Obituaries for the day of May 20, 2009

Gerlach,Tarter, Bird, Griggs

A memorial service for Phyllis Hancock Tarter, who died Dec. 24, 2008, will begin at 2 p.m. Saturday at Cove Cemetery. The Rev. Mike Lamb will officiate. Visitation for family and friends  at Cove Sportsman’s Club will follow the service.

Joyce G. Bird, 76, of Canon, Ga., and formerly of Enterprise, died May 16 at her home. Funeral services were held May 18 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Toccoa, Ga. Graveside services were held May 19 at Joseph Cemetery. Bollman Funeral Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

Joyce was born Jan. 8, 1933, to Kenneth Showers and Dorothy Henderson Showers in Enterprise. She married Geary F. Bird in 1951. She graduated from Joseph High School in 1952. She and her husband owned and operated businesses in Enterprise and in Klamath Falls. She attended Concordia University in Portland from 1966 to 1967 and McComb Community College in 1969, graduating from Sangamon State in Springfield, Ill., in 1971. She earned the designation of Master Gardener from the University of Georgia in 1996.

Survivors include her husband, Geary; three sons, Dennis of Milford, Ohio, Chris of Edmond, Okla., and Michael of Sidney, Neb.; a daughter, Karen Carney of Rocky Mount, N.C.; and 10 grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Joyce Bird Memorial Fund, Trinity Lutheran Church, P.O. Box 1154, Toccoa, GA 30577.

Lois Davidson Griggs, 84, of La Grande, died May 15 at Grande Ronde Hospital. Funeral services will begin at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Gekeler Lane in La Grande. A viewing will begin at 10 a.m. at the church. Loveland Funeral Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

Lois was born Feb. 1, 1925, in La Grande. She was the daughter of Eleanor Beddes Davidson and Clair Littlefair Davidson. Lois spent her childhood in La Grande and attended La Grande High School and Eastern Oregon College, where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in education. She married Lyle Salkield, moving to Eugene, Palo Alto, Calif., and later Corcoran, Calif., where she was a teacher and Lyle was a principal.

Upon Lyle’s death, she and the children returned to La Grande, where she spent the rest of her life. On March 13, 1973, she married Larry Griggs and they shared 35 years of marriage prior to his death in 2008.

She was a devoted teacher and taught first, second and third grade in several La Grande schools. She was an active member of the LDS Church.

She is survived by her children, Susan Salkield of Portland, Gregory Salkield of Gresham and Julie Stickney of La Grande; stepchildren, Julie Feigleson of Bountiful, Utah, and Dan Griggs of Alpine, Utah; three grandchildren; and five step-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother, Donald Davidson.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Oregon Education Association Foundation, 6900 SW Atlanta St., Portland 97223. The foundation helps teachers to help students in need.