SIX - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, November 3,1999
Obituaries
R i c h a r d M. “ D i c k ”
Hammack
Richard M. “Dick" Hammack,
60, of Woodbum, died Thursday,
October 28, 1999 o f heart failure
at his cabin in rural M orrow
County.
Funeral service was held on
Wednesday, November 3,1999 at
the Trinity Lutheran Church, Mt.
Angel, with interment following
the service at Trinity Lutheran
Cemetery.
Mr. Hammack was bom June
25, 1939atCoquille, Oregon. He
graduated from Redmond High
School in 1957. He attended
Concordia College to become a
lay m inister for the Lutheran
Church-Missoun Synod.
He started working for Les
Schwab Tires at the age of 16 and
worked at several tire stores
throughout Oregon, Washington
and Idaho. He m oved to the
W oodbum area 26 years ago,
where he managed the Woodbum
Les Schwab Tire Center until his
retirement eight years ago. Mr.
Hammack also owned and oper­
ated a n ursery business in
Gresham, C.H. Belle Nursery,
which specialized in landscape
trees.
He served in the Army Re­
serves and O regon N ational
Guard.
Mr. Hammack attended the
Trinity Lutheran Church at Mt.
Angel, where he was a Lay Min­
ister, and served on several church
boards, including Lay Minister
Association for the Lutheran Mis­
souri Synod and the Hispanic Min­
istry Commission for the church.
He was a past member of the
Woodbum Rotary Club. He en­
joyed fishing, hunting, music, his
cabin and his dog.
Survivors include his wife,
Kathleen “Kathie” Hammack, at
the hojne; sons, Terry Hammack
of Aloha, Timothy Hammack of
Portland, Thomas Hammack of
Mt. Angel; daughter, Tam ara
Hammack-Ryan o f Woodbum;
mother, Dona Hammack of Hepp­
ner; brothers, Lyle Hammack of
Junction City, John Hammack of
Prineville, Jack Hammack of Sis­
ters, Jim Hammack o f Redmond;
sisters, Patricia Hall and Denise
Hammack, both of Redmond; and
five grandchildren.
Contributions in memory of Mr.
Hammack may be made to Trin­
ity Lutheran Church Pre-School,
Mt. Angel, or the American Dia­
betes Association.
Sim on-W oodburn Funeral
Chapel, Woodbum, was in charge
of arrangements.
Robert C. Notson
Robert C. Notson, 96, of Port­
land, died Monday, September 5,
1999.
Mr. Notson’s life was deeply
entwined with Oregon history and
the history o f The Oregonian
newspaper. He was bom in Lex­
ington in 1902. His family survived
a major flood that destroyed the
town of Heppner. He was man­
aging editor o f The Oregonian
when it won the Pulitzer Prize in
1957. That led to an offer to be­
come managing editor of the New
York Herald Tribune, which he
declined. Mr. Notson stayed with
The Oregonian until he retired in
1975.
He was bom in Lexington on
December 28, 1902, the son of
Samuel E. and Mary A. Notson.
Shortly after his birth, his mother
cradled him in her arms as the
family fled the flash flood that
destroyed Heppner in June, 1903.
When he was 12, he obtained
a printing press and started pub­
lishing his own newspaper, “The
Budget,” in Heppner. “The Bud­
get represented a boy’s viewpoint
of the news in a little community
and had no particular virtue,” Mr.
Notson recalled in a 1976 mem­
oir.
The youthful venture led to Mr.
Notson’s first stab at investigative
reporting and his first brush with
censorship. W hen a theater
burned, he noted that the volun­
teers firefighters were disorga­
nized and ill-equipped. “Father
correctly surmised that towns­
people would figure he inspired
the piece,” Mr. Notson wrote in
his memoir. “He confiscated the
edition.”
Mr. N otson attended high
school in Salem and graduated
from Willamette University in
1924. He served on the univer­
sity’s board of trustees from 1931
until 1971 and was awarded an
honorary degree in 1973.
Mr. Notson worked briefly for
a Salem newspaper before at­
tending Columbia University. He
joined The Oregonian as a reporter
in 1925. He was promoted to city
editor in 1936 and to managing
editor in 1941. He became execu­
tive editor in 1965. Three years
later, Mr. Notson succeeded
Michael J. Frey as publisher, a job
he held until his 1975 retirement.
One of the high points of Mr.
N otson’s career came in 1956
when he supervised an investiga­
tion by reporters Wallace Turner
and William Lambert that exposed
union racketeering and the activi­
ties o f organized crime in Port­
land. The disclosures helped
prompt a Senate rackets investi­
gation and earned The Oregonian
the Pulitzer Prize, the Heywood
Broun award and the Sigma Delta
Chi Public Service award, three
of Americanjoumalism’s top hon­
ors.
Mr. Notson was also involved
in integrating the traditionally
white newsroom when he hired
William A. Hilliard, the first Afri­
can American member o f The
Oregonian news staff, who fol­
lowed in Mr. Notson’s footsteps
and became the paper’s editor.
Fellow journalists and news­
makers alike praised Mr. Notson
for his objectivity and the calm but
firm management o f the newspa­
per.
A fter his retirem en t, M r.
Notson rem ained busy in his
church, as a Willamette Univer­
sity trustee, and as a writer, occa­
sionally contributing to The Orego­
nian.
Mr. Notson married Adelia
White, a librarian at the Univer­
sity of Oregon Medical School, on
June 5, 1926. In addition to his
wife, survivors include daughters,
Ann Notson Poling o f Newport
and Jane Notson Gregg o f Santa
Fe, New M exico; a b ro th er,
Charles Notson o f Seattle; five
granddaughters and three great-
granddaughters.
Eugene (Gene)
Ferguson
Ottis
Eugene (Gene) Ottis Ferguson.
101, died October 21, 1999. at
Hillsboro.
Mr. Ferguson was bom in
Quinlan, Woodward County,
Oklahoma Territory, on August
8, 1898, to Ottis Theodore
Ferguson and Hattie Elizabeth
Gardner Ferguson.
He married Fay Helen Heiny
on June 17, 1923, in Portland.
They lived about 50 years of
their lives in or around Heppner,
where Fay had been a school
teacher and Gene was first a
farmer, then owned a service
station and garage, as well as
continuing in farming.
Ag safety
seminar slated
An agriculture safety seminar,
sponsored by SAIF, has been
scheduled for Wednesday, Nov.
17, in Pendleton.
In addition to providing
agriculture
specific
safety
training, continuing education
credit
for
pesticide
re­
certification will be provided.
Small agriculture employers
attending the seminar will meet
their annual four-hour instruction
on agricultural safety rules and
procedures required by House
Bill 3019. Topics include driving
safety, respiratory protection,
conducting safety observations
and how to combat the physical
stress of agriculture.
The free seminar is designed
primarily for owners operators,
supervisors and foremen, but
would also be beneficial to
anyone working in agriculture,
said a news release.
Registration and continental
breakfast will begin at 7:30 a.m.,
with the seminar from 8 a.m. to
noon.
Early registration is required as
seating is limited.
To sign up or for more
information, contact the SAIF
Groups Division at 1-800-285-
8525 or visit SAIF's website at
www.saif.com.
Seminars will also be held
November 8 at Crooked River
Ranch, November 9 at Hood
River, November 15 at Ontario
and November 16 at Union.
IMS walks away with first at volleyball tourney
lone Middle School 8th graders Cyd Tullis, Natalie McElligott, Emily Key, Megan E. McCabe, Megan M.
McCabe being congratulated by Helix girls after winning tournament at Pilot Rock on Oct 23. Not pictured
is Sarah Barrow
The lone Middle School
traveled to Pilot Rock on
Saturday, October 23, to
participate in the Pilot Rock
Middle
School
Volleyball
Tournament. The lone squadron
walked away with a first place
finish. The tournament consisted
o f eight teams from Umatilla
and Morrow counties.
The lone girls defeated their
first opponent, Pilot Rock, 15- 7,
10 - 8 .
Emily Key belted over 12
points for the team, eight points
consecutively in game one.
The next match, lone easily
defeated Heppner 15-7, 12-1.
Natalie McElligott served over a
total of 16 points for lone,
totally dominating the Ponies in
game two with 12 serves in a
row before the 20-minute time
period was up.
lone’s next match squared off
with Umatilla. lone split games
with Umatilla, 15-2, 2-14.
Natalie McElligott again led the
Lady Cardinals with 11 points.
McElligott was the only member
of the lone team to score in
game two for lone.
LO IS & D EAN HUNT
ivouCd Cihe to invite
to the ^Heppner fElks Lodge
on Sunday, 9{ovem5er 7from 2-5p.m.
to share in the ceCeSration o f their
50 th wedding anniversary
David Winter
Public Works Director
(Informal dress/ty gifts, please)
)
for the Cardinals, followed by
Natalie McElligott with 11
points.
The tournament was a good
tournament for the lone girls.
Natalie McElligott led the Lady
Cardinals
with
43
total
tournament points, followed by
Emily Key with 32 points.
Megan E. McCabe walked away
with 20 points for the
tournament and did a nice job
playing all positions on the
court.
Meghan M. McCabe
scored 18 total points and did an
outstanding job of getting the set
assists to teammate hitters.
Barb Holland ended the
tournament with 17 points and
was a dominant force in the front
row for the Lady Cardinals.
Sara Peck came out with eight
points for her team and had good
play all around.
Sarah Barrow, Cyd Tullis. Kim
M oms and Kasie Peterson did
an excellent job in the back row,
hustling to get the point
throughout the tournament.
Coach Barbara Stefani was
pleased with the performance of
the team, noting that the entire
team played exemplary team
ball. "The girls were out to play
hard and have fun and were able
•to accomplish both. It was
exciting to see the girls play so
well and have so much fun," said
Stefani.
We Make POSTERS
Heppner Gazette-Times
If you went to the Bank of Eastern Oregon last week, and thought you were suddenly on the set for the
movie Grease, that's because this year's Halloween "theme" was back to the 50s. Employees diessed up
in their best 50s dress for the occassion.
REMINDER: Water Meter Boxes
Should Be Insulated For The
Winter Months. Packing Should Be
Contained In A Plastic Bag So It
Will Not Get Wet. The Cost Of Any
Meter Replaced Due To Lack Of Or
Insufficient Insulation Will Be Borne
By The Customer.
a tto f their friends
lone then took on Athena
Weston splitting their games,
15-6, 2-5.
Barbara Holland launched 10
points for the Lady Cardinals in
the match and did an outstanding
performance at the net.
lone easily defeated Stanfield
15-5, 13-1. Megan E. McCabe
belted over 12 consecutive
points for the lone team for a
total o f 14 points.
lone advanced to the final
round
to
play
Umatilla.
Umatilla took the first game
from the Lady Cardinals,
defeating lone 11-15, but the
Lady Cardinals rallied back to
take the next two games 15-3,
15-11.
Emily Key served 12 points
Back to the 50s
Notice Jo
City Water Customers
‘The JamiCy o f
I
As a young man, before he was
10, Gene started to earn money
He would take out to pasture the
cows that people in his home
town owned, then return them at
night, charging the people a
dollar and a half a month. With
this job he made enough money
to buy a cow o f his own.
Gene came to Oregon the first
time in 1905 with his parents
and family. They settled first in
Lexington, then moved to
Lebanon, then in 1908 they
started back to Oklahoma. In
1915 the family again moved to
Oregon,
settling
first
in
Lakeview. Then, in 1917, the
family moved to Heppner.
Except for about a year when
they moved around Oregon
some, Fay and Gene lived in or
near Heppner until 1972, when
they moved to Hermiston.
Gene belonged to the Elks Club
(BPOE) in Heppner, was a
trustee for eight years and a life
member. He also served as a
Morrow County Commissioner
for eight years.
Gene's grandfather, Joseph
Ferguson, fought in the Civil
War as did several other
members o f Joseph's family.
His great-great-great grandfather
fought in the Revolutionary
War.
Gene has been predeceased by
his parents, his two brothers and
a sister, Ollie
Ferguson,
Raymond Ferguson and Vida
Estelle; his wife Fay, as well as
two grandsons and one great
grandson. Survivors include
children, Richard E. (Dick) in
Burien, WA, Charles E. (Ted) in
Gold Beach, OR, and Nancy
Jean Rounsefell in Boring; 11
grandchildren and 12 great­
grandchildren.
Fay was afflicted with
Alzheimer's
Dementia
for
several years before she died.
She spent the last four years of
her life in various care facilities,
and Gene lived nearby to be able
to visit her.
It had long been Gene's desire
to live in three centuries. He
was bom in the 19th century
lived through most of the 20th
century and had hoped to live
into the year 2000.
He will be interred in the
Rogue River cemetery in Gold
Beach, next to his wife.
Now E veryone C an O wn A B rand N ew H igh Q uality
C
om puter !
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