Frank Markgraf

Frank spent his formative years growing up on the family farm at Panakanic, where he learned pioneer skills such as tending cattle, horses, and sheep, using an axe and hewing timbers. He attended first and second grades in the small one-room schoolhouse nearby and his third grade year in a boxcar at Camp Five. The remainder of his education was at White Salmon where he was a member of the football team and graduated with the class of ’37 at Columbia Union High School.

For several years he worked at local sawmills, beginning with the mill at Northwestern Lake and then J. W. Van DeVenter’s steam powered mills on Staats Rd. as ratchet setter, and finally the mill at Cascade Locks where he landed the skilled job of sawyer.

When news of Pearl Harbor came, he enlisted in the Coast Guard and began training at Port Orford, Ore., learning how to rescue crews from grounded ships. He attended aerography school and became a weatherman aboard the cutter ‘Haida’ and later on a more modern destroyer escort, the ‘Poketella’ (Pocatello (PF-9) for a total of 16 months near the International Date Line off the Aleutian Islands. When the war ended he was attending the Coast Guard Academy at Lakehurst, Conn.

After returning home from the war, having saved his military income of $114 dollars a month, Frank started a ranch at the old Berglund Place near Klickitat with a herd of cattle that he purchased with his savings. He supplemented his income by working some nights at the old Gas Ice Plant nearby. In 1956, when his herd outgrew the Berglund Place he bought the Historic Myles Ranch in Rattlesnake Valley where he resided until his death.

In 1948 he married Lorena Marcile Preuit and they had three children, Daniel Frank, Judy Ann (Shields) and Bonny Louise (Krueger).

Joy and Frank have been together since 1983, and shared 34 years working as a team. One of the most special memories was their Christmas Eve wedding. Frank was a wonderful father to Joy’s son Olaus, who was welcomed into the family as Dan, Judy and Bonny’s new “Little Brother.” (Although he got a lot taller than all of us, says Bonny!)

Always a hard worker, Frank kept busy feeding, branding cattle, and putting up hay until he sold most of the herd in 1994. During the years he enjoyed many of his favorite activities such as logging, building log cabins, building a vintage 1898 sawmill, and making lumber, plus he planted more than 20,000 pine, fir, and black walnut trees. He was always an avid reader especially of Northwest history.

In 1996 he was awarded the Pioneer Cattleman’s or O.P. Kreps award.

Frank was a kind and true gentleman, a wonderful husband, father, and pillar of strength in the community. He was calm, generous, and helpful. He was a great storyteller, had a twinkle in his eye and a wonderful way of tickling everyone’s funny bone. One of his greatest contributions was teaching many young people how to work. He also loved teaching and playing pinochle and chess, especially with his kids and grandkids. He was greatly loved and will be sorely missed by family and friends.

Frank is survived by his wife Joy; his daughters Judy Shields, of Husum; Bonny Krueger, of Dallesport; stepson Olaus Walsh, of Port Orchard; plus nine grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren; his sisters Emily Leslie, Anne Ward and many nephews and nieces.

He was preceded in death by his father Charles Frank Markgraf, mother LuDell Bertschi-Markgraf, brothers Carl Markgraf, Conrad Markgraf, Waldemar Markgraf, and Wolfram Theodore Markgraf, and his sisters Lorna Byrkett and Alma Nagle and his son Daniel Markgraf.

Join family April 1 at 11 a.m. for an “Old Time Picnic/Potluck” Celebration of Life at the United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall, 341 N Main, White Salmon. Please bring a dish or two to share and a story to tell.

The family is requesting that donations be made to the Providence Hospice of the Gorge, 751 Myrtle St, The Dalles, Ore., 97058