Stanley Weishaar

Stanley Weishaar, 87, of La Grande, died Dec. 31 surrounded by family.

A memorial service will begin at
1 p.m., Wednesday at the Church of Latter-day Saints on McAlister Road in Island City. A viewing will run from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. at the church prior to the
service.

Stan was born June 3, 1922, to Fred and Lucy (Lucille Diefe) Weishaar at the family farm near Odessa, Wash. He graduated from Odessa High School in 1940.

He started farming the Odessa place until he moved his farming operation to Bonners Ferry, Idaho. Stan and his brother Maurice formed a successful farming business soon after Maurice returned from military duty. He moved to the Grande Ronde Valley in the 1950s. Stan said he was one of the first farmers to drill an irrigation well and had one of the first circles in the valley.

He married Barbara Toland Nov. 1, 1958. Soon after, he moved his family and farming business to La Grande. Those who knew Stan say he built a diversified farming operation using good conservation practices, which he promoted in the area.

He won "Man of the Year" in 1965 for his farm conservation practices, and served as a supervisor for the Union Soil and Water Conservation District for eight years and was chairman for six years. While he was associate director he served on the Farm Home Administration Advisory board and in the Federal Land Bank Advisory board. Stan was appointed a member of the Oregon Soil Conversation Committee from 1963 to 1967 by Gov. Hatfield.

Stan was a founding board member of the Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative, OTEC, since 1988, until he announced his recent retirement from the OTEC board of directors.

Stan was a charter/life member of the Lions Club in Island City and active in all its charitable events. He was one of the members that pulled together the Grange Co-Op Scholarship in the late '80s to provide more than $100,000 to Eastern Oregon State College for the ag program to keep future farmers education in the community.

Stan loved to travel.

He is survived by his wife, Barbara Weishaar of La Grande; children and their spouses, Steve and Debra Weishaar of La Grande, Guy and Peggy Weishaar of La Grande, Doug and Dee Toland of La Grande, Penny and Tom McCormack of Rio Visa, Calif., and Donna and Brad Vancura of LaCygne, Kan.; 12 grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; brothers, Warren and Wallace; sister Laverna; and other relatives.

He was preceded in death by his parents; and brothers, Maurice and Donald.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions to the Oregon Lions Club Sight and Hearing Foundation or any other charity.

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