IN LOVING MEMORY OF

Alice Marie

Alice Marie Bunn-Owen (Garfield) Profile Photo

Bunn-Owen (Garfield)

October 24, 1927 – March 29, 2014

Obituary

My name is Alice Marie Garfield. I was born on October 24, 1927 to Louis David Garfield, an Oregon farmer, and Noonie Violet Mary Garfield, who met through my father's sister, Julia, while in Canada, and started corresponding with my father. She eventually came over to the States from Canada and married my father. I was the fourth of five children, beginning with my eldest brother, Theodore David; second brother, George Henry D'Estampes; third brother, Thomas Edward; myself; and then five years later, youngest brother, John Louis arrived. My oldest brother, Ted, was born in Emmanuel Hospital in Portland, Oregon; however, the rest of us were born at our parents' 20-acre home in Tonkin, Oregon, on Malloy Road, which was built by my father in approximately 1920. I loved my mother and father so much and adored my brothers. Since I was the only girl, I had to learn how to wrestle with my brothers. We lived in a two-bedroom house with a wood stove in the kitchen. The kitchen was large and the gathering place for the family. We also had a well outside with a bucket, which we would lower down into the well, and would keep our churned butter and cream, as well as other perishable items there. We had chickens, rabbits, pigs and a horse and cow. Dad worked very hard and plowed and planted lots of crops, including corn, wheat, potatoes, squash, peas, beans, tomatoes, strawberries, raspberries, and we had many fruit trees, so we ate very well. When I was three years old, I was running through our field and one of our rosters, came up and started chasing me, making me stumble and fall. He then took a bite out of my chin and when Mom found out about that, she told my Dad, "Off with the Roster's head!!" In the summer, we would play games with our neighbor friends, Charlie and Elmo Carson, the Richlick kids, Jim and Dan Faddis and sometimes others. We loved to play hide and seek, Annie Annie over the house and Run Sheep Run. We grew up in the Catholic religion and went to Latin Mass every Sunday, which was difficult and frustrating for me as I did not understand the Latin language. We went to a two-room school house just through the field about two blocks from our house, which was called Carlon Grade School. I attended this school for four years and then the school was consolidated with another school, Tualatin Grade School, which was about three or more miles from our home. Following that, I then attended Sherwood High School for two years and then left school and started to work. Before I met my husband, Harvey Bunn, through a good friend, on a blind date, I was working for Reed and Marty Lockman, cooking and cleaning and was 20 years old at the time, feeling like I would never meet anyone and end up a spinster. However, as many of you know, after meeting Harvey, we had the shortest courtship ever: One month to the day that we met, we were married on October 3, 1948. We initially settled in Tualatin, Oregon, and Harvey got a job at the Tualatin Country Club as an assistant pro, and I stayed home and took care of our first child, a baby girl, named Kathryn Lynne, who was born on February 14, 1950. We then moved to Bend, Oregon, where Harvey worked at the Bend Country Club as the head pro, and had our second daughter, Marie Annette, who was born on June 1, 1952. After that, we then moved to Redmond, Oregon, and on September 23, 1953, we welcomed our first son, Michael Allen. He was so sweet and cute and his two older sisters thought he was so nice. We then moved back to Tualatin, Oregon, where we had our fourth child, a beautiful and petite daughter named Carolyn Louise, born on July 6, 1955, followed by another son, James Edward, who was born on October 21, 1957. Finally, I had my last child, a sweet little baby girl, Charlene Kay, born on September 22, 1959. I so loved being a mother and if it were up to me, would have continued having many more children; however, my doctor and husband felt that it was definitely time for me to stop. I loved playing with our children, just as I had played with my four brothers growing up in the country, and just as my mother played with us, and I made bread and jams, as well as many other things, just as my mother had when we were children. Shortly after Harvey and I married, I saw the changes happening for two of my brothers, Ted and Tom, who converted from the Catholic faith to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS), as they married women from that religious background. My mother also converted to the Mormon religion shortly after that time, as well. I had never felt quite comfortable myself in the Catholic religion, and thought something was lacking in my life spiritually, so I agreed to meet with some Mormon missionaries shortly after I had my daughter, Kathy. I almost immediately felt such a strong pull to join the LDS Church after meeting with the missionaries, and shortly after completing my lessons with the missionaries agreed to be baptized. What a wondrous time in my life. I was so excited to be able to share the gospel with my mother and two brothers, as well as anyone else who would listen. I soon began to take on different positions within the Church, and my testimony continued to grow. I especially loved working with the children in Sunday School and I led the choir for many years. The children were such a blessing to be around. However, I did feel sadness because Harvey was a Christian Scientist and as much as I wanted him to join me on my new spiritual journey, he felt very strongly about his own religious beliefs, and it took many years for me to reconcile with the fact that we were on separate religious paths. However, since Harvey's passing, through my work at the Portland Temple, I have done Baptisms for the dead, doing a special one for Harvey, so you see I still hold out hope that we can be together in the Celestial Kingdom for all time and eternity. In approximately 1964, we moved to Longview, Washington, where Harvey worked as the head pro at the Kelso Elks. The children loved working at the golf shop with their Dad and caddying for him. Also, during this time, Harvey and I began taking dance lessons and became part of the Harmony Dance Club. This was such a wonderful thing for our relationship. We so enjoyed learning to dance together and it was a common interest that we shared for many years. We enjoyed showing our children the different dances that we were learning to do and Harvey especially loved dancing with the children. When Charlene was in seventh or eighth grade, I decided to start working, and enjoyed retail jobs at J.C. Penney's demonstrating cookware, as well as working at Mervyns and K-Mart. In approximately 1974, we moved back to Oregon, where Harvey took the head pro position at Summerfield, a retirement community golf course. We enjoyed our time there in Tigard, Oregon, in a wonderful older colonial house, which had French doors leading into the living room and an upstairs which was quite different and beautiful. As the children started leaving the nest, which, as you can imagine, was quite difficult at the time, Harvey and I moved back to Tualatin into an apartment complex, Rolling Hills. We stayed there for several years, and then moved to a beautiful home on Cheyenne Avenue in Tualatin, Oregon, which was not far from the Tualatin Country Club where Harvey had previously worked. We did many renovations to the home and added on another bedroom and bathroom. In approximately 1985, Harvey and I opened up an adult foster care home, which became a big part of our lives for approximately 15 years. On October 3, 1998, Harvey and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary, however, at that time, Harvey was struggling with health issues. With much sadness, my beloved Harvey passed away on March 4, 1999. I felt like I would never find anothe
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Alice Marie Bunn-Owen (Garfield), please visit our flower store.

Alice Marie Bunn-Owen (Garfield)'s Guestbook

Visits: 3

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the
Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors