Verna Mae Woods

Verna Mae was born April 11, 1921 in Oregon City, Oregon to Fredrick William Marshall of Ontario, Canada and Emma Belle Kleinsmith of Carthage, Illinois; they were Pioneers of Clarkes, Oregon in the late 1800's. She was the youngest of her siblings, Leonard Marshall of Oregon City, Oregon, Willetta Weldon of Albany, Oregon and Marvin Marshall of Tyler, Texas.  Born in the house her father had built the year before, on 40 acres in Clarkes across the road from the Methodist Church. It was a monster of a house, 4 bedrooms upstairs and 4 rooms downstairs.  The only heat came from a huge fireplace in the living room that her father built from bricks he hauled by wagon from a brickyard on West Burnside in Portland, and a wood cook stove in the kitchen.  On the coldest of nights they had bricks that were put into the fireplace to heat and then wrapped in newspaper and tucked into the foot of their beds.

Even though Verna Mae grew up during the depression she never felt deprived.  No one had much, but they were surrounded by family.   Summers were great times.  Her father owned the community threshing facility and a huge steam engine that pulled and ran the machine when set up at a farm.  It was an exciting day when the season began, always at their place.  Her mother would be up early, preparing chickens, baking pies and preparing the huge meal that was expected by all the neighbors that would bring their horses and wagons to haul the grain from the field to be fed into the huge threshing machine.  Verna's job was peeling potatoes - wash tubs full - as they were served at every meal.  All of this was done in August and with a woodstove!  The neighbor ladies would be there with a helping hand, because the threshing outfit would move on to the next farm and it would be their turn.  For Verna and her brother, Marvin it was great times, especially the warm summer nights when they were allowed to stay up until 10 and play in the moonlight!

After her sister Willetta married Charles, Verna especially enjoyed spending the night with them.  Willetta was more like a mother, for many years attending to Verna's every need.  Verna Mae loved the Spring at her sister's, Willetta would set-up her incubators and hatch eggs to add chickens, turkey and geese to her flocks that would be tended all summer and sold at the Farmer's Market in Portland for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Later, Charles went to work for Crown Paper Mill, Marvin and Verna would often spend the weekend with them.  Verna remembered what a treat it was to catch the streetcar and go to downtown Portland and shop.  She always loved Newberry's and thought they had so many neat things. She also saw her first movies at the old Liberty Theatre in downtown Oregon City next to the courthouse.

Upon graduation from Oregon City High School Verna Mae attended Oregon State College in Corvallis, Oregon. A few years later she met Jesse Woods in Portland, Oregon, fell in love and immediately ran off to get married in Klamath Falls, Oregon. She became a mother of three by age 27; Joyce in 1943, Glenn in 1945  and  Mary in 1948.  Later came Judy in 1949, who died at one month old then in 1960 twin boys, Daryl and Duane.

Their beautiful family grew as Jesse and Verna chased electrical power line work in all parts of the country.  The family moved to California, Arizona, Texas, North Carolina, Alabama, Illinois, Kentucky, and back to California and then Oregon. To say this was hectic is an understatement.  Verna never complained and she always made sure there was plenty of good healthy food on the table, her kids came first. She would say "God helps those that help themselves" so she would take the children to pick beans, berries, peaches, apples, prunes or anything else to earn a little money.  She was always there to help them but also encouraged them to be independent.

Shortly after the birth of her twins at the age of 40 Verna moved back to the family farm in Clarkes, Oregon. When her father, Fredrick William died, she moved the family to Milwaukie, Molalla and in 1989 settled in to her final home in Oregon City. Verna Mae retired from Oregon Cutting Systems (Blount Inc) in 1990 as Quality Control Inspector for the powder actuated tool division.

After retirement Verna Mae spent a good deal of time pursuing some of her favorite hobbies, which included gardening, quilting, crocheting and spending time with family.  She also took great enjoyment spending time at the Oregon City Senior Community Center where she met with friends each week to eat lunch, work on crafts and play a competitive round of scrabble.

Verna Mae lived on her own in Oregon City up to the last 4 months of her life. She was diagnosed with cancer in November of 2014 and resided at a foster care facility in Happy Valley and finally under the care of the staff at Milwaukie Convalescent Center for her final 8 days. Verna Mae passed away December 26, 2014 at the age of 93 in Milwaukie, Oregon.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Jesse Howard Woods on May 20, 1976 at the age of 66. Jesse was a US Navy Veteran and was born and raised in Dupo, Illinois. She was also preceded in death by two daughters, Joyce Mae Villegas and Judy Woods.

Verna Mae is survived by her children, Glenn Howard Woods of Central Point, Oregon, Mary Alice Boyer of Sandy, Oregon, Daryl A. Woods of Happy Valley, Oregon and Duane B. Woods of Brentwood, California; 17 grandchildren; 18 great-grandchildren and 16 great great-grandchildren.