southtillamookcounty.com
History
"Short History of the Little Nestucca River Valley and Its Early Pioneers" written about South Tillamook County, Oregon
The page below was written by Mrs. Hardy Rock (Alexandria LEY Rock) and published in 1949. NVMS students have retyped her history so that many may read it. Although some punctuation errors have been corrected the text remains as written by Mrs. Rock.
Note that Alexandria LEY Rock's "Short History of the Little Nestucca River Valley and Its Early Pioneers" has been republished in book form as of January 2007 and is now being offered for sale by the Tillamook County Historical Society!
p. 45 Tragedies and Near Tragedies continued
(This page was typed by 7th grader, Heather, during the spring of 2002 and edited by Dean Bones.)
In 1927, Donald Carver, the 4 1/2 year old son of Loys and Ruth Sutton Carver, was struck by a car while playing near his home some miles up Slab Creek. He was rushed to Tillamook Hospital where he died. He rests in Oretown Cemetery.
March 15, 1938, James Dixon White, nephew of Wm. Walton of Salmon, was killed a large log throw upon the beach by the heavy surf. Jimmie, in company with fellow students from Oregon State College, were spending a holiday on the Beach. Suddenly, they were surrounded by an unusually high wave. Some ran through water to higher sand. Jimmie and his cousin, Jack Hargrove, jumped onto the large log which rolled rapidly over him, crushing him beneath it. He was being rushed to Tillamook when he died enroute. Jack Hargrove was on the end of the log and jumped to safety. Jimmie had jumped onto the log in about its center.
August 21, 1941, Ann Evelyn Yocum, three year old, died from burns when she fell backward in a tub of scalding water. Her father was timber worker at the time, up Slab Creek. She was buried in our Cemetery.
November 13, 1942, Ralph Dunn, Grandson of Pioneer John Dunn, was killed by injuries or drowning, when his car plunged into the Little Nestucca River while on his way home for working in the timber above Meda. He was 48 years old.
In 1943 Loys Carver, who lived several miles up Slab Creek, accidentally shot and killed himself while on a hunting trip. He was a brother-in-law of Dell Winters who was fatally shot in 1916, while on a hunting trip. His widow, Mrs. Ruth Sutton Carver, is Postmaster at Neskowin at present. She and M Laura Winters-Martin are daughters of the late Mrs. Lualla Sutton-Balmer of Neskowin, an early Pioneer of the Little Nestucca Country, who passed away in 1948. Her first husband, Vinc Sutton, Preceded her in 1919
In the Fall of 1943, Robert Parks (Bob) and his wife, Dorothy Christensen Parks, were both stricken simultaneously with severe cases of polio. Both were rushed to Portland Isolation Hospital where slowly both recovered sufficiently to be removed to the home of Bob's mother in St. Johns. While slowly convalescing, they developed severe cases of Flu from which, due to pneumonia, Bob passed away. His wife continued to improve until she could go to her own home confined to a wheel chair. They had two small daughters who did not get polio. Shortly after the death of Bob, his wife gave birth to a son. She does all her own work, cares for her three children, drives her car alone and can walk a little. She became the wife of Reuben Nash, lives on, and owns the farm which was her father's between Oretown and Neskowin.
In 1947, Clinton D. Miles was almost instantly killed while working in the timber above Meda. He had been sawing a cut from a tree when it slipped, pushing the handle of the saw against his body and crushing him fatally to the ground. When fellow workers, who were eating their lunches near by, reached him, he was unconsciousand beyond help. He living many years at Oretown but at the time of his death, resided in Cloverdale.
In 1927, Stanford, the infant son of Harold and Clyte Frank of Neskowin, was smothered to death while sleeping, caused by a rubber bib blown across his face by the breeze from the open window. The parents were busy in their store down stairs but became alarmed when he slept much longer than usual. They went upstairs often and listened at the bedroom door but thought him asleep when they did not hear him. Doctors at the summer resort were quickly called, but the child was dead.
Continue to page 46 of "Short History of the Little Nestucca River Valley and Its Early Pioneers!"