Norman Marion Mccrae

Norman Marion McCrae, 84, of Wallowa, died Feb. 19 at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane. A graveside service will begin at 11 a.m. Saturday at Wallowa Cemetery with Archie Hook officiating. A celebration of life will follow at the Wallowa Community Senior Center.

Norman was born Feb. 7, 1926, to Marion and Nancy (Macauley) McCrae of Wallowa. He grew up and attended school there. Norman liked to travel and started doing so at a young age, but he always returned to the Wallowa Mountains and rivers.

Norman drove a wheat truck, picked fruit and worked at the ship yards in Vancouver, Wash., as an electrician. He milked cows at a dairy, worked in a coal mine in Wyoming and did logging and farm labor.

He married Mamie Laughlin in 1953. The couple had four children. They celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary in October. He operated the family ranch where they lived for many years.

Norman liked sports and watching football. He liked ocean and stream fishing, camping and hunting with friends and family, bird-watching, going to Arizona to winter for many years, playing cards with his buddies and drinking coffee at local coffee places.

Survivors include his wife, Mamie of Wallowa; children, Teresa Kelly and her husband, Bob, of La Grande, Mark McCrae and his wife, Dena, of La Grande, Diana Wheeler and her husband, John, of Rupert, Idaho, and Blake and his wife, Marsha, of La Grande; siblings, Mary Ann Burrows and her husband, Thorval, of Wallowa, Dallas McCrae and his wife, Carol, of Wallowa and Nancy Marie Stephens and her husband, Alonzo, of Las Vegas; brother-in-law, Merton Wade of Enterprise; several grandchildren; 11 grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents; brother, Jim McCrae; sister, Bethel Wade; and sister-in-law, Margaret McCrae.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Wallowa Community Senior Center.

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