EUNICE SEATON 1882 - 1955

     (Eunice was the wife of my grandfather's youngest brother, John Elmer Seaton.)

Funeral Rites Held For Eunice Seaton

     Requiem mass for Mrs. Eunice Seaton, age 72, was held at St. Benedict's Catholic Church in Coulee Dam at 10:00 a.m. Monday [Nov. 28, 1955], the Rev. Anthony Farrelly officiating.
     She was born near Franklin, Ark., December 2, 1882, and died at the Coulee Dam Community hospital Saturday [Nov. 26, 1955], less than 24 hours after she was stricken with a cerebral hemorrhage.  She had devoted her life to others and her death was much as she would have willed it, slipping quietly out of life after a happy holiday spent with her family.
     Beloved by all who knew her, she had taught school in Washington State almost continuously since 1902.
     She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. S. F. Simpson and the eldest of ten surviving children when the family moved to Ephrata in 1902.  Many of the original settlers of Ephrata were from Arkansas and the Simpson family was one of the first to arrive, at a time when the town consisted of only a box car and a few tents.
     She taught school at Waterville her first year in the state, and as the area developed, in succeding years at Ephrata, Soap Lake, Krup (now Marlin), the Alameda school on the Columbia river and the Boardax xchool near Wilbur.
     Following her marriage to Elmer Seaton in 1909, she left the teaching profession until 1920, when she returned to teach one term each at Inchelium and the little Mission school near there.  In 1922, she, her husband, and three children moved to the Seaton ferry on the Columbia river, founded by Mr. Seaton's father many years before and operated by Mr. Seaton until his death in 1933, then by his son until 1934, when it was closed by construction work on Grand Coulee Dam.  During the intervening years she tought at the Spring Canyon school and in 1934 at the first school in Mason City.
     In 1934, she and her son moved to a cattle ranch near Elmer City, which is located on part of her husband's homestead and named for him.  She taught in the school at Elmer City until 1937 each day either walking or riding horseback between the ranch and school.  She was the first postmaster in Elmer City, but returned to teaching in 1941 and continued in that profession until her death.  She had taught the third grade in Coulee Dam since the two schools were consolidated in 1942 and often entertained the children with stories of her experiences in the early days of Washington State, traveling by stagecoach the first time she passed through the Grand Coulee, with the country seeming very primitive and lawless to a newcomer from the south, and telling them many colorful bits of early Washington history.
     In addition to operating the ferry, her husband was engaged in cattle ranching, and previous to that, had been a wheat rancher at Wilber and Ephrata and at LaCombe, Alberta. (?)  He also worked for the Indian service at Inchelium for a short time.
     She was preceded in death by her parents, one brother and two sisters, her husband and one daughter, Mrs. Mary Gray.  Survivors include two grandchildren for whom she was guardian, Josef and Joanne Gray; one son, Frank Seaton of Elmer City; one daughter, Mrs. Joseph J. Kelley of Coulee Dam; three other grandchildren, Tommy and Jerry Seaton and Patrick Kelley; four sisters, Mrs. J. R. Hopkins of Elmer City, Miss Zola Simpson of Wenatchee, Mrs. J. E. Gray of Moscow, Idaho and Mrs. A. C. Waggoner of San Jose, Calif.; three brothers, all of California, D. L. Simpson of San Diego, H. J. Simpson of Beaumont and S. J. Simpson of Hemet, and many nieces and nephews.
     Rosary was said by the Ref. A. Farrelly at the Coulee Dam Fundral Home Sunday evening, with many friends and relatives in attendance.\
     Four of her students, Donny Klaas, Johnny Romero, Bobby Milliken and Richard Well were altar boys for the requiem mass, and pallbearers were six of her nephews, Wesley, Royal and Sam Rinker of Grand Coulee, Clair Seaton of Elmer City, But Colman of Spokane and Pete Dumas of Odessa.  Burial was in the Wilbur cemetery.
     William Barnes of the Coulee Dam Funeral Home, assisted by Bob Hirst, was in charge of the final arrangements.

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    In his Feb 8, 1945 V Mail, Uncle George mentions Joe Gray (father of Josef and Joanne, mentioned in this and the above obituary).  See post of April 26, 2011.

    5 November 1985

Joseph E. Gray

     KIRKLAND - Joseph E. Gray, 77, Kirkland, died Friday at Kirkland.
     He was born Aug. 6, 1908, in Washington, D.C.  He had lived for the past five years in the Seattle area, coming from Nespelem.  He was a mechanic and a heavy equipment operator.
     Survivors include a son, Josef Gray, Bellevue, a daughter, Joanne Leitch, Fort Lewis; one brother, L.A. Gray Jr., Tacoma; five sisters, Mary Elizabeth Gray and Dorothy Gray Millier, both of Olympia, Margaret Gray Waggoner, Pacific City, Sister Katherine Gray, St. Louis, Mo., and Hazel Gray Gates, Los Alamitos, Calif.; 11 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
     Green Funeral Home, Bellevue, is in charge of arrangements.

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     The following clipping lacks a headline and the name of the paper it appeared in.  It is dated by hand 13 January 1945.

     T/5 Gray is a man who rates high with the doughboys.  He is a medic.  He is married and his wife lives at E2906 Twenty-ninth.  The son of Mr. and Mrs. L. A. Gray of Nespelem, he worked for seven years at Grand Coulee dam.
     In the army 18 months, he was overseas 13 months and was a first aid man with the 29th infantry in Germany.  In the sough Pacific they had "Washing Machine Charlie," a Jap pilot who flew his bomber over every night at the same time.  At Aachen it was "Bed Check Charlie," a Nazi, who came over with bombs every night the same time.
     "Bed Check Charlie" dropped on on a house one night.  Gray was in a ditch.  The ditch was too close to the house.  Part of the house heaved into the air and came down on Gray.  He went back to the evacuation hospital with internal injuries.
               Took Nazi Casualties.
     On the way back they took three German casualties along.  The Nazis cried and moaned all the way.  Gray was filled with contempt.  he had given first aid to a lot of wounded Americans, many of them badly shot up.
     "I never," he said, "heard a Yank cry."