Betty Jean Myers

Betty Jean Myers, 83, of McMinnville and formerly of La Grande, died June 9 at her home in McMinnville. A memorial service will begin at 10:30 a.m. Monday at First Presbyterian Church, 390 N Second St., McMinnville. Macy and Son Funeral Directors is in charge of arrangements.

Betty Jean Davis, was born the eldest of five children Nov. 4, 1925, to William Ernest and Vivian Clare McGrath Davis at Hot Lake. She grew up on the ranch owned by her grandparents, John and Minnie Davis, four miles west of North Powder until 1937 when her parents and grandparents purchased the Sanders ranch.

She attended elementary school in North Powder and graduated as salutatorian from North Powder High School. She was active in athletics, Dramatics, and Glee Club all four years in high school. She was in the orchestra, playing cello and trombone; was the student body officer; editor of The Broadcaster; Girls League president; librarian; and class officer.

Betty attended Oregon State College, earning a bachelor of science degree in home economics in June 1947. Betty then taught at Chaffey High School in Ontario and in Bakersfield, Calif. (home economics) in 1947 to 1948.

Betty married Kenneth Holly Myers Aug. 29, 1948, at the First Presbyterian Church in Baker. Betty worked as a case worker for one year in La Grande from 1949 to 1950 and then moved to McMinnville where she and her family made their home. Betty attended summer school to get her master's degree in education.

Betty substituted several years before returning to teaching in 1967. She taught home economics for half a day and math the other half, working into teaching math full time at McMinnville Junior High School, which finally became Patton Middle School when they built two new middle schools, until she retired in June 1986.

Betty is the descendant of three early pioneer families in Union and Baker counties, those of her great-grandparents, John Samuel and Susan Dealy Davis who homesteaded the family ranch in North Powder in 1872; Patrick and Mary McGrath of Union; and Alfred and Ida Sisley Gardner of Sumpter and Baker.

Her grandfather, Walter McGrath, a coal dealer, served as mayor in North Powder for more than 35 years.

Survivors include her husband of 60 years, Kenneth Holly Myers of McMinnville; daughter, Carol Lynn and her husband, Roger Hildebrandt, of Dayton; sons, Martin Davis and his wife, Anne Myers, of Lake Oswego, and Scott Jerome and his wife, Tamara Myers, of Wilsonville; four grandsons; three granddaughters; two great-grandchildren; sisters, Jeanette and her husband, Robert Kellar, of Colorado Springs, Colo., Jessie Lou Cox of Spokane; and brother, William Fred and his wife, Marilee Davis, of Nampa, Idaho; five nieces and one nephew.

She was preceded in death by her father, William Ernest Davis in 1965; infant brother, Walter John Davis; brother-in-law, Edward Lee Cox; and her mother Vivian Clare McGrath Davis in 2008 at the age of 100 years.

Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice or the McMinnville School Endowment Fund in care of Macy and Son Funeral Directors 135 NE Evans, McMinnville 97128.

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