The Enterprise, White Salmon, WA., May 27, 2004, page 16
Includes portrait
DOROTHY BIESANZ
Dorothy Phyllis (Richards) Biesanz, a descendent of early
Skamania County pioneers died on Wednesday, May 19, 2004, at Rock Cove in
Stevenson. She was 86.
Mrs. Biesanz was born March 8, 1918, in Raymond, where
her father worked in the World War I shipyard. They moved back to Stevenson
in 1919, where she grew up and attended Skamania County schools. She married
Phillip "Wayman" Biesanz at BZ Corners in 1939, and they've been together
for 65 years. His job with BPA took them to Walla Walla, Salem, Ore., and
24 years in North Bend, Ore., where they retired in 1972 and returned to
their old stamping grounds in the Columbia Gorge.
They built a new home on an acreage on Panther Creek,
four miles north of Carson, where she enjoyed her collections of thimbles,
turtles, and old dolls and old lamps. She enjoyed bowling, reading, gardening,
traveling and cooking. Her roast beef dinners and raspberry jam were family
joys.
Mrs. Biesanz is survived by her husband, Phillip "Wayman"
Biesanz, Carson; daughters Cynthia Gregory, Kent, and Lisa Armstrong,
Springfield, Ore.; sons Dick, North Bend, Ore., Lyle, Carson, Jeff, Anchorage,
Alaska, and Guy, Carson; 14 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren; brother
Frank L. Richards, Carson, Calif.; sister June Larsen, Portland; two aunts,
and many, many dear friends. She was preceded in death by her parents, Frank
and Ellen Richards; daughter Kathie Hastings; and son Brett.
The effects of a stroke she has been fighting for two
years finally claimed her. Her body was cremated and graveyard services will
be private.
Memorials may be made to Hospice of the Gorge.
A memorial is planned at a later date in August.
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© Jeffrey L. Elmer