CORA LEE RINKER 1879-1977

     (I have no record of what papers published the following clippings)

Rites Held For Cora L. Rinker

      Funeral services were held Monday, April 11, 1977 at the Wilbur Presbyterian Church for Mrs. Cora Lee Rinker.  The Rev. Malcolm McCallum officiated.
      Mrs. Rinker, 98, of Wenatchee, who was a pioneer of North Central Washington, died in a Wenatchee convalescent center April 7, 1977.
      Born Cora Lee Seaton on January 29, 1879 in Cass County, Missouri to Thomas an Minerva Seaton, she came with her family by immigrant train to the Northwest.  The family homesteaded north of Wilbur in 1889.  In 1895 she married Washington Rinker and after farming in the Wilbur country for a few years, moved to Delrio area where they homesteaded and farmed for many years.
      Her husband died may 4, 1922 and Mrs. Rinker lived in Wilbur for several years before moving to Wenatchee.
      She was a member of the Grange and the Christian Church.
      Surviving are three sons, Wesley, royal and Sam Rinker, all of the delrio area; three daughters, Mrs. Leonard (Mae) Engelson, East Wenatchee, Mrs. Fred (Lillian) Holm, Wenatchee and Mrs. James (Bessie) Davis, Mansfield; seven grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren.
      Preceding her in death were a daughter, Mrs. Gragua (Amanda) McGlothern; a grandson; six half-brothers and sisters, including Sam and Elmer Seaton, pioneer ferrymen of the early Grand Coulee Area, and Mrs. Charles (Bessie) Dumas.
      Concluding services and interment were in the Wilbur Cemetery with arrangements by Jones and Jones Funeral Home of Wenatchee.

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In Memory Of

MRS. CORA L. RINKER
Date of Birth
January 29, 1879 Cass Co., Mo.

Date of Death
April 7, 1977 Wenatchee, Wa.

Services of Commemoration
Wilbur Presbyterian Church
Monday, April 11th., 2 p.m.
Pastor Malcom McCallum, Officiant

Vocalists
Mrs. Malcom McCallum
Mrs. Ray Goodman

Mrs. John Stephenson Organist

Casket Bearers
Cleatis Lacey           Hayden McKee
Cecil Trefry                   Bill Thurston
Fred Weber                   Boyd Finch

Concluding Services and Interment
Wilbur Cemetery


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Big Bend land stays in a family

     The funeral of Cora Rinker in Wilbur this week was an item of historical significance to this area.
     Not just because it marked the passing of a pioneer who with her husband homesteaded a section of land near Delrio in Douglas County before the turn of the century.  And not just because of the size of the family they raised there, although her grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren born to her three sons and four daughters filled the Presbyterian church in Wilbur where services were held Monday.
     But Cora Rinker's passing is of particular significance because it shows what has happend to the farming land of Douglas County where she lived.
     This is a time when farm groups are worried about the inroads of corporations into the farming business.  But if there is a danger there, it hasn't materialized in Douglas County.
     All the original Rinker land is still owned and operated by descendants of Washington and Cora Rinker.  It isn't all in the Rinker name, because some of it passed down through the female side of the family.  And it isn't just the original farmland, either; each generation has bought neighbor land as it has become available, and expanded operations.  Brother has sold to brother, or father to son.
     But the significant thing is that the original Rinker land is still being farmed by Rinker descendants, down to the fifth generation.
     So it goes with most of the agricultural empire of the Big Bend.  The names may change, but the land remains in the same genealogical ownership.  The pioneers would be proud to know that the enterprise they launched so long ago has become a family tradition.

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