Baker City, Baker County, Oregon
Sammy Cordell, 69, of Baker City, a former Huntington and Durkee resident, died March 27, 1993, at Sst. Elizabeth Health Care Center.
His memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at Gray’s West & Co. Pionneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey Ave. Pastor Mike Whitford of the Baker City Christian Church will officiate.
Mr. Cordell was born March 29, 1923, at Hesperus Colo., to Frannie Floread Hatchet and Rankin Carl Cordell. He attended grade school in Hesperous, Colo., and high school in Farmington, N. M.
He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1942 and served on the USS Princeton and U.S. NAS Beaufort S.C. as an aviation machinist’s mate during World Was II. He received a Victory Medal for his service in the South Pacific.
He returned to Farmington, N.M., in 1946. He moved to Huntington 1950 where he worked for Kivett and Lee, the largest cattle ranch in Baker County at that time, as a ranch hand. He married Joan L. Thompson in 1951.
The couple moved to Durkee where they ran the general store and post office and Mr.Cordell worked as a truckdriver for Ash Grove Cement.
They lived there until their separation in 1972
He married Elizabeth “Betty” Harnish aat Winnemucca, Nev., on June 21, 1974 and they lived at Durkee until 1980. He was an avid outdoorsman and enjoyed hunting and fishing. He was a lifetime member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Survivors include his wife, “Betty” Cordell; daughters, Debbie Deenin of Salem and Mary Lynn Rucker of Weiser, Idaho; son, Bryan Cordell of Vashon, Wash.; two stepchildren, Guy E. Johnston and Betty Makin; brothers, Charles Cordell of Durango, Colo., Edward Cordell and Royal Codell, both of Aztec, N.M., and Parks Cordell of Farmington, N.M.; sisters, Ruth Ricco of San Francisco, Carmen Wood of Hesperus, Colo., and Barbara Hodgson of Farmington, N.M.; three grandchildren, eight step-grandchildren, two step-great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.
He was preceded in death by two brothers, Wade Cordell and Herndon “Butch” Cordell; and a child Ruby Richie.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Oregon Lung Association through Gray’s West & Co.
Baker City Herald – – March 30, 1993.
