A2 Family Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, March 18, 2015 O BITUARIES Sammie Lou Laurance Feb. 2, 1931 – March 10, 2015 Sammie Lou Laurance, 84, died March 10 at Valley View Assisted Liv- ing Facility in John Day. There will be no services at this time. Mrs. Laurance was born Feb. 2, 1931, in Clarksville, Texas, to Jes- se and Nell (Duncan) Robertson. She graduated from Rule High School in Knoxville, Tenn., in 1949. On March 10, 1951, she married Otho Laurance in Knoxville. She worked for 15 years at the Grant County Courthouse in Canyon City, where she was a deputy clerk. Her hobbies included cooking, sewing, genealogy and can- ning. She was noted for her pie baking and hot rolls. She made PDQ\SLHVZKLFKVKHGRQDWHGWRDXFWLRQVDQGUDIÀHV She was a member of the John Day Church of the Nazarene and the Grant County Genealogy Society. Survivors include her husband, Otho Laurance of John Day; daughter, Joni (Bob) Warren of John Day; sons, Gary (Jeanette) Laurance of Isla Mejueres, Mexico, Rick Laurance of Sweden and Steve (Brenda) Laurance of Chino Valley, Ariz.; seven grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by seven brothers and sisters. Memorial contributions may be made to the John Day Church of the Nazarene or Valley View Assisted Living through Driskill Memorial Chapel, 241 S. Canyon Blvd., John Day, OR 97845. Carl Lee ‘Swiz’ Schnabele May 16, 1945 – March 7, 2015 PAULINA – Carl Lee “Swiz” Sch- nabele, 69, of Canyon City, died March 7 in Paulina. A celebration of life will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 21, at the Schnabele Ranch Headquarters in Can- yon City. Mr. Schnabele was born May 16, in Prineville, to John Lester and Helen Loretta (Basey) Schnabele. He attend- ed Paulina Elementary, and graduated from Crane High School in 1964. He had a successful career in cattle ranching until his death. His many accomplishments included professional saddle bronc riding, steer wrestling and team roping. He was an avid hunter, skilled gambler and enjoyed branding with friends. He was a longtime member of the Paulina Rodeo Club and the Pro- fessional Rodeo Cowboys Association. Survivors include his wife, Wanda (Landers) Schnabele; daughters, Kelli (JW) Rose and Katy (Aaron) Kafka; mother, Helen Schnabele; grandchildren, John Barry Rose, Tommy Jack Rose, TC Hammack, Taelor Hammack and Tiersyn Kafka; and nephew, Dustin Weatherman. He was preceded in death by his father. Memorial contributions may be made to the Paulina Rodeo Club through Juniper Ridge Funeral Home, 678 N. Main St., Prineville, OR 97754. Darrell James Morris July 7, 1946 – March 8, 2015 SUBLIMITY – Darrell James Mor- ris, 68, formerly of Prairie City, died March 8 at his Sublimity home. Mr. Morris was born July 7, 1946, in Prairie City, the seventh of nine children to Lloyd and Clara (Howard) Morris. He attended school in the John Day area. In August 1970, he married Patricia Fowler in Burns. While living there, he worked for the Bureau of Land Man- agement patrolling the Steens Moun- tains; delivered oil for the Hines Oil Company; and did security for the Air Force. His wife Patty died in 1973. In 1976, he met Dolores Ditter, whom he married on May 21, 1977, at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Scio. For the next two years, they lived in Stayton, and managed the Northridge Apartments. They moved to Bend, where they lived for the next 25 years, and where he worked at Thousand Trails Resort and at the Riv- erhouse Hotel. They raised several foster children on their small farm. +LVKREELHVLQFOXGHGKXQWLQJ¿VKLQJSOD\LQJFULEEDJHDQG camping. In 2004, they retired to Sublimity, where he enjoyed watch- ing hummingbirds at the feeder, rock polishing and playing the computer game Bejeweled. Survivors include his wife, Dolores; son, Daniel; three sis- ters; two brothers; and a sister-in-law. Martha Rose Simonson Martha Rose Simonson, 72, died March 10 at her Granite home. No services are planned at this time. Arrangements are under the care of Gray’s West & Company Pioneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey Ave., Baker City, OR 97814. Genealogy seminar on tap down those brick walls. • Newspaper research. MT. VERNON – Interested • Oregon Trail research. in tracing your family history? Lenzen is a lecturer, former The Grant County Genea- National Genealogical Society logical Society will hold a spring director, former president of the seminar, featuring guest speaker %RDUGRI&HUWL¿FDWLRQRI*HQH Connie Lenzen, CG, Saturday, alogists, and is on the education April 11, at Mt. Vernon Com- committee of the Genealogical munity Center, 640 Ingle St. Forum of Oregon. Registration is at 8:30 a.m., The cost of the seminar is and the classes start at 9 a.m. $35 a person in advance, or $40 /HQ]HQ D ERDUG FHUWL¿HG at the door. Lunch is included. genealogist, will present four For a registration form, con- classes: tact the Grant County Genealog- • Vital records on the Inter- ical Society at gcgsociety94@ net. yahoo.com, or call Jeannette • Evidence analysis: Break Harrison, 541-932-4718. Blue Mountain Eagle Contributed photos Luke Williamson shows off Robo, the Lego robot he designed to accompany “RoboTales,” a children’s chapter book series on which he is collaborating with his mother, local author Jill Williamson. Mom and son pen ¿FWLRQDODGYHQWXUH %\&KHU\O+RHÀHU Blue Mountain Eagle JOHN DAY – If you can’t think like a kid, the next best thing is having a kid around who can do the thinking for you. That’s what local author Jill Williamson learned, when she welcomed input from her 13-year-old son, Luke, on a sto- ry premise that would appeal to elementary-age students. $W¿UVWEDFNLQWKHHQ tire family brainstormed ideas, but it was Luke who became his mother’s writing partner, helping name characters and creatures, and plot out stories. The result is “RoboTales,” a children’s chapter book series about Robo, the robot dog, and his adventures with children in D ¿FWLRQDO JDOD[\ 7KH PRWK er-son writing team have com- SOHWHG WKH ¿UVW WKUHH RI HLJKW books planned in the series, designed for readers ages 7-13. Luke even designed the lead character out of Legos. “I couldn’t have done it without him,” Williamson said. “He’s quite creative. After several rejections from major publishing hous- es, they opted to self-publish, which Williamson had done with previous works, including a short novel “Chokepoint.” The next step was to secure an illustrator, and that’s where WKH\IHOWWKH¿QDQFLDOSLQFK Able to afford only one il- lustration, they commissioned Michigan-based graphic artist Kirbi Fagan to create a portrait of Robo, to show the artistic style the writing duo wanted for the books. Then they turned to Kick- starter, an online crowdfunding VLWHWKDWKHOSVSHRSOHIXO¿OOWKHLU dreams through people in the community backing the project. Each project has a cam- SDLJQZLWKDVSHFL¿HGWLPH frame in which to reach the target funding goal. Michigan illustrator Kirbi Fagan has created this image of robot dog Robo. Kickstarter is all or noth- ing. If a campaign attains its JRDO ZLWKLQ WKH VSHFL¿HG WLPH period, people who pledged money will need to pay up, and the project can proceed. If the goal is not reached, no one is charged anything, but the campaigners are back to square one. 7KH ¿QDO GDWH IRU WKH 5R boTales campaign is March 19. To date, $1,158 has been pledged of the $4,995 goal. Williamson said prospec- tive donors can think of it like pre-ordering the books. “We get the money in ad- vance, which helps us to afford to produce the product. And when it’s complete, we mail you that product,” she said. Williamson plans to have Luke’s name on the cover as FRDXWKRU+DOIWKHSUR¿WVZLOO go into his Oregon College Savings Plan. They hope the books will be released this coming October. “It was a long time coming, but I hope readers will enjoy the stories,” Williamson said. Check out the Williamsons’ Kickstarter campaign at www. kickstarter.com and enter “Ro- boTales” under the products search at the top. The campaign information includes an intro- ductory video and synopses of WKH¿UVWWKUHHERRNV For more information about RoboTales as well as Jill Williamson’s books, visit www.jillwilliamson.com. W EATHER F ORECAST Mostly sunny Wednesday 60/30 Sunny Thursday 67/39 Mostly sunny Friday 69/43 Showers likely Saturday 54/33 Mostly sunny Sunday 63/38 Slight chance of rain Monday 59/33 Colder Tuesday 48/27 9 L AST WEEK M ARCH 10 11 John Day 72/34 Sheep Rock 68/34 10 12 13 14 15 16 56/44 61/42 66/37 64/53 72/48 50/40 70/39 60/42 68/32 73/42 72/50 74/38 24/7 F ORECAST A UTOMATED : 541-575-1122 R OAD CONDITIONS : 511; WWW . TRIPCHECK . COM WWW . BLUEMOUNTAINEAGLE . COM / INFO NOAA W EATHER R ADIO FOR J OHN D AY — 162.500 MHz