Obituaries – James Robert Read
Mail Tribune
Medford, Oregon
November 24, 2002
The committal service for James Robert Read will be at 1 p.m. Tuesday at Eagle Point National Cemetery. The Revs. Doug Pittman and Jerry Hanson will officiate.
Mr. Read, 72, of Ada, Mich., formerly of the Rogue Valley, died Oct. 26, 2002, in Ada, Mich.
Memorial contributions may be made to Samaritans Purse International, P.O. Box 3000, Boone, N.C. 28607-3000.
He was born July 14, 1930, in Le Mars, Iowa, to Cecil and Leone Read. He lived
in the Rogue Valley from 1945 to 1969, and graduated from Medford High School in 1949. On Dec. 29, 1969, in Grand Rapids, Mich., he married Lois A. Westra, who died in 1993. He later married Barbara Schaaf, who survives.
Mr. Read worked for Crater Lake National Park and was the road and trails foreman for 17 years. He also worked for Bear Creek Corp. for seven years, and at St. Mary’s Hospital assisting patients in pre-op surgery.
During the Korean War, he served in the infantry as an intelligence and reconnaissance scout. He received the Purple Heart.
Mr. Read was a member of the Old Soldiers Social Club.
He enjoyed amateur archeology and mining.
Survivors include his wife of 7½ years, Barbara, Ada, Mich.; brothers, Gordon, Paul, Michael Rodney, and Stan, of Medford, and Tom, of Brookings; four sisters, Helen Hanson, Medford Kathy Lucas, Eugene, Joan Williams, Beaverton and Mary Sue Buchwald, Springfield. He was preceded in death by his first wife; and a brother, Marvin.
Arrangements: O’Brien-Eggebeen-Gerst Funeral Home, Grand Rapids, Mich.
