Halfway, Oregon
Carol Berdean Whiteley, 72, of Halfway died Feb. 8, 2003, at St. Elizabeth Health Services.
Disposition was by cremation. At the request of the family, there will be a memorial service in the spring. Coles Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.
Berdean was born on Oct. 20, 1930, at Halfway to Ray and Edna Buchanan Robertson. She attended Dry Creek School and Halfway Elementary School and was a 1948 graduate of Pine Valley High School at Halfway.
She attended beauty college in Portland and later worked as a beautician in Halfway at the Gray Gables. She married Lloyd “Bub” Whiteley on Dec. 12, 1953, at Las Vegas, Nev., where both were employed. They returned to Halfway in the spring of 1954 and had lived there since.
Berdean had several passions: kids, horses, rodeo, hunting deer and elk, and searching for the elusive mushroom. She loved kids and she was devoted to teaching them how to ride horses.
She formed the Hells Canyon Junior Riding Club in 1962 and worked with kids who wanted to participate in rodeo without having to purchase the high-dollar horses necessary to compete in the arena events.
As her daughter Jerri Kay said, “For a kid on a horse, having a benefactor like Berdean Whiteley is like being touched by an angel — just a little harder, a little louder and with a tad more cussing.”
She loved to hunt, but probably even more she enjoyed looking at the beautiful animals. She would watch herds on a hillside for hours and was a local expert about where a hunter should go.
Her legendary mushroom spotting was unparalleled. She could spot a mushroom on the bank when nobody else could see a thing. Berdean was unique — a one of a kind and special person and will be missed by her family and friends.
Survivors include her husband, Bub Whiteley of Halfway; her daughter, Jerri Kay Goodwin of Meridian, Idaho; her two granddaughters, Macy Hack and Brittany Goodwin; her brother and his wife, Daryl and Dulcina Robertson of Halfway; aunts, Lena Buchanan, Edith McDowell and Estella Summers; and a niece and numerous nephews and cousins.
She was preceded in death by her mother, Edna; her father, Ray; and her son, Mickey.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Hells Canyon Junior Rodeo in care of Linda Miller, P.O. Box 734, Halfway, OR 97834 or Coles Funeral Home, 1950 Place St., Baker City, OR 97814.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, February 21, 2003
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor
