7 entries
The Guest Book is expired.
|
http://www.dtint.com/2006/Turin" xmlns:x="adobe:ns:meta/">
Estelle Greer
McCafferty
Estelle Frances Greer was born in Portland, Oregon on August 8, 1927 to parents Thomas Vaughan Greer and Frances Page Greer. Her father came from a rambunctious family of outdoorsy boys, and her finishing schooled mother came from an old Portland family who opened the first luxury hotel in Portland "The Occidental", ran a produce-importing business "Page and Son", and who had the first residential phone line in Portland. Her brother Thomas Vaughan Jr. followed a few years later.
Estelle was a creative and artistic child. While attending Ainsworth Grade School she contracted osteomyelitis and spent much of 4th grade recovering. She attended Catlin Gabel, St. Helen's Hall, and graduated from Lincoln High School in 1945. She attended the University of Washington until her osteomyelitis reoccurred and she had to move home, attending Lewis and Clark College. She eventually transferred to the University of Oregon and joined the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority in her junior year and met her life-long friend Dodie Bingham Pierce. She graduated in 1950 with a degree in Journalism. She worked in advertising in San Francisco and then moved back to Portland and worked as a secretary at Hyster, where she was the only woman on the company rifle team.
Estelle met medical student Dennis Eugene McCafferty on a blind date and married him at her parents' house in Portland on December 20, 1953. They lived in Denver, Colorado where they had daughter Page Estelle and then moved to Oregon City and had daughter Leslie Ann. In 1959 the family settled in Eugene, Oregon and Dennis opened an Internal Medicine practice in nearby Springfield. 35 years ago they settled into a home on the McKenzie River.
Estelle was a wife, mother and homemaker, but found time to nurture her life-long interest in art, culture and good food by editing cookbooks, working with the Junior League, taking cooking classes in Italy, managing the gift shop at the University of Oregon Art Museum, working as an assistant curator at the Springfield Museum, volunteering with the Eugene Symphony, collecting Asian art, belonging to two book clubs, and much more. Known for her charm and sense of humor, she was a wonderful hostess, was great fun to be with, and was an animal lover, particularly of dogs and cats.
Survivors include her husband of 59 years Dennis; daughters and sons- in- law Page and Bill Clothier and Leslie and Michael Kearsey; grandchildren Kelty and Wedge Clothier and Rose and Weston Kearsey; Greer family members; and many long-time friends including the Wednesday Night Group.
Estelle died peacefully after a stroke on Saturday, October 6, 2012 at her home on the McKenzie surrounded by her family. She was 85.
The family will be celebrating Estelle's life with a get-together on Sunday, October 14. If you are interested in attending and want details, please contact Page at velvetleaf@comcast.net or call 503-645-3877. In lieu of flowers, donations in her name can be made to any animal welfare association or museum. Please sign the guest book at www.registerguard.com/legacy
Published in Eugene Register-Guard on October 10, 2012
