Alma Iris Russell

1891-1979

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 from "William Russell Family" by Opel Louise Currier, updated by J. Leppo

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Alma was born at Albany. She attended the Shelburn School, also went to school at Macleay. By the time she finished 8th grade, her mother was unable to do much of the housework, so a great deal was expected of her. She was still at home when the parents passed away.

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She, Homer and Inis lived in a home on South Commercial for a time after Homer’s discharge and was keeping house for him. Homer had been in service during World War I.  Homer got married in September of 1920, and Alma got married in November to Karl Lentz, a logger. Homer’s new mother-in-law, Mary McKinney, sang at Alma and Karl’s wedding and played the Wedding March at the end of the ceremony.

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 Karl was born in Poland, June 26, 1894 and came to Oregon in 1909. He was naturalized in 1918. His younger brother, Bill, married Alma’s sister, Verda.  K arl and Bill were engaged in logging activities most of their lives.

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Alma and Karl were a happy couple. Alma kept a perfect house, was an excellent cook and enjoyed the many vacations they had together. They had one daughter, Ladona Iris Lentz.

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Karl kept his nieces and nephews entertained by juggling and pulling nickels, dimes and even quarters from behind their ears. He would also take his nephews hunting and fishing.

 

Karl had a thirst of knowledge. He read the Encyclopedia Britannica and world dictionary for hours. He also loved opera and the theatre. He traveled many miles to Portland just to attend the Opera, A Baby Elephant, and many others.

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Alma’s and Karl’s married life was spent in and near logging camps. Karl was an expert “high Climber” and “Topper. In fact, Karl doubled for George Brent, doing the stunts in a movie for him.

  

They were at Klameth, Washington, a number of years; also at lakeside, Oregon on the Oregon coast.

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Alma wasn’t able to finish high school when she was young since she stayed home to help when her mother was ill. But in 1951, she and Elizabeth Decker were able to graduate, a feat she always wanted to do.

 

Later, they moved to Willamina, Oregon. One day a terrible logging tragedy took place near Springfield, June 13, 1952. Karl was fatally injured by a dynamite blast (a bad charge that had to be checked) in the woods near Eugene. He was fifty-eight years old.

 

After Karl died, Alma lived with her daughter, Ladona, for a time, but later moved to Capitol Manor in Salem where she spent her last years. She died 1979 at the age of eighty years old. She loved people and enjoyed visiting among her friends and family.

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From a cousin, Anabel Lathrop Buddee, who was the daughter of Alma’s sister, Inis:

 

“My mother, Inis, and Alma were very close sisters; she and Uncle Karl Lentz would come and stay with us for a while in the winters when the logging camp was closed…leading to much laughter. I remember with much delight the time we lived off of Vermont that we had a heavy snowstorm and then a silver thaw (which is a slight thaw and then a heavy freeze). Everything was a sheet of solid ice and at that time, we did not have any inside bathroom facilities. The sun had come out bright and beautiful that day. Aunt Alma needed to use the outhouse which was quite a distance from the house; she began to slip and slide, with mother trying to stop her; how they were laughing. She was rescued when mother threw her a rope and pulled her up the hill. We all laughed over that adventure.

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“To get to Aunt Alma and Uncle Karl’s up to Cathlamet, Washington, at the logging camp, was another adventure. We would board the sternwheeler in Portland going down the Columbia River, and it stopped at all the little towns along the way to unload cargo and some passengers. When we would get to Cathlamet, we had to walk through town to the railroad track that came down out of the camp and then some man would be there with the speeder, which was hand-pumped, and take us up to the camp. We had to go through a pasture of cows and one old bull. One time, Aunt Alma saw the bull coming and screamed for us to run. I was probably five and I was so afraid that I would fall or could not keep up. …and that bear that came to visit every night really frightened me, they all assured me, I was safe…

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 “…We again went to Cathlamet on the sternwheeler at night. Aunt Alma was very nervous and at one stop as the boat bumped the dock and blew its whistle to dock, Aunt Alma screamed to mother, “the ship is blowing up!” and pushed her out of the bunk onto the floor. We laughed so hard. I remember that very well, for I was in it with them!

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“Mother and Alma would go to lay down in the afternoon and laugh and visit for hours. Then there was the Christmas (during Prohibition) when Aunt Alma had a new white fruitcake recipe that had to seasoned with rum. They went to the liquor store to get some, but didn’t have a license. They were discussing how they were going to accomplish this when a man in the store heard them, and so he bought it for them.

They came home elated and we all enjoyed the cake!”