LILLIE GROSSEN

Lillie Wagner Grossen died in her home in the early hours of Friday, May 8, 2020, one day before her 97th birthday. The first week of April, she was still baking cinnamon rolls and living independently in her home on the farm in Helvetia with her husband Elmer. Then her health issues became increasingly complicated and finally, she gave up the battle of sickness and suffering to be with Jesus.

Lillie Maud Wagner was born May 9, 1923 in Odessa, Missouri to Harry Arthur Wagner and Maud Isadore Campbell. She was the 3rd child of 5: Herbert, Louise, Lil, Charlene, and Polly. In 1936, during the Great Depression, her family traveled west in a Model T, a 2-week journey with her mom and dad, 5 children, the dog, and their belongings. They eventually landed in Banks, Oregon, working for the Shigeno family, who gave them a place to get out of the rain and a job picking strawberries. The 3 Shigeno children were the same age as the 3 oldest children of the Wagner family and they paired up as fast friends. The Shigeno children ran the farm and generously shared food from their garden. Lil remained life-long friends with the Shigenos, and especially her dear friend, Beulah.

In the fall of 1936, the Wagner family went to Corning, California, where they picked olives and the 3 youngest children went to school. Lillie attended 8th grade in Corning and played on the school volleyball team. January 1, 1937, they headed back to Oregon. A huge snowstorm hit them going over Mount Shasta. They were lucky that when their car got stranded, they were near a motel that had space. Herbert and Harry got jobs shoveling snow for the railroad.

Lillie said they all loved Oregon because food grew so abundantly in the trees and everywhere. They thought Oregon was heaven. They had enough funds to buy the “3-cornered place” on Helvetia Road, by the railroad tracks, east of the Connell farm. The 3 youngest children went to Helvetia school, where Lil was able to graduate from 8th grade, after the principal from Corning wrote to the Helvetia school administration, telling them that Lil should be allowed to graduate because she knew more than those hayseeds in Oregon and she could pass any test they could give her.

In spite of the poverty of the Great Depression, the Wagner girls had a very artistic mother, which contributed to the fact that they became very talented and lived life with style and flair. The Wagner girls wore rather elegant home-made dresses. Lil could sing and play the piano and the clarinet. She sang “Somewhere over the Rainbow” while her sister accompanied her on the piano at a program at Helvetia School. Elmer was in the audience and was quite smitten with Lil. She graduated from 8th grade at Helvetia school in 1937 and graduated from Hillsboro High School in 1941. The Shigenos also moved from Banks to Helvetia before they were all shipped to internment camps in Ontario, Oregon in 1942, after Pearl Harbor. Elmer remembers that Lil and Beulah always sat together in the back of the bus. Lil and Beulah remained steadfast friends, writing letters and sending pictures to each other throughout their entire lives.

Lil became the Executive Secretary for Mr. Eldridge at Birds Eye in Hillsboro. When Mr. Eldridge was promoted to a higher position in New York City, he asked Lil to move to New York to continue working for him. She declined. She was obviously a very talented secretary, for which she was paid $14.57 a week. She and her sister, Louise, joined the Helvetia band, where they both played the clarinet. Elmer and his brothers were in the band also. This allowed for Elmer and Lil to get to know each other better with practice scheduled every Wednesday night. She married Elmer June 2, 1944 in Bethany Presbyterian Church. They moved into the first home that the Grossens had built in Helvetia from logs milled in a sawmill that was also built on the property. It was a simple, drafty home. She continued working for Birds Eye, where she made dear, lifelong friendships with Mary Caruthers and Florence Vanasch until she had her first child, Bonnie, in 1947.

Now with a baby, Lil had Elmer install an indoor bathroom in the house. When the 8 Wilcoxin cousins came to visit from Missouri in 1948, they stayed the whole time with Elmer and Lil because that new bathroom with shower and flushing toilet was quite a treat. Lil’s brother Herbert and her dad had made a trip to Missouri to get additional belongings, including the piano, which now was in Lil and Elmer’s house, allowing for some homemade entertainment. When television came out, Lil and Elmer got one of the first sets. Lil loved to watch Liberace play the piano. She said piano players should use all the keys on the keyboard and not waste any. That was how she played, too. Aunt Ressie’s ragtime piano-playing was her very favorite. But Liberace would do.

She had her second child, Lori, in 1951. In those early years, the family spent at least every holiday with all of her sisters’ families and another day with the Grossen brothers’ families. Cousins were always close friends. The family’s social life was defined by huge family gatherings and big church celebrations. New Year’s Eve was always celebrated at church with a big banquet and clever, talented, homemade entertainment. Neighbors and family defined Lil’s early life, and she hung on tightly to those values as she lived through the decades of social change.

Lil and Elmer became a vibrant part of the farming community of Washington County. She was active in the West Union Community Club, many garden clubs, participated in many University Extension courses and activities. She was interested in interior design, decorating and redecorating their home many times. She was an excellent seamstress, sewing her own clothes and clothes for her two children, often matching. In 1956, they bought the 100-acre Bailey Place across the road. It was full of trees and brush and was not at all ready for farming. Every summer, the entire family, and cousins who often stayed with them, worked to clear the land. Elmer blasted stumps and moved big stuff around with the Cat. Lil and the kids picked up sticks from the ground, throwing them on a wagon that someone got to pull driving the tractor. Lil and Elmer raised strawberries for 23 years, employing the neighbor’s kids and their parents. Lil’s job was to manage the work crew and then drive the truck full of berries every day to Birds Eye in Hillsboro. Elmer was busy making hay.

Lil and her family were heavily involved in the County Fair. She led a 4-H sewing club and submitted beautiful flower arrangements to the Fair competitions. Having so many talents, she was nominated for the Mrs. America contest in 1957. Everyone watched her on TV as she became first runner-up to Mrs. Oregon who became Mrs. America. So we say she was first runner-up to Mrs. America. She earned the honor because she was a fantastic seamstress, creative cook, imaginative decorator, a gifted all-around home-maker, and of course, a beautiful woman. In 1959 and 1961, she had two more children, Calvin and Anita, making the total four. So her child-rearing years spanned 40 years, rather than the usual 20 or so.

She never liked to travel from home, unless it was to see some of her family. She and Elmer went to every Farm Bureau convention for probably 50 years. There was a decade when she and Elmer went on trips with her sisters and their cousins from Missouri. They went to Branson, Nashville, and on an Alaska cruise. After one cruise, she was done with those. She couldn’t sleep and the weather was bad so they couldn’t see anything.

She spent more than 75 years with Elmer on the farm in Helvetia. In their 80’s and early 90’s, Elmer and Lil went dancing every Saturday night at the Pumpkin Ridge Grange. Last year, June 2, 2019, they celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary with a big outdoor party on a beautiful day in Helvetia. Lil loved parties, especially with her family. In her younger days, she threw fancy parties. She was famous for her tea parties. She loved her family fiercely and unconditionally. She taught them all how to bake, sew, garden, pick berries, sell corn, curse when you’re mad (just a little), be honest, respect the privacy of others, go to school every day and listen to the teacher, be loyal to your friends, and love God. She always told us kids when we fought that we needed to learn to get along with each other. If we couldn’t get along with the people we grew up with, ate the same food with, had the same parenting with, then we wouldn’t be able to get along with anybody, so we better figure it out. She always regarded her siblings as her very, very best friends and remained very close to them. She expected her children to do the same.

She is survived by her husband Elmer; by her children, Bonnie Grossen, Lori Swenson (John), Calvin Grossen (Gayle), and Anita Mayer (Bernie); by her 6 grandchildren, Patti Swenson, Matthew Swenson (Sarah), Daniel Grossen (Willow), Kristi Atkins (Peter), Cassandra Bergstrom (George), and Shannon Kennedy (Carson); by her 10 great grandchildren, Andrew Swenson (age 14), Madeline Swenson (12), George Bergstrom (13), Henry Bergstrom (11), Maximus Kennedy (8), Pendleton Kennedy (6), Marcus Kennedy (1), Rennie Jo Grossen (3), Fred Grossen (1), and Eloise Atkins (2); by her sister, Polly Halvorson of McMinnville; and by 20 nieces and nephews.

Donations in Lil’s memory may be made to "Washington County 4-H Association" with memo for Lillie Grossen Scholarship Fund, Address: OSU--4-H Extension, 1815 NW 169th Place, Suite 1000, Beaverton, OR 97006