Elaine Hess Baxter

Elaine Etta Hess Baxter was born in the small town of North Powder, Oregon on June 25,1917 to Etta Jane Brown Hess and Charles Ellis Hess. She was the first of two children. Elaine married Veryl Bowthorpe Baxter on November 28, 1935. Elaine passed in Logan, Utah where she was staying with a granddaughter and family on September 5, 2026.

The family may have begun in Eastern Oregon but they didn’t stay there too long as they moved to California for employment reasons. They lived a total of four states in their entire marriage and each was made into a very warm and secure home and welcomed three daughters, Janice Lynne (Carl Henshaw), Karen Kay (Thomas Tubbs) and Gail Marlene (Lanning Porter).

Working with the war movement of building ships, they stayed in the San Francisco area until the war ended and they moved to a small town in northern California named Boonville. Here they formed a company with other family members in the lumber business. The IndependentRedwood company lasted nearly 20 years when the larger companies moved in.

Leaving Boonville was difficult for Elaine and Veryl as they had enjoyed their service opportunities in the community and had become very active in local politics and other volunteer events.

Elaine was faced, at this time, with an “empty nest” so decided to return to the local college to upgrade her secretarial skills and set herself up to be a “working girl” for the next 20 years, retiring from Masonite Corporation in Ukiah, California. 

Veryl and Elaine decided to move ahead and do some travelling. That decision made for a wonderful life of travel and adventure around the United States and Canada and Mexico. The motor home was traded for a larger one each time they got anxious to see some more sights whether it was New England, South East, Mid-West, Pacific North West, or the Western Coast. Many times, they borrowed a grandkid or two to join them. Such fun playing house along the highways! Beauty and education for them. 

Elaine didn’t let the grass stand still in her life following Veryl’s death in 1997 and began visiting her kids and grandkids from Virginia to California to Kansas to Washinton. She fulfilled a mission for her church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She had the job of correcting genealogy forms in Italian. Elaine did not speak nor understand Italian but had a successful and fulfilling mission of service in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Lord works in mysterious ways sometimes!

Elaine loved her family and told them so daily. She spent the last days of her life enjoying the country air of Virginia. She shall be missed but we know that she served well in this life and we always rejoice in the knowledge of eternal life ahead.

A family memorial luncheon will be held on Sunday, September 13 in Logan with the burial in Buckingham, Virginia at a later date.

Condolences and memories may be shared on Allen-Hall Mortuary's website: www.allenmortuaries.com.