8
S moke S ignals
DECEMBER 1, 2017
Pearl Lyon, Tribe’s
eldest Elder, walks on
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
Pearl Lyon, the Tribe’s eldest El-
der at 105 years of age, walked on
in the early morning of Wednesday,
Nov. 29, in McMinnville, Tribal
Council member Denise Harvey an-
nounced at that afternoon’s Tribal
Council meeting.
According to a Smoke Signals
story written about Lyon when she
turned 100 in 2012, she was born
Feb. 20, 1912, at Bay City Hospital
in Tillamook before the sinking of
the Titanic and the opening of Fen-
way Park in Boston.
Pearl only weighed 2.5 pounds,
so family members put her in a
shoebox along with a warm brick
to keep her alive. She was the old-
est of three sisters, which included
Bernice Jensen and Ruby Bigoni.
Jensen walked in May 2012.
Pearl’s grandfather, Andrew Zu-
ercher, moved to Tillamook from
Bern, Switzerland, when he was a
young man and purchased a reg-
istered goat. Pearl attributed her
longevity to drinking rich goat milk.
In addition to goats, Pearl’s
grandfather grew flowers in two
greenhouses in Tillamook and her
Dayton home continued that fam-
ily tradition, surrounded by irises,
tulips and daffodils.
Pearl’s parents were James Hugh
Langley and Emma Zuercher. She
married Harley Lyon, a farmer and
railroad worker from Lafayette, in
1932. She worked for 19 years as a
nurse at the Oakwood Glenn Nurs-
ing Home in McMinnville, which
was bet-
ter known
a m o n g
many there
as “Pearl’s
Boarding
House.”
Harley
and Pearl
lived in
many com-
Pearl Lyon
munities,
including McMinnville, Lafayette,
Dayton and Hillsboro. Pearl even-
tually settled in Dayton on Ash
Road, where she lived for the past
46 years.
In 2012 at the time of her 100th
birthday, Pearl had 37 grandchil-
dren, great-grandchildren and
great-great-grandchildren. Her
birthday was celebrated every
February with a party at the Elders
Activity Center.
She is survived by her son, Har-
old Lyon, of Dayton.
With Pearl’s passing, Tribal
Elder Opal Davidson of Grand
Ronde becomes the Tribe’s eldest
Elder at 102 years of age. She is
followed by 99-year-old Dorothy
Greene, 98-year-old Ruby Bigoni
(Pearl’s sister), and 93-year-old
Carmilla Faggani and Kathryn
Harrison.
Macy & Sons in McMinnville is
caring for the family. A service is
tentatively scheduled for Saturday,
Dec. 9, at the Tribal gym.
A full Walking On notice will
appear in the next issue of Smoke
Signals.
Family feud
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Jodie Haller and her husband, Tribal Elder Robert Haller Jr., look at the
prize she won for coming in second place during the Diabetic Family
Feud event held at the Elders Activity Center on Tuesday, Nov. 14. There
were 10 rounds of Family Feud-style diabetes-related questions and
the three people who accumulated the most points for their answers
won prizes. Linda LaChance came in first place and Tribal Elder Marion
Mercier finished in third. The Tribe’s Health & Wellness Department
hosted the game and another event later that day in the Tribal gym
that included physical activities, prizes, educational materials, blood
pressure checks and blood sugar checks for people who are already
diabetic. November is National Diabetes Awareness Month and the
Nov. 14 was World Diabetes Day.
Flu shots available
Patients at the Grand Ronde Health & Wellness Center can
check in at any time to obtain a flu shot. For more
information, contact Activities/Wellness
Promotion Coordinator Kandee Little at
Kandee.little@grandronde.org or at 503-879-2089.
Smoke Signals photo
reprint policy
See a photo you like in Smoke Signals?
Want a copy, or several copies?
Want to see if a photo that was taken but not printed in Smoke Signals
because of space limitations might be something you’d like hanging on
your living room wall? Tribal members can order 8-by-10-inch copies of
photos taken by Smoke Signals staff members regardless of if they were
published in the newspaper. Charge is $1 for each print ordered. Reprint
orders must be pre-paid with a check made out to Smoke Signals. A photo
reprint order form is available in the Publications Office of the Tribe’s
Governance Building in Grand Ronde, or can be mailed upon request.
All photos contained in Smoke Signals’ current archive are available for
purchase, but people interested in going through the archive must make
an appointment to review photos for possible purchase.
No rush orders are permitted and requestors must allow 30 days for
delivery. Requestors must be Tribal members. In addition, reprint re-
questors must agree that the reprint is for personal use only, and not
for use in an ad, or for commercial, political or promotional purposes.
Smoke Signals reserves the right to decline a reprint request. To re-
quest a reprint order form, write to Smoke Signals at 9615 Grand Ronde
Road, Grand Ronde, OR 97347, or call Michelle Alaimo at 503-879-1961
or 800-422-0232.
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