HOMER ATHEN RUSSELL

1895 – 1975

 

by JoAnne Leppo

Homer Athen Russell was the youngest son born to A.P. and Harriet on March 3, 1895, in the family of seventeen children. Two daughters were born after him. Homer attended the Shelburn School and moved with his family to Maclaey in 1910.

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As a young person, he was involved in the Young People’s Bible meetings held at Theron, his brother’s place and at his parent’s place. Also, at times, it was held at his sister, Verda's house. He helped by driving the bus to pick up those who needed rides. The family were all very active in church.

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At the Macleay Literary Society, Homer played a violin solo piece. His violin was always labeled as the “Russell Violin”, but no one had really known the original owneruntil they discovered these newspaper articles.. Homer was very musical. Besides the violin, he played the piano, harmonica and the saw! He had a nice voice and sang too.

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Many of Homer’s older brothers & sisters were already on their own and married when his father and mother were aged, so it was assumed that since he was still at home, he would look after them. He would go several times a week to check on them. But then, he inducted in the army during World War I and sent to Ft. Lewis to receive his training. The war ended before he had to go overseas, but by the time he received his discharge, both parents had passed away.

 

Homer went every year to take care of his parents’ plots and always planted pansies there because his mother loved them so much.

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On his honorable discharge papers, it records his character as       

“excellent”. His “service was honest and faithful.                                                                                                                                    

 Homer married Venita Dorothy May McKinney in 1920 at the First Presbyterian Church in Salem where they lived for awhile.  Homer and Venita had five children; Wally, Gordon, Harriet, Earl and Esther. The second, Gordon died of pneumonia as an infant.

 

Homer & Venita lived on a farm. They had a great harvest that year, and made a good income. So Homer bought new farm equipment and a car which he was very proud of. Some of his friends came over for lunch and brought their cars also. While they were all eating, Harriet, aged 4 years old, learned that if you put a little stick in the “thing that stuck out of the tire”, that it will make a noise.  

                                                        

So she did that to all Daddy’s tires and then to all his friend’s tires… When they came out to boast about their cars, all the tires were flat!! Boy, Daddy Homer chased Harriet around the cars, while all his friends laughed and yelled not to spank her!

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Soon after that, there was a fire in the barn. Homer was on the other end of the farmland, so couldn’t hear or see the fire. Harriet remembered looking out the window while her mother, Venita hopelessly tried to douse it with water and get the animals out. It was a total loss with all the n ew equipment, barn and grain. They couldn’t recover, so they moved into town. His older brother, Arch, took what was left of the farm and helped the family in any way he could.

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Homer and Venita were active in church. Wally: “I learned to play hymns on a pump organ for Sunday School when my father was the Sunday School Superintendent. He was my first piano teacher & had me learn one new hymn every other week. The other week he asked Helen Schmeltzer to learn one new hymn every other week. Then we had to play it on alternating Sundays for Sunday School. It was good experience for us. (In the Mt Home Church, also when it was a one-room church)”

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Harriet said that her father also taught her to play the piano. She remembers him being her Sunday School teacher. In the evenings, they would have family devotions and after the children were tucked in bed, Homer and Venita would sing together. Venita commented later in life, that Homer taught her how to live a Christian life.

 

Homer worked at various jobs. He did janitorial work, electrician, plumbing, climbing buildings to clean windows, mechanic and eventually worked at the Post Office where he retired.

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During the depression, people needed some entertainment and something uplifting, so the newspaper paid Homer $500 to climb the tallest building in the State. Five hundred dollars was a lot of money in those days. It was awesome! Of course, it was all in the newspapers. It was an easy task for him, since he had already been climbing buildings to clean the windows!

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No matter where he lived or worked, Homer was thinking of making things better and more efficient. He had a very inventive mind. When he and Venita were first married on the farm, there was no running water. You’d have to walk way out towards the barn where the well was and then carry the bucket back to the house. He said, “no wife of mine is going to carry buckets of water!” So he rigged up a pulley that went from the kitchen window to the well and it would crank up the bucket of water through the kitchen window!

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When he did janitorial work, he devised the mop bucket that had the wringer attached to the side of it to wring out the mop. He also invented the swivel sweeper. He had a business with another fellow who bought his patents to sell.

HOMER ATHENS RUSSELL, continued

The marriage had some ups and downs and sadly ended in a divorce. Wally had been leaving home for several months at a time, working at different farms while he was a teenager, leaving permanently at sixteen years old. Earl stayed with Wally a couple of times working, then went to live with his dad who signed for him when he wanted to join the Merchant Marines. Eventually, his older daughter, Harriet moved to California to go to college at age 19 years old.  When a job opened up, Venita and her daughter, Esther moved to California also.

 

Homer later married Eunice Larson, a widow, in 1951.

 

Homer worked at the Post Office for seventeen years. His wife, Eunice worked here also. They were both quite involved in the Worker’s Union. Several years, he was voted as president of Local 122 in Portland, Oregon. Eunice was secretary some years and also had been vice president. In 1955, he wrote to the President of USA to request pay raises for the postal workers, among other things for them.

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Homer loved his children. In a letter he wrote to his daughter, Harriet, he told her he prayed for her every night. Then at the end of the letter, he passed on a saying that his mother had told him, “Son, the real definition of love is, one who knows everything about you and still loves you.” He said he never forgot that.

                                                                

​Homer died at the age of eighty years old of a sudden heart attack in 1975. He had a kind and patient disposition. He belonged to the Baptist Church and was a devoted Mason.

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Memories of a Daughter (Esther)

• Father applying ointment to a burn suffered at 1 ½ years of age.

• Father in church holding me during the service at age 5 years.

• Father working to fix or make things useable or helpful for mother.

• Father and Mother praying before meals.

• Father and Mother gathering the family together in the evening to read the Bible and kneel to pray before bedtime.

• Father and Mother singing together after we were in bed.

• Mother—cleaning, sewing (taking apart clothing that was given to us) and making clothes to wear.

• Mother cooking—could make anything with a little yeast and flour.

• Mother caring for us while sick.

• Mother teaching each of the children to play the piano and sing.

• Father and Mother with a desire to teach their children to love and honor God through His Son Jesus was very evident to us and has carried down to their grandchildren and great grandchildren.