Dorene......my memories

By way of explanation, my mom (nor my sister or I) hasn't lived in my hometown for 30 or 40 years, she but used to take the local newspaper anyway and send my sister and I newsclippings of interest about people we had known over the years. Many of these turned out to be obituaries that I would put into my yearbooks. She hasn't taken the paper for a while now and I so I get on line and scan the old newspaper once a week or so and now I tell her news about people she's known.

While doing this recently I stumbled across an obituary of a woman who was my next door neighbor in the 50's. She is seated here on the steps of their home with daughter Julie at her side and me looking on. In high school we crossed paths again as she was step-mother to one of my friends.

What I read was this --Dorene Picker Russell, 76, passed away Sept 3, 2010 at her home in Irrigon-------that is all I could find! Such a shame that I couldn't find any more information.

I can't let her life pass without paying small tribute to this woman who was my neighbor, who was immensely talented and always kind to me.

Dorene knit many sweaters, and I don't recall seeing patterns. They were of uniform stitch, in rich color and nice style.
She and a friend used to like to paint their front room window with tempera paints for the holidays....these were elaborate and not easy in my estimation since you had to 'write' backwords and do highlights and shadows in advance of the color, etc. No simple endeavor, but she was quick and good and had a blast doing it.
I remember her cutting out material to make Julie and Judy shorts and tops for summer, and she did so without any pattern.
She was a great cook, homemade pies (gooseberry included) and a fried chicken dinner that most of the neighborhood probably drooled for.
I also remember one occasion when for some reason there was a piano in their garage temporarily. I don't remember knowing where it came from or where it went, but we were sitting ouside, garage door open when Dorene sat at the piano and started hammering out a song, both hands, from memory I suppose, as I also saw no sheet music.

She totally amazed me over and over again. I thought perhaps someday I would grow up to be like her.....no such luck. Some people get all the talent...lol...She was a special lady in my memory, and though I have not seen her in decades, she lives in an honored place in my memory!
Dorene, rest in peace, girlfriend!