A One-Name Study for the BARNUM/BARNHAM Surname
From the Hood River News, 21 Apr 2004: William Harry “Bill” Furrow, 90, died peacefully on April 2, 2004, in Medford, Ore. A memorial service and luncheon in celebration of his life will be held on May 1 at 1 p.m. at Anderson’s Tribute Center. He was born on June 2, 1913, at his parents two-story log home on Willow Flat Road. Bill and his late wife, Margaret, took over the day-to-day management of the orchard in 1937. They raised their nine children in a house they built nearby.
As a resident of the Hood River Valley for 87 years, Bill was dedicated to its health and civic welfare. He was a quarter-century member of the Odell Fire Department, not only fighting fires but certified to respond to accident and emergency calls. He served on the boards of the Hood River Electric Cooperative, Oregon Farm Bureau, Hood River Memorial Hospital, and Crystal Springs Budget Committee. He was chairman of the Hood River Planning Commission and the Mid-Columbia Economic Development District. In 1973 he served on Governor Tom McCall’s Manpower Planning Council, District 9.
In addition to running the farm, he worked winters in the AGA packing plant in Odell, as an insurance agent and car salesman. In retirement he and Margaret ventured from Alaska to Mexico and Oklahoma to Minnesota in their camper, many of the shorter trips as leaders of the local Good Sam Club.
His tireless support of the objectives and projects of the Odell Lions Club, of which he was a charter member, resulted in awards for Dedicated Humanitarian Services and being chosen as the Melvin Jones Fellow for 1991-1993.
He was an avid hunter and fisherman with a life-long passion to maintain the integrity of the environment while still allowing growth and progress. In 1985 as a member of Trout Unlimited, he participated in the Trout Habitat Improvement Project on the Metolius River.
His spirit will always be lovingly remembered by his family: son Bill and wife Cindy of Jacksonville, Ore.; daughter Mary and husband, Dick Berg, of Sedona, Ariz.; daughter Barbara Otter of Sedona and her son, John Eric, of San Francisco, Calif.; son Frank of Delta Junction, Alaska, and his children Sgt. Christopher Furrow, U.S. Army in Germany and Jill and her husband, David, of Portland, Ore.; son Tom and his wife, Roberta, and their children Michael and Jennifer of Hood River; son Richard of Odell; daughter Terri of Spokane, Wash.; and son Steve of Navarro, Calif., and his children Heather and husband, Richard Hicks, and their children Trista and Hunter of Parkdale and Amanda and her husband, Joe Davidson, and their son, Joseph, of Ridgefield, Wash.
The John E. Furrow Award at Hood River High School commemorates Bill’s second son, a Navy jet pilot, who died in a crash in 1966. Bill is survived by brother James and family in California, sister Flora Spenser and family in Washington and the son of his late sister Anna Bell Wilson, Robert Sterne of Rhododendron, Ore. His passing will also be deeply felt by the numerous relatives of his wife, the families of life-long friends and by the family of a cousin (their great-great grandfathers were brothers), also a William Furrow of Jacksonville, Ore.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Odell Lions Club, c/o Anderson’s Tribute Center, 1401 Belmont, Hood River, OR 97031.
A Research Guide to the Genealogy of the Barnum/Barnam/Barnham Family Worldwide
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