The Russell CollectionS
William, Jason Hubbard, Jason, Jason, Jason, Jesse, Augustus, Homer
Earl Bruce Russell
1927 - 1998
Profile/Bio
Occupations:
1945: Merchant Seaman-Merchant Maritime Union (re: draft card)
Merchant Marine Captain
Appliance & Repair Store
Clubs, Memberships: Master Mates & Pilots Union, Masonic Lodge
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Physical:
Blue eyes, brown hair, ruddy complexion, 5'10", 2 hearts tattooed on left arm
Heart fibrillation, pneumonia
Life of
EARL BRUCE RUSSELL
from Wally:
Earl was a handful. Close to being a juvenile delinquent in his grade school years in Tigard. Mom working at anything she could and where ever she could just didn't leave much time to cope with a boy without a father at home.
As soon as he graduated from grade school I took him to live with me. We shared a room and bed where I worked at Schmeltzers. General and orchard farming. Mr. Schmeltzer was very supportive. Paid him a little and gave him room & board. He started high school while living with me there. I have a picture of him in a dress on his way to freshman initiation. He had a 45 minute school bus ride to get to school.
Sometime in the Spring of that freshman year he got into some kind of trouble and skipped out. He went to live with Papa at that time and I'm not just sure what the sequence of events were from there. He would have been 14 years old at that time. He was basically with Papa then until he went into the Merchant Marine. I know that Papa signed for him to go to some kind of Merchant Marine school in Southern California, so he got into action a year earlier than his age would have permitted.
OBITUARY
Earl Bruce Russell, was born September 22, 1927 in Grass Valley, Oregon, and died October 23, 1998 in Portland, Oregon. He lived to be 71 years, one month and one day old. Earl lived in the Portland area until World War II.
He went to sea when he was 16 years old as an AB Seaman and retired 43 years later as Captain. During those years, he sailed all over the world in all kinds of ships. Earl enjoyed entertaining so was very successful a Captain of a Cruise/Cargo ship the last 10 years of his career.
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Earl was very much a “union man” and was still active in the Master Mates & Pilots Union. He fought union corruption for many years while sailing on the East coast. He also belonged to the Masonic Lodge.
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Earl had many interests and he tried many ventures and joint ventures. One of the best known was the Appliance and Repair store on the east side of Portland. But long before he retired, it was evident that he would become a collector. He was definitely addicted to auctions and garage sales and became an authority on many types of collectables.
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Earl was thoughtful of others, very generous; and with the ability to accept people as they were whatever their walk in life. Even so, he had a very outspoken dislike of bureaucrats and the insurance industry.
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He thoroughly enjoyed his acreage and home on the banks of the Nehalem River and welcomed one and all.
Earl is survived by his wife, Diannia of Timber, Oregon; his son, Scott, in Portland and granddaughter, Cassandra; one brother, Wallace of Newberg and two sisters: Harriet Douglass of LaPorte, Texas and Esther Wagner of Whitter, California. Also, surviving are numerous nieces and nephews.
MY BROTHER, EARL
Earl, my little brother, two years my junior; as children, we had a romping good lot of fun! We were a team against Wally in baseball in the barn yard when Earl was nine years old. Later, he played a good game of soccer at school.
He was thinking good business at age 11 when he bought a bicycle at five dollars for 25 cents a week. He kept it in repair with old bike parts. How could I forget the pranks with the BeeBee gun that hit it’s mark on my rear! Ha! We had lots of fun wrestling (rasselling) in the yard.
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Always generous to his friends. As always, helpful to Mom. He was the first one to call her “Mom” which she accepted and all followed suit). He followed her around the green bean patches pulling and lugging her gunny sacks at age 12.
In the summer time, Earl enjoyed Grandpa’s large cattle range and endured Grandpa making him eat egg shells; and getting policed with a cane to make him sit up straight. Ha!! The fun in the hay lofts were worth it.
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And as an adult, he was a loving and protective friend to me. My family and I were always excited with his visits. He brought us new (and old) friends to meet us and to share his family whom he was proud.
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He looked into the heart of people to see their worth and did not consider their clothes, speech, looks or color to determine their goodness or due respect. He was kind to everyone. He was always thinking of helping someone else. Earl’s advice and wisdom was well worth considering because of the man that he was.
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I miss my little brother; and his wamr smile; cute, twitching eye-brows; his loving letters
and kindness. I love him so much and am thankful that he is no longer suffering.
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Death is the best healing of all.
All love is of God. You can’t bury love in a coffin.
I love you!! So long, Earl!
Your Sis, Harriet
DIANNIA E. WOLF
Diannia was born on April 29, 1947 in Vernonia, Oregon, the daughter of Francis L. and Norma E. (Rohr) Wolf. She grew-up in Vernonia and graduated from Vernonia High School.
She was preceded in death by her father, Francis L. Wolf.
She worked at G.A.F. for almost 2 years then she worked for a gun manufacturing company in Vernonia where she did bluing of the barrels of guns.
She was very involved with the church community and she really enjoyed going to church.
The most important thing to Diannia was her grandchildren. She was always concerned for their health and welfare and would make sure they were taken care of before anyone else.
Her hobbies included gardening, quilting, sewing, canning, all kinds of crafts and going to garage sales. Her favorite thing to do was garage sale. She could find a bargain anywhere and if you told her you were looking for the same item, she could always find it.
Diannia was very talented with drawing. At Christmas she would paint Christmas biblical scenes and all types of Christmas scenes on the business store windows.
