Haines, Baker County, Oregon
Florence Daugherty, 104, died March 16, 2003, at St Elizabeth Health Services.
Her memorial service will be at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Methodist Church in Haines. Pastor Sally Wiens of the church will officiate. Interment will be at Haines Cemetery. Visitations will be until 7 o’clock tonight at Coles Funeral Home, 1950 Place St.
Florence was born Aug. 20, 1898, at Mount Vernon, Mo. She was the third of 12 children born to Thomas R. and Lora Ann Woods Jeffords.
The Jeffords family arrived in Baker City on a train from Missouri on August 20, 1903, Florence’s fifth birthday. The family settled in the Eagle Valley area, where her father took farm jobs such as tending and milking cows, harvesting crops and growing and selling garden produce to provide for his family.
Florence helped by caring for the ever-growing family starting at a very young age. When she was a teen-ager, she once, with the help of her older brother, fed an entire threshing crew and cared for eight other children while her parents were in town at the doctor. Florence also received her education in the Eagle Valley area, completing her freshman year of high school there.
She met William Daugherty while they were both working for Albert and Emma Fisher. After a three-month courtship, the couple were married on July 4, 1919. They lived and farmed between Haines and North Powder. In 1933, the family moved to Haines where Florence lived in the same home until her death.
She and William welcomed three children to their marriage: Barbara, Glen and Kenneth. While raising the children, Florence also fed large haying and threshing crews, milked cows, kept house, cooked and baked, fed the animals and did other farm chores. Ever handy, she was always sewing, quilting, crocheting and knitting, as well as making wooden toy guns and stick horses for the children.
William died in July 1971 shortly after the couple celebrated their 52nd wedding anniversary. Florence continued to stay busy with her accomplished handiwork, as well as her membership in the Grange and Rebekah Lodge and volunteer work at the Haines Museum.
She recently was honored by the Grange when she received a pin commemorating her 50-year membership, an accomplishment that brought her great joy. She also enjoyed spending time with her family, music, gardening, poetry and parties of any kind.
Survivors include her daughter and son-in-law, Barbara and John Murdoch of North Powder, her son and daughter-in-law, Glen and Bobbie Daugherty, and her brother and sister-in-law, Walter and Dorothy Jeffords, all of Baker City; seven grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; three great-great grandsons; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Thomas R. and Lora Ann Jeffords; brothers, Harry, Vernon, Tommy, Harland, Page, Carl and Wendle; sisters, Ruby, Woodie and Alice; and her son, Kenneth.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Eastern Oregon Museum, the Haines Methodist Church or the Haines Grange. This may be done through Coles Funeral Home, 1950 Place St., Baker City, OR 97814.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, March 24, 2003
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor
