Anna Lorraine Parker

Anna Lorraine Parker, 89, of La Grande, died July 9, at a local care center with family singing by her side.

A memorial service was held July 12 and a burial service will take place later this summer, when her ashes will be interred next to those of her husband's in Lebanon.

Anna was born Sept. 7, 1918, to John and May Deardorff up Butter Creek out of Echo. In the mid-1920s, she moved with her family to the Powers area in Coos County, where she grew up. She met Walt Parker there, and they married Oct. 20, 1938.

She lived almost all her life in Oregon, with only a brief time away. The couple moved to Drewsey in Harney County in 1961 and worked on cattle ranches until Walt began working on county road maintenance.

In order to escape the harsh winters of he High Desere, they move to Sixes in 1986 and lived there until Walt's death in 1988. In May of 1991 Anna moved to the Mennonite Village in Albany where she sayed until her move to La Grande in September 2005.

Anna believed "idle hands are the devil's workshop" and was always busy doing something. She spent many hours with some sort of handiwork until the final year of her life. She mostly knitted, crocheted and tatted , and made hundreds of items in thread and yarn over her lifetime.

While living in Albany and La Grande, she crocheted dozens of blankets for the children at the ABC House in Albany. She began painting in her 50s, and her landscapes are now scattered around the country in the homes of her childrena and grandchildren. She was also very musical and taught herself to play the piano, organ, accordion, violin, guitar, banjo, ukulele and harmonica. She could sing soprano, Alto or tenor. She was an avid reader always had hundreds of books on her shelves.

Those who knew Anna say she had a rock solid faith in Jesus Christ and was a regular church participant all her life. She read her Bible through several times each year, and this was her handbook for hwo to live her life.

The main focus of Anna's life was always her family. She rarely worked outside the home and lent a sense of security to her children by always being there.

She leaves behind six children, Shirley Stewart of Haines, Alaska, Peggy Tudor of Albany, Walt Parker of Council, Idaho, Paul Parker of Marsing, Idaho, Bertha Thompson of La Grande and RJ (Ray) Parker of Republic, Wash.; 18 grandchildren; 35 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandchild, with another on the way. Anna was precededin death by her husband, Walt, of 50 years; sister, Georgia; and an infant son and an infant daughter.

In her memory, her family requests that those who knew her plant a yellow rose bush since yellow roses were her favorite flower.