Jack Russell

1910-1974

 

In the summer of 1930, Arch Russell picked up two hitch-hikers on the Columbia River Highway. They were seeking work in the wheat fields in Oregon.  Arch brought them home and hired them to help with the harvest.

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One of the boys was Jack Kellerman. He was 18 years old and Arch found that he had no family.  After harvest, Jack continued to live with the  family and Arch and Cora considered adopting him. He graduated from high school with Deston in Grass Valley as Jack Russell. (in the 1930 Federal Census, Jack is listed as Jack Russell, son of Arch & Cora)

 

After high school, he attended Multnomah School of the Bible. When he came home in the summer, he led the young people’s group and preached several sermons at the Grass Valley Baptist Church.

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Jack went to Weed to work in a mill. He also preached in a church there. Jack met Gladys in the church and they married.  In 1935, according to the federal census, Jack and Gladys lived in Siskiyou, California. Sadly, their first baby girl died in childbirth. They had three boys. Paul, David and Johnny in that town. When the boys were little, in 1940, they are listed in the federal census as living with Arch & Cora. Jack is listed as a son, Gladys as their daughter-in-law, and the three children are listed as Arch's grandchildren. Jack was working at the City Powerhouse as a fireman. At this time, Jack and Gladys' marriage was very unstable and ended in divorce. Jack left and eventually enlisted in the Navy.

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Even though Arch and Cora had decided against adopting Jack, he retained the name Russell for the rest of his life and his children did also. After Jack left, Arch and Cora included Gladys as a daughter and her children always considered Arch and Cora as their Grandma and Grandpa. They would stay at Grandpa's farm during the summers. Arch and Cora were always very good to them.

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Gladys remarried to Art Benshoof who owned the Benshoof Plumbing and Heating Co. in Sandy, Oregon and in California. They had four children. Gladys always was welcomed at the family reunions and even though she and Jack were divorced, she felt like part of the Russell family.

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In 1951, Jack's son, Paul, drowned in a lake in California when he was very young at the age of fourteen years old. When their son, John, finished school, he went Saudi Arabia. David was an accountant in Hillsboro, Oregon. David married Lucinda and had two daughters. Lucinda became close to Cora and loved her so much. They had such a good relationship.

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In 1974, Jack Russell died at sixty-four years old in California. Gladys and Art moved to Oklahoma to be near their son, James Benshoof. Gladys died at  eighty-eight years old in 2003.