TWO - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon
Wednesday, October 21,2009
Obituaries
The Official Newspaper
of the City of Heppner and the County of Morrow
Agnes Leonnig
Heppner
GAZETTE-TIMES
U.S.P.S. 240-420
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A g n e s L e o n n ig
passed away on O ctober
13,2009 in Hillsboro at the
age o f 88.
She w as born to
Swiss immigrants Clemens
and Catherine Hurliman on
May 28, 1921 in Woods.
She had seven brothers and
sisters.
On December 30,
1941, she married Ronald
M. Leonnig in Tillamook.
They raised a family o f sev
en children. They resided
in Tillamook, Beaverton,
Heppner, and McMinnville,
Oregon over the years.
Agnes has resided
in McMinnville since 1968.
She was an active m em
ber o f St. James Catholic
Church. Agnes worked in
the fam ily -o w n ed b u s i
nesses o f nightclubs, and as
a school cook for 25 years.
She also worked for Wal-
Mart for seven years.
Family has always
been her most devoted fo
cus. She kept up with all of
her children and their fami
lies, com m unicating via
telephone and letter writ
ing. Holidays were always
spent at her home enjoying
a w onderful, trad itio n al
turkey dinner. Her brothers
would come for visits and
their conversations would
include some o f their Swiss
language and they never
left without a loaf of bread
or one o f her home baked
Swiss cookies or pastries.
She enjoyed sharing her
love through her delicious
foods.
A g n es w as p r e
ceded in death by: her hus
band Ronald in 1981; her
grandson Tony Leonnig in
1984; son Ronnie Leonnig
in 1988; her parents; broth
ers, Marcel, Leo, and Tony
Hurliman; and by her sisters
Mary Suter and M argaret
Tone.
Agnes leaves be
hind to honor her life: her
children, Leonore and hus
band K ay C o rb in , L o r
raine Leonnig, Roger and
wife Marguerite Leonnig,
Lindy and husband Tom
G ilkey, C indy L eonnig,
and LaDawna and husband
Brian M unks; 15 grand
children, Kayla, Krista, and
Brian Corbin, Jeff Leonnig,
Kim Rea, Kelley Cofflem-
oyer, M ichael Rea, Andy
and Ryan Leonnig, Morgan
and Jenna Hawkes, Stepha
nie, A shley and K risten
Munks, and Torie Nguyen;
and 13 g re a t-g ra n d c h il
dren.
A recitation o f the
holy rosary was held on
M onday, O ctober 19, at
10:30 a.m. with M ass o f
Christian Burial following
at 11 a.m. at the Sacred
Heart Catholic Church in
Tillamook. Interment was
in Sacred Heart Catholic
Cemetery in Tillamook.
M em o rial d o n a
tions in Agnes’s name may
be m ade to a charity o f
choice.
Arrangem ents are
in care o f Waud’s Funeral
Home o f Tillamook.
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Why
Letters to the Editor ~
no women in Hall of Fame?
Having lived in the lone/Heppner area from 1969
- 2002 1 know for a fact that lone has had and continues to
have some dynamic, dedicated women involved in their
community. Surely the committee could have nominated
at least one woman from 1922 - 1960.
Even more ironic is the fact that the banquet
contact people are two women!
Karen Beck
Warrenton
Health D epartm ent readies for HI NI
continued from page one
such as Tylenol or Ibuprofen
Smith also said the Department should be getting
more seasonal flu (non H 1N 1) vaccine around the middle
of November. When the vaccine comes in the county will
be rescheduling all previously cancelled clinics.
Jfrom tf)e 1957 arcfjibes of tfje
heppner
^asette-GTtmesi
Heppner students given holiday
when flu empties most classrooms
61% missing from high school Monday
Flu, colds and other related illnesses last
weekend laid low such a great number o f Heppner
High and grade students that school officials, after
taking one look Monday morning at the empty seats
called a halt to classes and dismissed all students until
Tuesday, November 12.
A count o f drippy noses in the high school
Monday morning showed there were only 52 students
present out o f an enrollment of 134 - an absenteeism
o f over 61 percent, and many of those who showed up
shouldn’t have been there, it was reported.
Across the street in the elementary school 112
students were missing out of an enrollment o f 365, not
such a heavy percentage as in the high school except
that in some o f the 5,h and 6,h grade classes there were
only five or six students.
Joining the students on sick list were four
teachers, including one who had been in the hospital
for several days with pneumonia.
The Heppner schools had been lucky during
past weeks in dodging the flu epidemic which has
struck in many parts o f the state, but last Friday the
disease began to make inroads on attendance. That
morning over 50 students were absent, but by after
noon another 30 or more had given up the fight and
went home to bed.
The Friday epidemic seriously affected the
high school’s annual homecoming celebration and led
directly to Stanfield’s 30 to 0 shellacking of the Mus
tangs that night at the rodeo field. Only 18 football boys
were suited up for the game and two or three of those
who did get to the field probably shouldn’t have been
there. The normal football turnout is about 34 boys.
School officials said this week that it will
not be necessary to hold classes later in the spring to
make up for the five days which will be lost this week
inasmuch as the state allows schools 10 days off their
regular planned schedule due to emergency.
The epidemic has not been confined just to
school youngsters during the past several days as there
have been a great many adults stricken since last week
end. There has still been no laboratory report received
here as to whether the disease is actually Asian flu or
some other variety, but whatever the type is has taken
its toll in the Heppner area.
At the present time no other county schools
are reporting any great number o f cases, county health
officials reported. Lexington and lone Schools report
only a normal absentee list for the past week or 10
days._______ ,_____________________________ ________
Marjorie Katherine
Peterson Skuzeski
Marge passed away
in a Portland Hospice Cen
ter July 5, 2009, after a
short battle with cancer.
She was born in
lone to Henry and Adina
Peterson July 2, 1924. She
was raised on “the ranch”
20 miles south of lone in the
Goosebury area. As a little
girl she learned the farm
chores by helping mom in
feeding chickens, collecting
and washing the eggs, and
lending a hand in the home,
including meals.
Marge attended a
one room R ocky B luff)
school that taught grades
1 through 8. School was
a mile and a half from the
ranch, and often, including
bad w eather, rather than
walk would ride her horse
Babe to school. She had to
join lone 8,h grade gradua
tion for her diploma. She
was popular and active in
high school. Marge enjoyed
band, choir, piano, 4-H, stu
dent body secretary, flirting
with the boys and socializ
ing with many friends.
After high school,
she worked a short time in
Heppner for an attorney and
the county tax department
before going to Portland to
find work. During this time,
M arge and a lo n g -tim e
friend, Jean Coleman, de
cided to join the Navy. They
becam e the first wom en
from M orrow County to
do so. Marge was sent to
H u n ter C ollege in New
York for boot camp. There
she trained as a telegrapher
and served in W ashing
ton D.C. and C leveland,
OH. She was discharged
in 1946.
T he su m m e r o f
1946 w as the beginning
o f her relatio n sh ip with
John. It began when John
asked Marge for a date to
the dance. A year later they
were m arried in Heppner
on June 28, 1947, in St.
Patrick’s Catholic Church.
Just recently M arge and
John celebrated their mar
riage o f 62 years. In the
Harold E. Kerr
H a ro ld E. K err
passed away on October
16, 2009 at his home in
Corvallis.
He was bom in Ar-
buckle, CA April 22, 1935
to Dorothy and Ray Kerr.
Harold was raised in Lakev-
iew and was the eldest of
five children.
He began his em
ployment with Oregon State
U n iv e rsity in 1958 and
worked for the university
for 30 years. He worked as a
4-H agent in Crook County
and a crops and livestock
agent in Morrow and Wasco
Counties. He served as an
associate director for the
OSU Extension Service in
C orvallis for eight years.
beginning, Marge worked joyed RV trips to the coast,
on the OSU campus during vacations to Kah-nee-tah,
the three years o f
and they shared a
Jo h n ’s schooling.
love for shopping
and animals. They
T h eir o ld est son,
S te v e , w as b o rn
w ere in se p a rab le
and team ed up on
during last term o f
g ra n d p a w hen it
school. Their sec
cam e tim e to go
ond son, Tom, was
places and allow
b orn in 1951 in Marjorie
Katherine
ing do g s on th e
Portland.
couch. Nicole was
Marge was Peterson
rem inded recently
a homemaker taking Skuzezki
she preferred to be
care o f two small
boys, which was no small with grandma than home.
task. The family remembers Nicole remembers grandma
Marge as a good cook from as witty, kind, ever forgiv
her Swedish recipes, home ing, and the best grandma a
made Christm as candies, girl could ask for.
In addition to being
and good gravies. Grandpa
Henry would come to Port a wife, mom, and grandma,
land for a family seafood Marge was a Swede and let
feast. Marge and her dad everyone know that. She
would buy shopping bags was alw ays asking o th
o f clams, crabs, etcetera. ers if they were Swedish
One year John came home too. M arge w ould m ake
from work to find the two K rum kachas, a Sw edish
had made Lute Fisk in the cookie for Christmas and
house. The smell was so give them to her friends.
bad John asked to remove She would remind Nicole
the meal to the garage to get every time she came to visit
o f the brass candlesticks
the smell from the house.
Marge was a lov that came over with Mar
ing, devoted mother. She ge’s family from Sweden.
taught Bible study at St. She loved her heritage and
M arks and w as a room would often tell stories o f
m other for S te v e ’s first her Swedish roots. She held
grade class through high the Valby Lutheran Church
sch o o l. The g rad u a tin g dear to her heart.
M arge and John
seniors at M arshal High
School gave her a plaque enjoyed 45 years of travel
at their final assembly rec ing in their RVs. She en
ognizing her for all those joyed the coast at Netarts
years with them. Tom re and Nehalem where they
members mom was not only had property. They spent
nurturing, but sewed their 13 winters in Arizona with
clothes, took care of them friends and many months
when sick, and was the one in Santa Rosa, CA where
person they could go to for their oldest son lived. Re
understanding and comfort cently, Marge was asking
when they got into trouble John where they could get
with dad. Tom says, “she a new RV so they could
did these things and many get to the coast again. Two
more because she was my winters ago they lost one to
a storm.
mom.”
M o st know and
Marge was a dearly
treasured grandma. She only will remember Marge for
had one grandchild, Nicole, her sense o f style. Marge
and they spent a great deal was alw ays w earing the
o f tim e together. M arge latest fashion, including
b ab y sat re g u la rly w hen earrings and bracelets. Al
N icole was a baby, took ways looking for an excuse
Nicole every Tuesday after to shop, she took advantage
school all the way through of John working for Jantzen
middle school and spent the to the point the Jantzen
summers together. They en sales ladies would call her
every time a new line came
into the store. W hen she
w atched N icole the two
would hit malls to the extent
that the sales people would
ask where Nicole was when
Marge was shopping alone.
Garage sales were also a
love o f M arge’s. Garage
sales are where she would
find tole painting supplies,
which she had a ton of. She
had a talent for tole paint
ing. Marge loved shopping
because she was able to
interact with other people.
Marge was a social
person. It was impossible to
go anywhere with Marge
without her stopping to talk
with someone whether she
knew them or not, espe
cially if there was a baby or
dog. In the 50s they moved
into a neighborhood with
neighbors that w ere the
sam e age w ith children.
Marge helped form a sew
ing club that m et every
T h u rsd ay at s o m e o n e ’s
house on the street. Not
knowing how much sew
ing was done, the group
did last some 40 years. She
spent time socializing with
Swedish pinochle club for
30 years.
Marge is survived
by: her husband John; son
Tom; granddaughter Nicole
Grimes; and brothers Henry
“Ted” Peterson o f Portland
and H erbert Peterson o f
lone.
She was preceded
in death by: her son Steven
and brother Robert Peter
son.
She was a devoted
wife, loving mother, trea
sured grandm a, and b e
loved sister. Through her
friendship, kindness, sense
o f humor, love for others,
and love o f life. M arge’s
m em ory and sp irit w ill
live in our hearts and our
memories.
Celebration o f life
services were held July 16,
2009 at G ethsem ane Lu
theran Church in Portland.
Interment with military hon
ors was held at Willamette
National Cemetary.
He w orked at Stahlbush was very active in Corvallis
Island Farms for more than Kiwanis. He was an avid
10 years following
g o lfe r and had a
his retirement from
hole-in-one ju st a
few years ago. He
the university.
will be missed by
He and his
wife enjoyed trav
his family and his
many friends from
eling and spending
tim e with friends.
children to adults.
Harold
H e s e r v e d as a Harold E.
VOCA volunteer in Kerr
u s e d to sa y “ A
L ithuania helping
stranger is a friend
to develop a new
I haven’t met yet.”
extension service for the And so he lived his life. Al
country. He has been a though he had more friends
4-H club leader for about than m ost can im agine,
12 years. He truly enjoyed Harold was always look
working with youth and ev ing for the next stranger to
eryone he met was a friend. befriend. In his final hours,
He was a faithful Beaver he was surrounded by his
supporter and a m em ber family.
o f the president’s club. He
He is survived by:
his w ife Carol whom he
married in 1959; a daugh
ter, Cindy, and son-in-law
Bill Roeser o f Lake O s
wego; and a son, Bryan, and
daughter-in-law, Tami Kerr
o f Corvallis.
A memorial service
will be held on Monday,
O ctober 26, at 1 p.m. at
the Northwest Hills Com
munity Church, 3300 NW
W alnut Blvd., C orvallis,
OR.
Remembrances
may be m ade to Benton
County Hospice or Oregon
Agriculture in the C lass
room, 305 Strand Ag Hall,
Oregon State University,
C o rv allis, OR 97331 or
http://aitc.orestate.edu.