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The Enterprise, White Salmon, WA., November 26, 1987, page 14

FRANK "ERNIE" CHILDS

Trout Lake resident Frank "Ernie" Childs died Sunday, Nov. 22, at Skyline Hospital in White Salmon, at the age of 84.
He was born Sept. 16, 1903 to Frank O. and Mary (Evans) Childs in Britton, S.D. The family moved to the White Salmon area in 1908 and, in 1922, "Ernie" Childs moved to Trout Lake. In 1933, he married Mary Ramsby. Mr. Childs worked for the U.S. Forest Service and was a cattleman. He was a member of the Mt. Adams Elks Lodge 1868, Cattlemen's Association, the Glenwood Rodeo Association and the Grange.
Mr. Childs is survived by his wife, Mary of Trout Lake; son Frank E. Jr. of Trout Lake; daughters Mary Evans Childs and Judith Ann Childs, both of Seattle; three grandchildren and one great-grand child.
Services for Mr. Childs were scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 28, in the chapel of Gardner Funeral Home, under the auspices of Mt. Adams Elks Lodge 1868. Private interment will follow. Gardner Funeral home is in charge of arrangement.
Memorial contributions may be made to Tall Elks or a charity of choice.

The Enterprise, White Salmon, WA., December 3, 1987, page 2

TROUT LAKE CATTLEMAN PASSES ON AT AGE 84
FRANK ERNEST CHILDS

F.E. "Ernie" Childs of Trout Lake died Nov. 22 at home. A memorial service was held Nov. 28 at Gardner Funeral Home in White Salmon.
He was born Sept. 16, 1903 in Britton, South Dakota, the youngest of seven children of Frank O. and Mary Childs. The family came by the then-popular railroad "Emigrant Train" to The Dalles in 1908. They continued to White Salmon with their possessions and horses by sternwheeler, where they started an orchard.
Ernie graduated from White Salmon High School in 1922 and moved with his brother to their Trout Lake Valley ranch, where he had since made his home. In 1933 he married Mary E. Ramsby of Hood River.
Ernie spent many years with the U.S. Forest Service. He started with the service in 1922, first as a firechaser and later as a packer, running a string of mules and horses on the Mt. Adams Ranger District. He packed fish to stock the Indian Heaven lakes, materials up the slopes of Mt. Adams for the manned lookout, and supplies throughout the then roadless forest. His stint with the service was broken up by many years as a cattleman, but he returned in 1957 and retired in 1972.
During the 1920s, Ernie worked at many jobs, including truck driving, ranching, packing and was probably the last surviving driver of the horse-drawn stages of the Wyers Stage Company of White Salmon. One job during the winter of 1925, he packed supplies from Glenwood to a surveyor's camp in the Simcoe Mountains, often leaving in a blizzard with his horse string, swimming the icy Klickitat River on his way to the camp and on his return. He often said it was a welcome change when it became closer to pack the supplies from Goldendale.
During the 1930s, '40s and '50s, Ernie was a cattleman in the Trout Lake valley. His cattle bearing and the winged "C" brand grazed on Bald Mountain north of White Salmon in the spring and on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in the summer and fall. He was a founding member of both the Klickitat County Cattlemen's Association and the Glenwood Rodeo Association. He also served on the Trout Lake School Board during this time.
In 1986, he was honored with the Klickitat Cattlemen's Association's O.P. Kreps Memorial Award.
Since his "retirement," he continued to do all of the work on his irrigated Trout Lake ranch until the day of his death.
Mr. Childs is survived his wife of 54 years, Mary of Trout Lake; daughters Judith Ann and Mary Evans, both of Seattle; son Frank of Trout Lake, three grandchildren and one great grandchild.
Ernie's ashes will be scattered on Mt. Adams, in whose shadow he lived for so long.