Berle James Nash

Berle James Nash, 71, of Pendleton died at his home on Monday, May 11, 2009, of Cancer.

Recitation of the Holy Rosary will be held at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, May 20, at Burns Mortuary of Pendleton. Memorial Mass will be held on Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. at St. Andrews Mission on 48022 St. Andrews Road, Pendleton. Following the services, there will be a reception in the Pendleton Elks Lodge. Memorial contributions may be made to the Weston-McEwen Scholarship Fund or the Inland Northwest Musicians, and may be sent care of Burns Mortuary of Pendleton, P.O. Box 489, Pendleton, OR 97801

Mr. Nash was born on July 27, 1937, in Camas, WA to James Henry and Bertha Oralina (Dole) Nash, the third of four sons. As a child, he attended schools in both Washington and Orego9n, graduating from Clarkston Washington High School in 1954. He attended Washington State University, Whittenberg College in Ohio, and Western Washington University at Bellingham, receiving his Bachelor's degree in art and history in 1962 from Western Washington University. He later earned a teaching certification from Western Oregon University at Monmouth.

He and his first wife, Sally Jeanne Victor, had three sons. They later divorced. On July 27, 1991, he married Barbara May (Carter) Freeman.

Mr. Nash served as a clerk in the U.S. Army at Fort Ord, California, in 1960 and 1961. After graduation from college he was county assessor in Linn County, Oregon. In 1976 he took a teaching position in the Athena-Weston schools. There for 28 years he was a middle school and later a high school art and history teacher and counselor.

‘Every year his students painted the walls of his room with a mural and many at that school will remember him as a teacher who had a special knack for working with problem students. After his retirement in 1995 he extended this ability to help disadvantaged young people as a teacher when he worked for four years at the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution. Students there thrived under his tutelage. He then spent two years as manager of Inland Northwest Musicians.

He was a member of the American Legion and a communicant at St. Andrews Catholic Mission.

He loved music and art and was a fabulous cook. Cooking and canning the abundance from his garden was one of the joys of his life.

One of his early musical experiences occurred in 1954 when he was tuba player in the Clarkston High Band which was invited to play for President Eisenhower's dedication of McNary Dam before an audience of 30,000 people. H regularly attended musical events all over the Northwest and until his illness prevented it, he sang with the Northwest Musicians Chorale.

His parents and his brothers, Jerome C. Nash and David R. Nash, preceded him in death. He is survived by his wife, Barbara, of Pendleton; his brother, Patrick A. Nash of Kennewick, Washington; his three sons, Jason Charles Nash of Salem, Oregon, Damon Jeffrey Nash of Union, Oregon, and Christian Thomas Nash of Vancouver, Washington; and six grandchildren.

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