Otha Nunnally
November 30, 2009
Otha Frank Nunnally of Creswell died Nov. 8 at age 71.
He was born Dec. 8, 1937, in Alturas, Calif., to Robert and Alma Wells Nunnally.
He attended Oakridge High School. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps, and worked in the lumber industry and as a salesman.
His wife, Dreena Nunnally, died Aug. 13, 2009.
Survivors include two daughters, Tracy Gates of Springfield and Brendi Shannon of Eugene; two sisters, Linda Heckman-Hendreckson of Forest Grove and Sharon Russell of Oakridge; a brother, Bill of Lake Wildwood, Calif.; and two grandchildren.
Arrangements by Andreason’s Cremation & Burial Service in Springfield. Remembrances to Veterans Administration.
William Zentner
November 30, 2009
William Zentner of Eugene died Nov. 24 of age-related causes. He was 93.
He was born April 24, 1916, in Montana to Francis and Irene Baggs Zentner. He married Barbara Ellen Scott in February 1941 in Eugene. She later died.
He attended the San Francisco Art Institute and the University of Oregon.
He is survived by a son, Mark Zentner of Eugene and a daughter, Irene Ekberg of Corbett.
Arrangements by Buell Funeral Chapel in Springfield. Remembrances to the University of Oregon Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.
Joanne Reinking
November 30, 2009
Joanne Baldwin Reinking of Springfield died Nov. 24 of heart failure. She was 81.
She was born Feb. 9, 1928, in Superior, Neb., to Carl and Clara Peters Baldwin.
She married Richard Reinking on Dec. 16, 1978, in Eugene.
She was a high school graduate who attended the University of Oregon for a year. She had worked as a buyer for Chef Francisco in Eugene, been a typist for a lawyer, worked at Kelly Services and was an organist for Andreason’s Cremation & Burial Service.
Survivors include her husband; a son, Steven Maricle of Springfield; two daughters, Sandra Sue Maricle of Springfield and Laurie Anne Nielson of Medford; a brother, William Baldwin of Portland, seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Inurnment will be at Lane Memorial Gardens. Arrangements by Andreason’s Cremation & Burial Service in Springfield.
Edith Hull
November 30, 2009
Edith Linda Hull, of Oakridge, died Nov. 12 of cardiac arrest. She was 61 years old.
She was born Sept. 9, 1948, in San Francisco, Calif., to Herbert and Annette Joffe Lyons. She married James Hull on May 17, 1983, in Reno, Nev.
She was a high school graduate who also had attended college for two years. She worked in phone sales.
Survivors include her husband, a son, Michael Lyons of Santa Rosa, Calif.; a sister, Susie Scroggins of Rohnert Park, Calif.; a brother, Dennis Lyons of Santa Rosa; and six grandchildren.
Arrangements by Andreason’s Cremation & Burial Service in Springfield.
Martha Overbay
November 27, 2009
Martha “Marty” Overbay of Springfield died Nov. 22 at age 70.
She was born Nov. 19, 1939, in Deadwood, S.D., to Kenneth and Anna Mae Smith Brown. She married Raymond Overbay Aug. 18, 1957, in San Luis, Mexico.
She graduated from Venice High School in Venice, Calif. She worked as a payroll administrator.
Survivors include her husband; two daughters, Cheryl Overbay and Marcie Ellsworth, both of Eugene; five sisters, Lavern Brown, Margaret Webber and Shirley Anson, all of Cottage Grove, Leona Anders of DeForest, Wisc., and Vivian Twitchell of Caldwell, Idaho; a brother, Larry Brown of Ontario; and two grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren.
Arrangements by Buell Funeral Chapel in Springfield.
Kenneth Merryman Jr.
November 27, 2009
Kenneth Merryman Jr., of Veneta, died Nov. 24 of cancer. He was 81. A private family service will be held later.
He was born June 12, 1928, at Paisley Lake, to Kenneth Sr., and Gertrude Redfield Merryman. He married Dorothea Bowden Aug. 25, 1952, in Pendleton.
He served in the U.S. Navy from 1946 to 1947.
He was a heavy equipment operator in construction and was maintenance manager for Shalimar Mobile Home Park.
Survivors include his wife; two daughters, Robin Vincent of Yuma, Colo., and Reatha Merryman of Salem; three sons, Rocky of Medford, Rick of Eugene and Robert of Junction City; and 11 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren.
Arrangements by Andreason’s Cremation & Burial Service in Springfield. Remembrances to Sacred Heart Hospice.
Theodore Lee
November 27, 2009
A celebration of life will be from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 29, at the McDonald Theater in Eugene for Theodore “Papa Soul” Lee, Jr., of Eugene, who died Nov. 18 at 43.
He was born Oct. 12, 1966, in Long Beach, Calif., to Theodore Sr., and Bernice Deener Lee. He married Deborah Farnsworth Aug. 31, 1997, in Eugene.
He graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach.
He was an entrepreneur, restaurateur, musician and chef.
Survivors include his wife; his father; two sons, D’Angelo Mosi Lee and Dondre Messiah Lee, both of Eugene; a brother, Richard, of Long Beach; and two sisters, Anita McNeal and Emily “DeeDee” Lee, both of Long Beach.
And also from the Eugene Register-Guard:
Lee was a musician and entrepreneur whose businesses included his iconic Papa’s Soul Food Kitchen & Blues Joint at Blair Boulevard and Fourth Avenue in Eugene’s Whiteaker neighborhood.
The particulars of where and how Lee died could not be confirmed Thursday. But news of his death brought tears and tributes from a broad range of people, from a kitchen manager to a hip-hop artist to a financial services manager.
“He was such a nice man, everybody loved him,” said Ann Price, financial services manager and property services manager for the Neighborhood Economic Development Corp. Lee recently had opened a second restaurant, Brown Betty’s Cafe, in a Whiteaker building owned by NEDCO.
“I was talking to an intern this morning about him,” Price said through tears. “He’s done so much for that neighborhood. People who you wouldn’t catch dead in Whiteaker would go down to Papa’s and eat, would stand in line to eat. He was really helping Whiteaker to turn around.”
Ken Howe, kitchen manager for nearby Sam Bond’s Garage, said Lee’s businesses added to the strength of the business district in Whiteaker. His restaurants, Howe said, helped “bring people into the neighborhood to eat, and keep local people here.”
News of Lee’s death was “crushing” to the many young musicians in Eugene and Portland whose careers he influenced and mentored, hip-hop artist Garrick Bushek said.
“We’re all devastated,” he said. “It’s the most crushing news I’ve had in my whole life. He was everybody’s best friend.”
Bushek said it was Lee who encouraged him to start his musical career, even christening him with his stage name, Marv Ellis — as in marvelous. Bushek played for two years in Lee’s band, and managed the front of his restaurant before moving to Portland to pursue his musical career.
“The guy gave me the microphone for the first time,” he said. “Every single musician who ever met him in Eugene, he did something positive for their career.
“He’s just so important to the music scene in Eugene. Beyond the food, before the food, during the food, he was helping people, elevating people and pushing people, just through conversation, just through his smile.
“He was an adrenaline shot in a lot of people’s passion and careers.”
Joey Stewart, who performs as Unkle Nancy, also played in Lee’s band before starting his own. He said it was Lee’s influence that led him away from hip-hop and into blues — and bluegrass-tinged “dark roots music.”
Tyler Jay, a musician known as NRG, recalled a piece of advice Lee gave him when he was trying to get his leather design business going — advice based on Lee’s signature dish.
“He said, ‘You got to find your pulled pork sandwich — something that was pushing you and driving you to become better,’ ” Jay said. “Because the first thing he developed (at his restaurant) was pulled pork sandwiches, and he moved on.”
Lee was born and raised in Long Beach, Calif., by what he described as “Southern emigrant” parents. His mother ran a Long Beach soul food restaurant.
He once said he had wanted to own and operate a similar place since he was a child.
He originally came to Oregon with college in mind, but eventually dropped out and moved to New Orleans and other points south to find his culinary roots. He returned to Oregon in the early 1990s and then cooked in “just about every restaurant in town,” he said in an interview with The Register-Guard in 2006.
He started his own barbecue business from a red cart at Seventh Avenue and Polk Street, graduated to a cubbyhole storefront on West 11th Avenue and then into his Whiteaker location.
“Man, it’s been a beautiful thing,” he said in March. “We’ve had the busiest winter we’ve had since we’ve been up and running. … We just stay true to what we do, and we have fun with it.”