Obituaries

May 19

The Clackamas Review, May 19, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

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Elma Emilia Cooper

June 1, 1914- April 19, 2009

Milwaukie resident Elma Emilia Cooper died on April 19, 2009, at age 94.

She was born Elma Emilia Heino on June 1, 1914, in Milwaukie, to parents Kalle and Amalia Heino.

She was raised in the Clatskanie/Kelso area where the Finnish population lived, and graduated from Clatskanie High School.

She was a homemaker and a very caring and giving wife and mother.

She was 100 percent Finnish and very proud of it. She spoke Finnish until she started grade school where she learned to speak English.

She had a huge capacity for love and exemplified all that is good, kind and loving in this world. She was characterized by her unselfish nature as well as her great sense of humor. Her life centered around her husband and daughters and extended grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

She loved working in her yard, reading westerns, traveling with her husband and, later in life, while wheelchair bound, she loved having family visit; going for car rides down S.E. River Road to Meldrum Bar. She enjoyed watching reruns of “Bonanza,” “Gunsmoke,” and the “Andy Griffith Show,” and also the Cooking Channel, playing Go Fish and cheating at solitaire if she thought no one was looking,

A few years after moving to Portland, she met her husband at one of the many dance halls that were so popular in the WWII era. Elma and Mac loved to dance to Big Band music.

She moved to Portland after graduating from high school. After marriage, the pair made their home in the Mt. Tabor area off of Hawthorne Boulevard for the next 48 years, until her husband’s death in 2002.

She then moved to Clackamas Woods Assisted Living in Milwaukie where she enjoyed the activities and her caregivers. After a decline in health in 2007, she moved to Lidia's Adult Foster care in Milwaukie; Lidia and her adult daughters were like family to her and she thrived on her home cooking, warmth of her family and interacting with Lidia's toddler grandchildren. She lived there until her death.

She is survived by: daughters, Stephani Cooper, Pamela Gulley and Terese Scharback; three grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren by marriage.

She was preceded in death by: husband, Edward (Mac) G. Cooper; her parents; and brothers, George and Oscar Heino.

A funeral was held on April 24, 2009, at Sunnyside Little Chapel of the Chimes in Happy Valley, with interment at Willamette National Cemetery

Arrangements: Wilhelm's Portland Memorial Funeral Home

Mary Ellen Schneider

Oct. 16, 1930-May 5, 2009

Mary Ellen Schneider died on May 5, 2009, at age 78.

She was born in Platte Centre, Neb., on Oct. 16, 1930, to parents Frederick and Claudine Scheidel.

They moved to Portland in 1942 and she graduated from Franklin High School in 1947.

She worked as a bookkeeper at Northwest Natural Gas Co.

She is survived by her husband of 53 years, Stanley W. Schneider.

As per her request, there will be no memorial or funeral services.

Arrangements: Crown Memorial Center-Milwaukie.

Christal Anne Hammers

June 22, 1955-May 10, 2009

Christal Anne Hammers died on May 10, 2009, at age 53.

She was born Christal Anne Russon on June 22, 1955, in Monrovia, Calif., to parents Melvin and Doris Russon.

She graduated from South Hills High School in Covina, Calif., where she received her FFA certificate.

She had been employed as a lead quality assurance inspector at Artex Aircraft Supplies.

She is survived by: husband, Jesse Robert Hammers; daughter, Jessica R. Hammers; son, Joshua R. Hammers; daughter-in-law, Carolyn Nolin; father, Melvin Russon; sister, Pauline Laurent; and four grandchildren.

In addition to her mother, her sister, Barbara Joyce Shafer, preceded her in death.

A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. on May 24, 2009, at the Oregon City Baptist Church.

Arrangements: Crown Memorial Center-Milwaukie.

Dianne Hill

May 29, 1947 - May 10, 2009

Dianne Hill died on May 10, 2009, as the result of complications that arose following cancer surgery on April 7. Although the surgery was successful, she developed Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome that caused her lungs to fail. She struggled on life support for six weeks before succumbing to ARDS.

The native Oregonian was 61.

Born on May 29, 1947, in the Forest Grove area, she resided for many years in the Tigard area.

For the last 18 years of her life she was with her constant companion and best friend Dick Franzke. They enjoyed their home on Bull Mountain, traveling in their motor home accompanied by their precious dogs, giving dinner parties for their friends, staging their annual patio party and gardening and canning the harvest, which they loved sharing with their friends.

She had many friends from her long employment in Tigard-area restaurants, including Gaffer’s, Davidson’s, Bergman’s and the Silver Palace.

In addition to Dick Franzke, surviving are her loving daughter, Deanne Tracy of Oregon City; sister, Judith Sheward of Yuma, Ariz.; brothers Russell Sippey of Anchorage, Alaska, and Forrest Sippey and his wife Gail of Nome, Alaska; two granddaughters; one great-grandson; and several nieces, nephews and cousins.

A celebration of her life took place on May 16, 2009, at the Silver Palace in Tigard.

Donations in her memory may be made to the ARDS Foundation at www.ardsusa.org, or to the Golden Retriever Rescue organization at www.goldenbondrescue.com