Baker City, Oregon
Charles Binkie “Bink” Lewis, 77, a longtime Baker City resident, died Aug. 29, 2006, at St. Elizabeth Health Services.
His funeral will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Coles Funeral Home, 1950 Place St. Jack Pittman will officiate. Interment will be at Mount Hope Cemetery. Family and friends are invited to a reception afterward at the Masonic Lodge Hall, 2191 Main St. Visitations will be Monday from noon to 4 p.m. at Coles Funeral Home.
Bink was born Aug. 4, 1929, at Wheatridge, Colo., to Charles Blaine Lewis and Gertrude C. Hunt Lewis. He spent his boyhood and early grade school years in Empire, Colo. Bink graduated from high school in Idaho Springs, Colo, in 1947.
After his service in the Army, he visited his brother, LaVerne “Vern” Shipman in Baker City. He liked Baker Valley so well he decided to stay and work with his brother at the Richfield Station on Bridge Street. In 1954 the brothers opened their automotive repair business on 10th Street. They were in business for 50 years. Upon Vern’s death, Ken Myers became Bink’s business partner and the dearest of friends.
Bink married Glenabell Morin at the First Christian Church on May 20, 1967; they were married for 39 very, very happy and devoted years.
Bink was a very warm, kind, gentle and loving man, very giving and helpful toward others. He loved life and faced it with humorous stories, jokes, and always with a smile. Bink so enjoyed a recent trip to Mobile, Ala., with Glenabell, who is grand representative of Alabama in Oregon for the Order of the Eastern Star. While there Bink sang “You Are My Sunshine,” and the whole session merrily joined in singing with him in warm friendship and humor. While in Alabama Bink enjoyed the novelty of wading in the Gulf of Mexico, and the experience of what good grits really taste like. His unique, irreplaceable spirit will be ever-present in the memories of the family and friends he leaves behind.
Bink served in the U.S. Army during the Berlin Airlift. He was a bassoonist in the Army Band. He was allowed to play with and take lessons from the head bassoonist of the Berlin Philharmonic. He was an active member of the Wingville Grange (now combined into the Elkhorn Grange), county deputy for the Oregon State Grange, and master of the Baker District Pomona Grange. He was a member of the Baker City Lodge No. 25, Independent Order of the Odd Fellows, and he served as the noble grand many times. He was past master and secretary of the Baker City Mason Lodge No. 47 (now, Blue Mountain Lodge No. 34). He served as grand master of the Cryptic Masons in Oregon in 1983, grand lecturer of the Grand Royal Arch Masons of Oregon, member of the Knights of the York Rite Cross of Honour, the Al Kadar Shrine, the Baker County Shrine Club, Scottish Rite Masons-Baker Valley-32nd Degree Member, Blue Mountain Council of Allied Masonic Degrees, and Worthy Patron for the Order of the Eastern Star, many times. He served on the boards for Demolay, Rainbow Girls and the First Christian Church. Additionally, he was a member of the Baker Elks Lodge No. 338 and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Baker City Post, of which he was a life member.
Survivors include his wife, Glenabell; his mother-in-law, Edith Morin; his sister, Elleen Shadduck of East Moline, Ill.; his niece, Alice Knapp, and her husband, Vern, of Baker City; uncle by marriage, Truscott Irby, and his wife, Dorothy; cousins by marriage, Lenora, and her husband, Richard Way, son, John and daughter, Lisa, and Rod and his wife, Susan Irby and daughters, Krystal and Heather, Zona Irby and her fiancee, Mick Hiatt, and Carolyn Irby and her husband, Stu Davis.
He was preceded in death by his parents; brother and sister-in-law, LaVerne and Emma Shipman; nephews, Lee and Keith Shipman; nieces, Barbara and Verna Shipman; and aunts, uncles and cousins.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Eastern Star Charities, which are: Cancer Research, Home Endowment, Estarl and Special Projects, or to The Shriners Hospital for Children, Portland Unit, through Coles Funeral Home, 1950 Place St., Baker City, OR 97814.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, September 1, 2006
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor
