Durkee, Oregon
Ted S. Bloomer Sr., 91, a longtime Durkee rancher, died Aug. 5, 2002, at the Holy Rosary Medical Center in Ontario.
His graveside funeral will be Thursday at 11 a.m. at Mount Hope Cemetery mausoleum. Jim Rex of the Baker City Christian Science Church will officiate. Disposition will be by mausoleum entombment. A reception will follow at the Durkee Grange.
Visitations will be today until 8 p.m. at Gray’s West & Co. Pioneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey Ave.
Mr. Bloomer was born July 16, 1911, at Lebanon, Mo., to William A. and Maude F. (Blackburn) Bloomer. The family moved from Missouri to California when Ted was three years old. He attended schools in Escondido and Orange County, Calif.
During the Depression, when money was scarce and jobs were hard to find, he and some of his friends would hitch rides on the freight trains to various places in the Pacific Northwest, looking for work. Those kids called this “riding the rails.” Later Ted and an uncle, Guy Blackburn, traveled in a Model A Ford to fight huge forest fires in Washington.
Ted met Dorothy Ramey at the Montebello Ballroom and they were married in Yuma, Ariz., on Sept. 17, 1936. After their marriage, they lived in El Monte, Calif., where they owned and operated the Woodland Park Stables. Tarzan movies were filmed in the park. In 1944 they sold the stables and purchased a ranch near Anza, Calif., where they raised cattle and grain. In 1959 the Bloomers sold the ranch and moved to Durkee, where they purchased a cattle ranch. Their cattle were moved by rail to the Durkee stockyards. These were the last cattle to unload by rail in Durkee.
Ted and Dorothy were married for 60 years until her death in 1996. He was affectionately known by children and adults as “Papa Ted.” He loved to take daily drives to check on the ranch and enjoyed colorful life experiences with people.
Survivors include his sons and daughters-in-law, Gary and Kathy Bloomer and Ted and Diane Bloomer of Durkee; a foster son, Floyd Ramey of California; a brother, Bill Bloomer of Utah; grandchildren and their spouses, Sharry and Dale Smull and Natosha Bloomer of Durkee, Tammy Bloomer, Cindy and Tod Chandler and Travis and Tish Bloomer, all of Baker City, Craig Bloomer of Chicago and Michelle and Dan Richwine of Bend; great-grandchildren, Jared and Jillona Smull of Durkee, Marley and Hollis Robb and Tabor Chandler of Baker City; and numerous nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Dorothy; an infant daughter; his parents; a sister, Lucille; a brother, Robert, another brother, Arthur, who was killed in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II; and a foster son, Steve Ramey.
Memorial contributions may be made to Baker F.F.A. Chapter in care of Gray’s West & Co., P.O. Box 726, Baker City, OR 97814.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, August 9, 2002
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor
