Vess,Coombs,Stone Jr.,Ricks,Baxter

Beverly J. Vess

Formerly of La Grande

1928-2015

Beverly Jean Vess, 87, formerly of La Grande, died Dec. 22 at her home in Vancouver, Washington. There will not be a memorial service.

David H. Coombs

Enterprise

1930-2015

David Henry Coombs, 84, of Enterprise, died Dec. 18. Family and friends will gather for a celebration of David’s life later in the spring. Arrangements are under the direction of Bollman Funeral Home.

Frank Stone Jr.

Wallowa

1929-2015

Frank Stone Jr., 86, of Wallowa, died Dec. 24 at his residence. Arrangements are entrusted to Bollman Funeral Home.

Martin L. Ricks

Formerly of La Grande

1919-2015

Martin Lewis Ricks, 96, formerly of La Grande, died Dec. 17 at a care center in Pendleton.

No services are planned at this time. He will be interred with his family in the Hillcrest Cemetery. Arrangements are entrusted to Daniels-Knopp Funeral and Cremation Center.

Barbara M. Baxter

Elgin

Barbara M. Baxter, 71, of Elgin, died Dec. 31 at her residence. An obituary will be published at a later time. Loveland Funeral Chapel and Crematory will be handling the arrangements.

Obituaries longer than 400 words will be returned to the family or the funeral home for revision, delaying the publishing of the obituary until it meets this guideline.

Families and funeral homes should also know that there is no guarantee that obituaries received after 4 p.m. Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays will appear in the next day’s paper. We try to budget space for the obits we have at 4 p.m. and we cannot always guarantee space for anything that comes in after the 4 p.m. deadline.

Finally, The Observer has always re-run obituaries for free if it contained errors, whether the errors were made by the family/funeral home or The Observer. To re-run obituaries that print with errors sent over from the family/funeral home will require the family/funeral home to pay for the space to re-run the obituary. Any error that is the fault of The Observer, we will gladly re-run in the next available issue.

Local funeral homes have been doing an excellent job getting information to us, but the revisions to this policy places limits on how long obituaries can be and emphasizes that The Observer also has limits on how much information will be printed in “free” obituaries. We ask that funeral homes continue to let families know that not all information will necessarily be printed. Paid obituary space is available for complete personal histories and eulogies and can be purchased by calling The Observer advertising department.

Phone: 541-963-3131 fax: 541-963-7804 email:news@lagrandeobserver.com

Andrew Cutler,Editoracutler@lagrandeobserver.com

Kelly Ducote,News Editorkducote@lagrandeobserver.com