Halfway, Oregon
Margaret C. Baird, 94, a longtime Halfway resident, died Sept. 1, 2006, at Baker City.
There was a celebration of her life today at the Pine Baptist Church in Halfway. Pastor Shawn Thatcher officiated. Interment was at Pine Haven Cemetery in Halfway.
The daughter of Charles S. and Bertha Jane Crabill McCord, Margaret was born at 1503 10th St. in Baker City on Nov. 8, 1911. She attended school at Weiser, Idaho, until her family moved to Halfway in 1923.
She married Everett Baird in 1928. For the next 25 years she assisted Everett in their Halfway funeral home business known as the Baird Funeral Directors.
Margaret clerked at the Old Pine Merc during the early 1940s and did wallpapering all over Pine Valley during the late ’40s. She assisted Ennis Masterson in cooking for the school’s hot lunch program, which was started by the Parent-Teacher Association.
Margaret and Everett moved to California in 1951. In the years that followed, Margaret worked for John D. Gregg, president of Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier.
She prepared countless meals for the Gregg family and business groups. Her apple pies were enjoyed by silent film actor Monte Montana, as well as many others. Also during that time she was a dressmaker and did alterations.
After returning to Pine Valley in 1960, she assisted Everett in his registered quarter horse business at the Dun Rovin’ Ranch on the Cornucopia Highway. During the filming of “Paint Your Wagon,” Margaret used her tailoring experience in sewing shirts for Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood as well as embroidering Jean Seberg’s skirts.
Margaret’s upholstery business was operated in the old N.D. Brown building on Main Street in Halfway for many years. Later the “Baird’s Upholstery” sign moved to the Dun Rovin’ Ranch. Her business continued at 321 N. Main St. until she moved to Baker City in 2001.
Her community service included charter membership in the Pine Valley Grange No. 815. She had been a supporter of the Pine Valley Community Museum, the Veterans of Foreign Wars Women’s Auxiliary and she was a member of the Carson Club and the Pine Baptist Church.
Friends will remember Margaret’s love of family, playing bridge, fishing, bowling, hunting and picking huckleberries. She took great pride in all of her work.
Survivors include her brother, Tom McCord, and his wife, Nancy, of Halfway; a son, Joe Baird, and his wife, Glady, of Oceanside, Calif.; grandchildren, Joan Webb of Pacific Grove, Calif., Julie Loo of Bakersfield, Calif., Tami Carpenter of Halfway, Craig Moseley of Portland and Lori Moseley of Forest Grove; and four great-grandsons, Jason Parker, Daniel Parker, Bryce Loo and Brandon Loo.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Everett Baird; her daughter, Carol Moseley; and grandsons, Jon Baird and Mark Moseley.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Pine Valley Grange or the Pine Baptist Church through Tami’s Pine Valley Funeral Home, P.O. Box 543 Halfway, OR 97834.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, September 5, 2006
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor
