LOIS ELLEN RUSSELL

1917- 1995

 

Lois Russell was born at Elkhead, Oregon. January 23, 1917. Her mother, Cora, had gone there to be with her mother, Bertha Dougherty, to await the birth of her baby.

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She had lost 3 babies at birth after Deston was born and Arch decided it would be better for her to be away from the work at the ranch at this time. Deston was 4 ½ years old when Lois was born.

The babies that had died in Grass Valley were a boy named Dale and twins they named Lewis and Willis. These babies and Bennie’s twin who died from pneumonia 12 years later, are buried in the cemetery at Grass Valley, Oregon.

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Lois had a happy, secure childhood. When she was 5, Arch bought a wheat ranch near town (the May Place). This is where she spent her growing up years.

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There was a swimming hole in the meadow near the house where Lois learned to swim. When she was older, Deston, Jack, Lois and Greta were permitted to take the car and drive 25 miles to either the Deschutes or John Day rivers where people from Sherman County gathered to swim and picnic on Sunday afternoons.

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Arch bought a Shetland pony, names Tony, when Lois was eight years old, and all the siblings learned to ride at an early age. He kept two other saddle horses on the ranch. One was called Dolly and the other one was named Roxy. Dolly was a temperamental high spirited Arabian mare and Arch kept her for his private use. Roxy was a big quarter-horse that could run like the wind and could jump fences when she wanted to…and she wanted to quite often.

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When Lois was old enough to use a stock saddle, she claimed Roxy as “her Horse” and spent as much time as possible riding her. It was a great sport hunting Jack Rabbits and porcupines or driving the horses or cows to the creek for winter. When Lois was 10 years old, Alma and Irma were born and the Russell children numbered seven. A year and a half later, on Jun 10, 1928, a second set of twins, Bobby and Benny, were added to the family.

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Lois and Greta took over much of the care of Alma and Irma, the older twins. There were lots of diapers and baby clothes to hang on the clothes line each day. This is when Mother got her first washing machine with a gas motor.

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In high school at Grass Valley, Lois was a member of the volley ball and basketball teams. Her father attended all the games and took members of the team to out of town games. Because of the serious ankle accident during a basketball game, Lois went to Porland and lived with her Uncle Homer to be near her doctor.

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Uncle Homer was a teacher in the Sunday School at Glen Cullen, Oregon and it was here that Lois met Clifford Macy. They were both sophomores in high school. Lois was in Beaverton and Clifford went to Benson Polytechnic School in Portland.

Lois talked her father into giving Clifford a job during harvest in Grass Valley and he became a special friend of the whole family.

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Arch and Cora were planning to move the whole family to Washington where it would be difficult to get to high school, so Lois went back to Portland and worked for her room and board. She lived with Ethel and Harry Hampton who had no children and treated Lois as their own.

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Clifford and Lois were best friends during the next two years of high school. Clifford graduated from Benson and Lois from Beaverton in 1935. They were married March 7, 1936 in the Hampton living room at the corner of Olson Road and the Beaverton High Way near Portland.

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Clifford was working as janitor for Columbian Optical Company in Portland for $60 a month and they saved enough money in six months to make the down payment on their first car. He put in extra time to learn the grinding end of the optical business and eventually, became manager of the shop. Raymon was born March 18, 1939 in Portland and Clifford soon bought a larger home at 4445 S.E. 45th Ave. Greta and Avery, Lois's sister and brother lived with them at that time.

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In 1941 , Columbian Optical Co., transferred Clifford to Klamath Falls to open an optical shop and to make glasses for the Japanese in the detention camp in nearby Tulelake, California.

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Roger was born in Klamath Falls July 5, 1943.

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After the war, Clifford was transferred back to Portland to manage a larger optical shop there. The family lived there for the next seven years.

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Raymon graduated from Franklin High School in Portland and spent the next four years in the Air Force.

Clifford left Columbian Optical Co after 25 years and moved back to Klamath Falls. He worked for George Crain building houses and then went to work for Weyerhaeuser as a mill wright.

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Clifford was disabled when he was 60 from a misplaced shot while he was in the hospital in Klamath Falls. He died when he was 73 on Dec 7, 1989 and is laid rest at Eternal Hills Mortuary in Klamth Falls. Oregon.

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When their boys were grown, Lois got a Real Estate license and enjoyed selling Real Estate till her retirement in 1978. In 1993, she sold her home.

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Lois died on July 4, 1995 at the age of seventy-eight years old in Klamath Falls, Klamath, Oregon.