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EDITH AND BURL JARREL © Mt Olive Lutheran Church (prepared by Annie Jarrell) |
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Burl and Edith live on a farm out Gales Creek Road, west of Forest Grove. Burl was born 11-10-1925 in Elburn, Illinois but was raised in N.W. Arkansas. His family came to the Forest Grove area when he was eleven years old in 1937. He went to Hillside School for a while and later to other Forest Grove Schools until 1940, when his Father bought a farm off Gales Creek Road.
When Burl was sixteen he went to work, first at the Cannery, then attended a NYA (Youth Training) welders school and became a welder in the shipyards. He was drafted in 1943 into the Army and served in the Pacific area. After the war he served in the occupation forces in Korea. This was a tour of duty he really enjoyed. The Koreans considered America their liberators and were very kind to the Army. This was a poor country whose people had little to share but they invited the men to visit in their houses if only to share an egg. In one home they sang religious songs for them.
Burl came home in 1946 and went to work for Vanaken Sand and Gravel. Burl and Edith met that same year in June. Edith’s Father was not overly impressed with this man who claimed to be a welder. Mr. Sahnow considered himself somewhat of an expert at welding so he invited Burl out to his shop to check out his work. Burl passed the test fortunately, and so was considered son-in-law material.
A week after Burl and Edith were married, Burl quit his job, which caused Father-in-law to have raised eyebrows. Burl worked at different occupations; first as a logger, then he operated his own sawmill for a time. Then he went to work for PGE starting as a ground man and through the years, working his way up to becoming an inspector by the time he retired.
When Edith and Burl married, they moved through the Forest Grove, Cornelius, and Hillsboro area, finally buying their farm at Gales Creek just below Father George Jarrell’s farm in 1960.
Edith was born 10-19-1923 in Mountaindale, near Banks, Oregon. The Doctor had been sent for but didn’t arrive until after her Father had delivered the baby. Then, due to some mix-up, a name was never put on her birth certificate, a fact she didn’t discover until she graduated from High School. But obviously, she was born, named Edith, and is here.
Edith’s family moved from several homes around the Hillsboro area. She graduated from the old Hillsboro High School, soon no to be torn down. She went to work in Portland at Dunn and Bradstreet Investment Company. She rode the Oregon Motor Stages to and from work. At that time, the bus had little white towels attached to the back of the seats for sanitary purposes I suppose.
Wages were small then, but Edith had a little savings account. In one big splurge, she spent all of her savings on a memorable trip a get-acquainted visit with her family in Minnesota, riding with her girl friend on the bus, first to San Francisco and then across the great hot desert country and on to Minnesota.
Home from her vacation she went back to work, first at the old Olds and Kings department store in downtown Portland, then to the Birds Eye Cannery office in Hillsboro. In later years she worked at the Times Newspaper in Forest Grove.
Burl and Edith’s children: 1. Wesley Jarrell 5-23-1948 Wesley and his wife operate a Goat Farm and Cheesarea; they make cheese. Wesley is also a Professor of Ecology and Natural Resources.
Marilyn works for an architect firm in Seattle.
3. Joan Overholser 9-26-1953 Joan is a speech therapist at the Forest Grove schools. She graduated from Concordia and Portland State.
Jarrell’s have five grandchildren and one great grand child. One grandchild is now a doctor and one a lawyer.
HOBBIES: To try to keep up the farm! Much of the farm is planted to forests, some fields, and the yard. Edith says the Good Lord plants the flowers; she just takes care of them. These beautiful old fashioned flowers were planted years ago and reseed themselves.
Burl and Edith joined Mt. Olive Church in 1961. They transferred from Trinity.
© Mt Olive Lutheran Church (prepared by Annie Jarrell)
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