April 30, 1997

A funeral will be Saturday, May 3, 1997, in Williams Funeral Home in Quincy, Fla., for Henry J. ``Jack'' Johnson, who died April 26 at age 68.

Mr. Johnson was born Dec. 7, 1928, in Quincy. He moved from Los Angeles to Portland in 1955. He was a custodian in Portland-area hospitals and nursing homes and worked in environmental services at Legacy Emanuel Hospital before retiring about three years ago. He was a member of Bethel A.M.E. Church.

Interment will be in Smith Cemetery in Quincy. Arrangements are by Killingsworth Little Chapel of the Chimes.

Submitted by L. Kemp 

October 5, 2005

A funeral will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 8, 2005, in Bethel A.M.E. Church in Portland for Charles H. "Charlie" Wyse, who died Oct. 1 at age 85.

Mr. Wyse was born Dec. 27, 1919, in Brenham, Texas. He moved to Portland in 1945 and was a logger and construction worker, and then a custodian for the Oregon State Office Building for 15 years. He was a 50-year member of the church. In 1943, he married Bernice Delores Taylor.

Remembrances to the American Diabetes Association. Arrangements by Skyline.

Submitted by L. Kemp

October 28, 2007

William David Stitt Sr. died Oct. 20, 2007, of cancer at age 79.

William David Stitt was born Jan. 8, 1928, in Birmingham, Ala., and moved to Portland in 1947. He was a kitchen aide for Portland Community College and member of St. Andrew Catholic Church for more than 20 years.

Remembrances to the American Cancer Society. Arrangements by Ross Hollywood.

Submitted by L. Kemp

May 5, 1994

Edition:  FOURTH

Section:  OBITUARIES

Page:  E04

The funeral will be at 1 p.m. May 6, 1994, in Emmanuel Temple Full Gospel Pentecostal Church.

Mrs. Darton was born Aug. 18, 1939, in Starkville, Miss. She died April 29, 1994, of heart disease. She was 54.

Mrs. Darton lived in Oregon for 16 years. She was a gospel singer and evangelist, and a member of the Hagios Missionary Temple Church.

She is survived by 11 brothers and 10 sisters in Mississippi.

Interment: Lone Fir Cemetery.

Arrangements: Killingsworth Little Chapel of the Chimes.

Submitted by L. Kemp

January 23, 2004

A funeral will be at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2004, in Allen Temple CME Church, on Northeast Eighth Avenue in Portland, for Ivra Mae Anderson, who died Jan. 17 at age 74.

Ivra Mae Coleman was born Oct. 6, 1929, in Tatum, Texas. She moved to Portland as a teenager. She was a self-employed beautician.

Arrangements by Cox & Cox.

Submitted by L. Kemp 

December 25, 1993

Edition:  FOURTH

Section:  OBITUARIES

Page:  D10

Mae E. Hargon Bridges of Northeast Portland, a former clerk for Multnomah County, died Friday in a Portland hospital of complications from kidney disease. The funeral was Tuesday in the Bethel A.M.E. Church.

Mrs. Bridges was 46.

She was born Jan. 1, 1947, in Camden, Miss., and moved to the Portland area in 1955. Mrs. Bridges worked as an office clerk for Building Environment Systems from 1976 until 1979 and then worked in the Multnomah County permits department for about five years until 1984.

She was a member of the Bethel A.M.E. Church.

Burial will be in Rose City Cemetery.

Submitted by L. Kemp 

January 8, 1992

Edition:  FOURTH

Section:  OBITUARIES

Page:  G01

BIG BAND LEADER WALTER BRIDGES DIES

The funeral for Walter Bridges, a Portland big band leader, will be at 11 a.m. Friday in the Killingsworth Chapel of the Chimes.

His body will be cremated.

Mr. Bridges died Monday in a Portland-area convalescent center of causes related to age. He was 77.

He was born Nov. 9, 1914, in Crossett, Ark. By the time he was 23, he was playing first trumpet in the Count Basie Orchestra and living in Kansas City, Mo. He married Mary Lee Burris, also of Crossett, Ark., on March 3, 1938.

The couple moved in 1943 to Portland, where Mr. Bridges worked in the shipyards. Subsequently he worked 25 years for the city of Portland. He was a paving foreman when he retired in 1979.

In 1946 Mr. Bridges formed the 16-piece band that performed, with a who's who of Portland-area musicians, both as the Walter Bridges Big Band and as Walter Bridges and Free Spirit until 1990. Musicians who got their start playing in Mr. Bridges' band and who later became band leaders in their own right include Mel Brown, Doc Severinsen, Ralph Black, Jim Pepper and Thara Memory.

In 1983 music critic and former band member John Wendeborn wrote that Mr. Bridges had woven one of the longest musical threads in the history of Portland.

He was the first black musician to be admitted to Local 99 of the American Federation of Musicians - then the Musicians Mutual Association - in 1946.

In 1984, he was honored by the Metropolitan Arts Commission for his leadership in Portland's jazz community.

Mr. Bridges was a member of the Jazz Society of Oregon. He also served on the steward board and as class leader of Bethel A.M.E. Church.

His wife died in 1989.

Submitted by L. Kemp