Obituaries for the day of August 12, 2008

Wilcox, Whitnah, Ransom

Mary Ellen (Ware) Wilcox, 97, of La Grande, died Aug. 1. A funeral service will begin at 2 p.m. Thursday at Daniels-Knopp Funeral, Cremation & Life Celebration Center. Burial will follow at the Summerville Cemetery. A reception will begin at 3:30 at the La Grande Retirement Center, 1612 Seventh St. A full obituary will be available later.

Calvin H. Whitnah, 70, of Richland, died Aug. 10 at his home. A funeral service will begin at 2 p.m. Friday at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Halfway. A vault interment will follow at the Eagle Valley Cemetery in Richland. A reception will take place at the New Bridge Grange.

Paul E. Ransom, 83, of La Grande and formerly of Milton-Freewater, died Aug. 8 at Rose Cottage, an adult care center, in Kennewick. A memorial service will begin at 2 p.m. Friday at Mountain View-Colonial DeWitt, 1551 Dalles Military Road, Walla Walla. Pastor Roger Holden will officiate. A reception will follow at the funeral home.

Paul was born Sept. 30, 1924, to Ernest and Lou Hahn Ransom in Walla Walla. He attended elementary school on Government Mountain then the Forks School on the Walla Walla River. He started high school in Prescott, Wash. His family then moved to Elma, Wash., where he graduated from high school in 1941.

He and Merle Chapman married in Elma, and they had two children, Jerry and Linda. He was married to Helen Crouse in Ellensburg, Wash., and they had four children: Calvin, Paula, Ernie and Kimberli. He later married Carol Cunningham in Nyssa.

A farmer and cattle rancher, he raised purebred Charolais in Milton-Freewater and both Charolais and commercial cattle in Richland. He enjoyed horseback riding, hunting and pack horse trips into the Eagle Cap Wilderness and Hells Canyon.

He was privileged to travel with his church on mission trips to Africa, Guatemala, the Samoan Islands and the Philippines. He was an ardent supporter of 4-H and FFA and was a recipient of the Oregon State Honorary Chapter Farmer and State Farmer degrees.

He was a member of the New Bridge Nazarene Church in Richland, director of the Western Charolais Association, past president of the Oregon Charolais Association and served on the school board in Pleasant View for 10 years.

Paul is survived by daughters, Paula Johnson of Pasco and Kim Ransom of Portland; stepdaughters, Dena Morgan of Bemidji, Minn., and Amber Johnson of Summerville; sons, Calvin Ransom of Richland and Ernie Ransom of La Grande; stepsons, Jason Blade of Florida, Michael Cunningham of Germany and Taul Cumningham of La Grande; 11 grandchildren; 13 great-grandchildren; 11 step-grandchildren; two step-great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by a son, Jerry; daughter, Linda; and brothers, Kenneth, Frank and Gerald.

Memorial contributions may be made to the New Bridge Church of the Nazarene in New Bridge or the Tri Cities Hospice in care of the funeral home.