was honorably discharged as Seaman First
Class in June of 1946.
Carroll met and dated Shirley Lorenna
Carr and proposed to his then girlfriend
on Sept. 14, 1947, on her 20th birthday.
Carroll and Shirley were married on Sept.
19, 1948, at the Arlington Church of the
Nazarene, in a “rainbow colored” wedding,
officiated by Reverend Twist. The newly
married couple celebrated
their honeymoon night at the
Columbia River Gorge Hotel
in Hood River, Oregon, and
their wedding trip consisted
of a visit to Yellowstone
Park and on down to
Turlock, California, to visit
Shirley’s sister, Helen, and
her husband, Frank. The
couple celebrated their 50th
wedding anniversary again
at the Columbia River Gorge
Hotel.
Their first home together was in the bank
apartments at old Arlington where Carroll
was employed by Braden Bell as a truck
driver and then later as a heavy equipment
mechanic. The couple later purchased
the old Wetherell house in the spring of
1950. Their oldest daughter, Dianna Lee,
was born in 1951 while they lived in this
home. The following year in April of
1952, Carroll became employed by Floyd
and Martha Anderson. They moved out to
the Anderson ranch where they greeted
their last three children, Pamela in 1954,
Richard in 1956 and Vickie in 1959. It
was here where Carroll picked up the
nickname of “Ole,” given to him by his
employer, Floyd Anderson.
Carroll was a member of the Elks Lodge
No. 1869 in Condon, Oregon.
After the death of his wife, Shirley,
in 2002, Carroll moved to Spokane,
Washington. At Spokane, in July of
2018, Carroll joined the Department
of Washington Seabees that originally
started in 2001 with only 14 members and
has now grown to 113 members. Patrick
Shaw is the Commander of Island 6,
Seabees Veterans of America. Carroll and
one other fellow still living, were the only
two members from World War II in this
group of survivors. Both he and his fellow
WWII veteran used to get in the head of
the line at all their gatherings because of
their military status serving in WWII, and
Carroll did not mind being teased about
being in the front lines again. While living
in Spokane, Carroll was a senior member
of the local YWCA where he enjoyed
exercising with other seniors.
In March of 2022, Carroll’s health
began to decline, and he signed into
Pioneer Memorial Health and Hospice for
his home care planning that he would die
on his family farm at Olex. His hospice
nurse asked him how long he had lived in
the area. His reply: “Since I was knee high
to a grasshopper.”
Carroll was preceded in death by his
grandparents, Nicholas William and
Lillian Drucilla Ries. Carroll’s father,
Axel Neil, died in 1975 and his mother,
Elsie Grace, died in 1980. Carroll was the
eldest of four children. His sister Lovella F.
died at birth in 1928, and his two brothers
preceded him in death, Manley Winton
who died in 1997 and Truman Stanley who
died in 2002, both in Washington State.
His beloved wife, Shirley Lorena, died
that same year as well, and his daughter,
Pamela Helen Nelsen, died in 2011.
Carroll is survived by his daughter,
Diana Lee Ramirez of San Antonio,
Texas; his son, Richard Carroll Olsen of
Olex, Oregon; and his youngest daughter,
Vickie Lyn Olsen of Echo, Oregon.
He is also survived by 10 grandchildren,
17 great-grandchildren and five great-
great-grandchildren. Happy is the man
whose quiver is full.
A celebration of life and burial of ashes
for Ole will be May 7, 2022, at 1 p.m. at
the Arlington Masonic Cemetery, with a
potluck to follow in the basement of the
United Methodist Church at 150 Hemlock
St. in Arlington, Oregon.
In lieu of flowers, the family is asking
that donations in Carroll’s memory be
made to Pioneer Memorial Health and
Hospice in Heppner, Oregon.
Please share memories of Ole with his
family at burnsmortuaryhermiston.com.
Burns Mortuary of Hermiston, Oregon, is
in care of arrangements.