Category Archives: Memoirs

Memoirs written by residents

Mark and Leona Whitney and the Whitney Cannery, 1950-1976

Posted on June 5, 2020 by

[Update: Leona Whitney, 1920-2015. Read her obituary here.] Historic Photos of Whitney’s Cannery Thanks to Shelly Bigley, Old Market Pub and Brewery, for most of these photos collected from Leona Whitney. They help to tell the story of Whitney’s Cannery … Continue reading →

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Harold Gjerman

Posted on May 26, 2020 by

Harold Gjerman has lived in Garden Home since 1970, along with his daughter Juli and two grandchildren. They live in the Whitford Park development at the west end of Garden Home Road. Yes, Gjerman is spelled correctly, reflecting Harold’s Danish … Continue reading →

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Hunt Club Childhood of Mike Norris, M.D.

Posted on November 20, 2019 by

For children growing up in the Hunt Club area in the 1940s and ‘50s, it often felt like a park. Mike and his friends could be found sneaking through the gate into the Frank farm, shooting pheasants in Gertsch’s pond, … Continue reading →

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Barbara Kiggins Green memoir

Posted on October 8, 2019 by

By Barbara (Kiggins) Green, 2019 (age 87) I was born in 1931 and we moved to Garden Home around 1934 or 1935. We lived in a small two room house with an outside toilet located down a dirt road which … Continue reading →

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The Garden Home Totem Pole, by Andrew Gorman

Posted on August 18, 2019 by

[Editor: Many of you who have lived in Garden Home since the 1990s will remember the surprising totem pole standing in the shrubs at the NW corner of SW 82nd and Garden Home Road. Unfortunately it gradually deteriorated in our … Continue reading →

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Glenn and Isolda Rooper Steele

Posted on August 18, 2019 by

Glenn (1895-1989) and Isolda Rooper Steele (1896-1986) In 1937, Glenn and Isolda Steele relocated to Garden Home from Antelope, Oregon. Isolda worked at the Garden Home School preparing lunches for the children and staff in the late 1930s, 1940s and … Continue reading →

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Ward Nelson – Garden Home memoir

Posted on September 12, 2018 by

We moved to 7814 SW Occidental Avenue as it was called in those days, in 1947. Today it is 7170 SW 76th. My parents were Helene and Ward Nelson. We moved from Ardenwald, near Milwaukie, where my grandmother lived. Our … Continue reading →

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Patty Bonney and son Ken Woodard

Posted on July 20, 2018 by

By Elaine Shreve, July 10, 2018 Patty Bonney brought her three children to Garden Home in 1960 when she married Bill Bonney. Patty, Ken, Keith and Carolyn all joined Bill in his home on two acres on SW Oleson Road … Continue reading →

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Letha (Kidd) Lane and daughter Jacki (Lane) Wisher

Posted on June 20, 2018 by

Letha Kidd Lane and her daughter, Jacki Lane Wisher, enjoyed remembering their early Garden Home days from the 1960s up until recent times. Shetland ponies, Alpenrose 4th of July pageants, Rusty Nails, Frank Estate (also known as the Frank Farms), … Continue reading →

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May 18, 2018 Reception Honoring Virginia “Ginny” Mapes

Posted on May 1, 2018 by

Thank you to everyone who attended our meeting of the Washington County History Societies Roundtable, and following reception honoring Ginny Mapes on May 18, 2018 at the Garden Home Recreation Center.   [Editor: Virginia “Ginny” Mapes authored the first book … Continue reading →

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