Elizabeth Ann Fields

Elizabeth Ann Fields, a former longtime resident of Pilot Rock and later, La Grande, Oregon, passed away Sunday afternoon, October 18, 2009 in Kennewick, Washington, at the age of 93.
Born August 3, 1916, in Pilot Rock, Beth was the eighth of nine children born to Samuel Monroe and Flora Anna Albaugh Galbreath. She grew up near California Gulch along East Birch Creek south of Pilot Rock before attending La Grande High School.
She and Ilo Fields were married on October 30, 1936, in Walla Walla, Washington. They resided in La Grande for the next 31 years where they owned and operated one of the first chain saw shops in the Grande Ronde Valley. Later they added motorcycle sales and repairs to the business.

Both Ilo and Beth were excellent skeet sharpshooters with Ilo winning one or two state championships. "We survived many a winter on those turkeys and hams," she liked to say. Both enjoyed the outdoors and they made numerous excursions into the surrounding wilderness to fish and hunt, taking their beloved golden retrievers with them.
In addition, the couple loved to square dance, play cards and join the rest of the family for evenings filled with music and singing.

After Ilo passed away in 1967, Beth continued to live on Z Avenue in La Grande until she moved to Ephrata, Washington. She returned to La Grande in the 1980's to be closer to her family. She and her brothers, nieces and nephews researched pioneer roads in eastern Oregon during these years. Sports, especially Mariners baseball, were her passion.

Earlier this decade, she moved to the Tri Cities where her brother Don resided. Beth lived at the Royal Columbian Retirement Inn in Kennewick until her death.
Preceding her in death were her parents, her husband and siblings Merle, Mable, Melvin, Miles, Gerald, Isabelle, Jonathan and Donald.

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