Viola Marie Hearing Baum

Viola Marie Hearing Baum, 96, of La Grande, passed away at her residence on Saturday, December 6, 2008.

Funeral Services will be on Thursday, December 11, 11:00 AM, at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Gekeler Lane. There will be a viewing at the church at 10:00 AM prior to services.

Viola was born on January 30, 1912, to Harry C. Hearing and Roberta Knapp Hearing near Parsnip Creek, North of Lostine, Wallowa County, Oregon. She was the eldest of six children with two brothers, David and William Hearing, two half-brothers, John and Myrl, and one half-sister, Donna Byers Hoffnagle.

She attended first through fifth grades in a one-room school house on Elk Mountain, North of Enterprise. In 1923 she moved with her mother and two brothers to Stanfield, Umatilla County, where she attended sixth through 11th grade. From there, they moved to Echo, where she attended 12th grade and graduated in 1930. While attending Standfield High School, Viola participated in basketball as a center and completed in the championship playoffs. While attending Echo High School, she played as a forward on the basketball team. She also played tennis and won the singles division championship competing against four other schools.

In July, 1993, Viola attended her 60th high school class reunion at Echo. She received a scholarship and attended Zenk Business College in Portland, where she graduated with a CPA degree. After receiving her CPA degree, Viola worked various jobs including in the payroll division at the Umatilla Army Ordinance Depot in Umatilla County, Secretary for Attorney Hugh Brady, as a bookkeeper for Turn's Furniture; for General Insurance Company, and 1st National Bank of Oregon. Viola retired in 1970 after working for 19½ years for the bank.

Viola was a devoted mother and grandmother. She was an inspiration to her family, taking a keen interest and pride in her family's lives and accomplishments. She was greatly loved by her children and grandchildren and loved her family, church and friends. She always looked forward to the next day to see what it would bring. She loved helping others.

Viola enjoyed gardening and sharing the harvest of her large garden with others. She was a wonderful cook and baker, and canned many jars of fruit, vegetables, and homemade sauerkraut, along with a variety of jams. Family and friends especially enjoyed her homemade root beer. She enjoyed raising a variety of flowers, including Irises, and yellow flower were her favorite color. She was an excellent seamstress, making clothes for her family and enjoyed crocheting for family and friends. She collected stamps and had a coin collection and loved to paint with oils. She loved the outdoors and enjoyed picking Huckleberries and Mushrooms, fly fishing, and horseback riding in the mountain.

Viola enjoyed traveling and especially loved to travel back to her birthplace on Parsnip Creek and to her parents homestead on Elk Mountain, where she went to school. She would then travel on to Chico, where her grandparents, David and Annie Keeler Hearing lived. Then it was onto the Chesnimnus Creek where her uncle Alvin and aunt Gertie Hearing McFetridge lived, to play and stay overnight with her cousins, Bernice and Orva McFetridte. Her uncle and Aunt Fred and Clair Hearing ran cattle in the Zumwalt area. Her dad raised hay in the Crow Creek area where Viola and her brother, Dave, would help their dad Harry drive their cattle to and from pastures. On their way, they would stop on Crow Creek to fish with their dad.

She enjoyed sharing stories with her family and friends about the Nez Pierce Indians coming by the Elk Mountain homestead where they would camp around the Alder trees. Viola traveled to various states inside the United States, and in 1963, she visited five different countries in Europe. She also enjoyed taking an Alaskan cruise and did camping and salmon fishing at Lake Quesneh in British Columbia. One of her highlights was being invited as a guess by her step-son, Jud Fager, on board the US aircraft carrier USS Ranger.

Viola was a member of the La Grande Maverick Horse Riding Club for many years. She was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter/day Saints where she held Ward and Stake callings in La Grande and Burney, CA. She was an avid genealogist.

Viola married Jetrel Malloy on December 21, 1932; Vern Fager on July 16, 1955, and on October 16, 1970, she married Carl S. Baum in the Logan, Utah, Temple. Carl passed away on May 19, 1984. Viola is survived by her two daughters and their spouses, Jennette (Don )Wright, and Delorris (Robert) Goss, all of La Grande; step-children Jeanie (Marlin) Huff of Clearfield, UT; Floyd (Susan) Baum of Lindon, UT; Wayne (Claudia) Baum of Anderson, CA; Jud (Pat) Fager of Sitka, AL; Leland (Joann) Fager of Milton-Freewater; seven grandchildren, 30 step-grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren, 36 step-great-grandchildren, 15 great-great-grandchildren and 30 step-great-great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by brothers David and William Hearing, step-sister Donna Hoffnagle Byers, and step-brothers, John and Myrl Hoffnagle.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the LDS Church Family History Center, LDS Perpetual Education Fund, LDS Humanitarian Fund, or the charity of your choice.

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