A2
Obituaries
wallowa.com
January 6, 2016
Wallowa County Chieftain
Richard (Dick) Gasser
July 13, 1938 to Dec. 28, 2015
Edmund (Ed) Harrington
Sept. 20, 1927 to Dec. 31, 2015
Laurence (Larry) A. Loftus
April 10, 1931 to Dec. 30, 2015
Richard (Dick Gas-
ser passed away peace-
fully at his home in
Huntington, Ore., on
Dec. 28, 2015. He was
born July 13, 1938 in
Oregon City, Ore., to
Sylvester (Sid Gasser
and Dorothy (Shepherd
Gasser.
Dick spent his child-
hood in the Molalla area,
where he worked for his
father, Sid Gasser, in his
various businesses until
the family moved to the
Bend area when he was
in his teens. A few years
later, Dick enlisted in
the Air Force and served
as a dog handler in the
military police until 1959. At this time, he was discharged
from active duty and moved to the Enterprise area, where he
met Claudia Fisher. Dick married Claudia on April 27, 1961,
in Asotin, Wash. They were married for 54 colorful years.
Dick and Claudia had three children: Ricky, Brenda and
Sandra. Dick’s work took them to various parts of Oregon
over the years. Most of their children’s childhood was spent in
the Molalla area, where he was very active in the community.
Dick was a longtime member of the Molalla Volunteer Fire
Department and Ambulance service, where he was an EMT
and Fire Training Of¿ cer. Dick also was a member of the
Mulino Lions Club, served as Scout Master for Troop 161,
and was a Little League coach.
In 1980, Dick and Claudia decided they needed a change
and this took them to Baker County to operate the Eagle Cap
Lodge. After a few years, Dick decided to try his hand at gold
mining exploration, taking them on many adventures, eventu-
ally landing them in Huntington.
While in Huntington, Dick served as mayor for two terms.
He also had a contracting business and in his spare time he
enjoyed hunting and ¿ shing with his family and many friends.
Dick was the Baker County Hunters Education Coordinator, a
life member of the IHEA and life member of the NRA.
Dick is survived by his wife Claudia, their three children,
Rick Gasser, Eugene, Brenda Coggin of Molalla, Sandra Staf-
ford of Molalla; 14 grandchildren; ¿ ve great-grandchildren;
and his sister Sharon of Gambrel, Mont.
He was loved by all and will be dearly missed. The services
will be held at 1 p.m. Jan. 16 at the Enterprise Cemetery, Boll-
man Funeral Home of¿ ciating.
Ed Harrington of Richland,
Wash., suddenly and silently
joined the Lord on Dec. 31, 2015.
He was born in Deadwood, S.D.,
on Sept. 20, 1927 to Edmund
Harrington, Sr. and Beatrice Har-
rington. He grew up in Kadoka,
S.D., where the Badlands and
Black Hills serYed as the ¿ rst
playground to a lifetime of ex-
ploring and adventures. With his
brother Dick and more than 50
cousins from their mother’s eight
sisters in the area, the holidays and get-togethers in Kadoka in his
youth were among Ed’s favorite memories.
Drafted at the end of World War II, he entered the service at
the age of 18 and served in the Army Air Corps as a weatherman
stationed at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. Serving in the
Air Force led Ed to obtain his private pilot’s license and he À ew
throughout the Northwest (until a close call had both his wife and
his mother put their feet down — so he transitioned to being a pas-
senger on future À ights
After the service, he attended the South Dakota School of Mines
before transferring to Oregon State University, where he earned his
degree in civil engineering. While at OSU, he attended a barbecue
and dance at the Catholic Newman Center and he met the love of
his life, Joy Linn. 7hey married on April 11, 1953, raised ¿ ve chil-
dren together and were looking forward to their 63rd anniversary.
Ed’s career in construction kept the family moving, with time
spent in West Virginia, Montreal, California, Nevada, New Mex-
ico, Idaho, Oregon and ultimately, Washington. While in Oregon,
he oversaw the construction of the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant and
after that, took the Washington Square Mall from the time it was an
orchard until the ¿ rst occupants moved in.
His job as project manager for the construction of WPPSS 2
brought him to the Tri-Cities in 1978. Instead of moving away
from the area for another project, he and Joy started Shamrock
Constructors in 1984. Over the next 25 years as a Butler Builder,
Shamrock Constructors constructed numerous metal buildings on
the Hanford Site and throughout the area.
Never one to ever stop working, he supposedly retired around
1998, but found a way to stay busy by overseeing projects for
Shamrock Constructors, including a large project in Seattle. He
took a stab at transitioning to the computer age and began using a
computer to estimate construction projects. However, he was not a
natural at using technology. The joke around the of¿ ce at that time
was that he was still not allowed to turn the computer on or off.
Ed always enjoyed the outdoors, hunting, ¿ shing and skiing.
After a long search for just the right property in just the right lo-
cation, he and Joy bought “the Ranch” in Enterprise and began
spending their retirement at the Ranch. They loved to sit on the
deck with their morning coffee, surrounded by the Wallowa Moun-
tains, watching the wildlife, and admiring the beautiful scenery.
Ed had a wide grin, a contagious laugh and stories that kept
his family and friends laughing. His children couldn’t imagine
having a more loving and dedicated father. And he was complete-
ly devoted to his wife, who was with him when he collapsed and
died while raking leaves together in the front yard of their Richland
home. He and Joy shared numerous adventures and enjoyed all
kinds of experiences from moose hunting by horseback to sailing
from Alaska to Seattle. They traveled to Africa, England, Ireland,
Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Mexico — and he even went
skydiving at the age of 77. He was planning to take another dive
for his 90th birthday.
Ed is preceded in death by his mother and father and his daugh-
ter, Shannon Harrington. He is survived by his wife, Joy Har-
rington of Richland his brother Dick (Jeanne Harrington of Ra-
leigh, NC his children Dan (Pamela Harrington of Pasco Mike
(Heidi Harrington of Newcastle, Wash. Erin (Kim Harrington of
Newberg, Ore., and Kevin (Pamela of Kennewick. He so enjoyed
his many grandchildren and great-granddaughter and will always
be watching over them.
Visitation is scheduled from 3-6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 8 at Hillcrest
Funeral Home in Kennewick, with a rosary to follow at 6 p.m. The
funeral will be Saturday, Jan. 9 at 11 a.m. at Parish of the Holy
Spirit in Kennewick.
The family asks that in lieu of À owers, please consider a dona-
tion to Catholic Family and Child Services, cfcsyakima.org.
For online condolences please visit www.AskHillcrest.com
Larry Loftus made his
¿ nal journey peacefully
with his wife Kate by his
side Wednesday, Dec. 30.
Larry was born to Victor
Loftus and Lulu Althiser
Loftus in Washington, D.C,
on April 10, 1931. When
he was 8 months old, the
family moved to Mexico
City, where Victor served
in the American Embassy.
Larry attended the Ameri-
can School until 1943 when
his parents divorced. He
and his mother returned to
Saugerties, N.<., where he ¿ nished his schooling. He received
a scholarship to Drew University in Madison, N.J., and they
moved there in 1949. Larry graduated with a bachelor’s degree
from Brothers College in 1953 and started Theological School
at Drew, located on the same campus.
Larry married Ruth Bollman in 1954. During his middler
year they volunteered for the Christian Ministry in the Nation-
al Parks and were assigned to the Olympic National Park in
Washington state. Larry lost his heart to the Northwest, wrote
the Bishop of the Northwest Conference and was appointed to
Tualatin United Methodist Church upon graduation in 1956.
Larry and Ruth had three children Jim (1957, Dan (1960 and
Laurianne (1964. He served United Methodist churches in Tu-
alatin, Sweet Home, First Church Portland, Fremont, Metzger
and Oak Grove, from 1956 to 1991. He took a sabbatical from
1977 to 1981 to open The Bike Route, a bicycle shop in south-
west Portland, with Ruth and his family.
Larry returned to active ministry in 1982 at Metzger after he
and Ruth divorced. He met Katherine “Kate” (Oien and after a
brief courtship they married on Aug. 29, 1987.
Larry loved the Northwest and reveled in the beauty and
opportunity of hiking, camping and bicycling the roads, trails
and highways of Oregon, Washington, Alaska and The Yukon.
He helped establish the family camping program in the Ore-
gon-Idaho Conference, motorcycle camps, trail camping and
mountain climbing expeditions. He climbed most of the peaks
in Oregon and Washington, including Mount Hood (three times,
including performing a wedding on the summit and Mount St.
Helens (before and after eruption. He was a member of Ma-
zamas for many years, leading many climbs.
Larry was an avid bicyclist, riding 500 miles per week in-
cluding century rides (100 miles in one day and charity rides
for the MS Society (raising over 30,000 in seven rides. He
loved riding Wallowa County roads on his mountain bike. In his
60s, he rode the Oregon, Washington and Idaho Bike Rides, av-
eraging 24,000 feet of elevation gain in six days per each event.
In 1994, Larry was given a special appointment to the Los-
tine Presbyterian Church in Lostine, where he served for 11 1/2
wonderful years as Pastor. During that time, he and Kate found
5 acres on the Lostine River where they built their dream log
home. Although Larry wanted a one-room log cabin, they com-
promised and designed it together. Both felt they had died and
gone to heaven with the river on the west, the wildlife refuge on
the east, and the breaks of the Wallowa Mountains bordering the
property. Larry so enjoyed hiking with their two Border Collies,
Mira and Shep.
Larry retired from the United Methodist Church in 1996 af-
ter 41 years of service and later retired from the Lostine Pres-
byterian Church in 2005. In 2008, he began a two-year Interim
Ministry at the La Grande First Presbyterian Church, commut-
ing three days a week. It was a wonderful capstone to a ministry
he gave his life to. Even after 55 years of service, Larry never
left the pulpit, says friend Ellen Barton. Larry was a consum-
mate pastor and preacher who was a “wholly human messenger
of God”.
Larry loved À ying (he wanted to be a pilot before choosing
the ministry, fast cars, hiking, travel, mountaineering, motor-
cycles, camping and reading (especially after retiring for the
third time. Larry was extremely proud of Kate, who is a direc-
tor, actor and founder of the MidValley Theatre Company in
Lostine (since 1995. He was her biggest supporter and House
Manager for many of the productions.
Larry is survived by Kate, his wife of over 29 years; son
Jim and his wife Star, son Dan and his wife Susan, daughter
Laurianne and Keith, daughter Sharon Heni¿ n (husband Vern,
daughter Kate Conrad (husband Nick, son Robert Oien; grand-
children Jason Loftus (wife Sheridan, Tyler Loftus, Chelsea
Pickthorn, Steven Loftus, Cody Oien, Polina Conrad, Alek-
sander Conrad; and great-granddaughter Miette Loftus. Larry
also is survived by his former wife Ruth TenEyck and his cous-
ins Harry Loftus (of California and Russell Teetsell (of Virgin-
ia. He was preceded in death by his parents Victor and Lulu.
A celebration of life will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 10 at
the First Presbyterian Church in La Grande (1308 Washington
Ave.. A fellowship gathering will follow at the Presbyterian
Friendship Center (across from the church. Arrangements are
in care of Bollman Funeral Home, Enterprise.
D EATH N OTICE
Leona Warnock
Leona Warnock, 87, of Enterprise passed away peacefully
Dec. 7, 2015 at Wallowa Valley Senior Living in Enterprise. No
services are planned at this time. A celebration of life will be
held at a later date. A full obituary will be published later.
M ORE OBITUARIES ON A3
About Obituaries
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Annie Duncan
Joseph Charter School
Annie Duncan is a junior at Joseph
Charter School. She is involved in
cross country and track and is an
active member of FFA and FCCLA.
Annie wants to be a physical therapist
so she has taken advantage of some of
our advanced science classes such as
chemistry and sports medicine and
also takes pre-calculus and childhood
development for college credit.
Annie has been a wonderful addition
to Joseph's student body and we are
thrilled to have her at our school.
Congratulation Annie!
See Philip Ruud at
Wallowa Valley
Eye Care
(Dr. Baileys Office)
January 13th
519 W. North St.
Enterprise, OR 97828
Call 800-678-3155
for appointment
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