Della Lee Tash
Della Lee Tash, 99, of Portland, a longtime Heppner resident, died Thursday, Aug. 17, 2000, at a Portland adult foster care home.
Graveside memorial service and interment will be 11 a.m. Friday at the Heppner Masonic Cemetery.
Born Della Lee Nichols on Feb. 3, 1901, at Holden, Mo., she was the third child of Lawrence Lee and Mary Elizabeth Nichols.
In 1905, she came, with her family, to The Dalles on an immigrant train. They continued on by stagecoach to Old Trail Crossing where they established a family homestead and Della grew up.
In 1918, she met Frank Edmondson at Madras. The couple later married and were the parents of five children.
In 1933, they moved to Heppner where they worked a ranch in Clarks Canyon until 1940. They then moved closer to town and bought the old Bisby home on South Main Street while they continued to ranch. Mr. Edmondson died in 1941 and in 1943, she married Durward Tash. The couple was married for 45 years until Mr. Tash died in 1988.
Mrs. Tash had been employed as a waitress at the Elkhorn Cafe, at the Heppner Laundry and as a nurse#s aide at Pioneer Memorial Hospital through the years.
After Mr. Tash died, Heppner residents, Johanne Woods and Peggy Lauritson cared for her in Heppner and took her on weekly outings to the Heppner Senior Center.
She continued to live in the Heppner house until 1992 when she moved to Portland to live with her son Jack. In 1994, she moved to an adult foster care home.
Mrs. Tash enjoyed music, dancing, tending to her home and hosting large family reunions. She was also a member of the Rebekah Lodge.
Survivors include her children, Mae Nichols of Kingston, Wash., Dick Edmondson of Sacramento, Calif., and Jack Edmondson of Portland; sisters, Derris Brown of Dallas, Ore., Jessie Tycer of Forest Grove, and Thomas M. Daron of Redmond; eight grandchildren, 14 great- grandchildren and 13 great-great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by two of her children, Glen Edmondson in 1930, and Leland Edmondson in 1984; and by sisters, Edith Lynam, Alma Freels and Gladys Rammon, and brother, Lawrence Nichols.
Memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society.
Gateway Little Chapel of the Chimes, 1515 N.E. 106th Ave., Portland, OR 97220, is in charge of arrangements.
East Oregonian 8/23/00