As a girl, a wife, a mother and grandmother June was a tomboy and a tigress; she was her family’s biggest advocate and sternest critic. June Louise Wiard Call passed away January 30, 2012 on Vashon Island, WA. The daughter of Clyde Leroy Wiard and Kiturah Ann Jones Wiard, she was born in Roseburg, OR and raised with her only sibling Earl Leroy Wiard. Starting life on June 19, 1917 she grew up in the oak-crested, sun-seared hills of southern Oregon with a paucity of material goods and an abundance of rich experiences as did many people of her generation. She hunted, fished, played tennis and helped run her parents’ restaurant, the Silver Nook Grill. She swam in the Umpqua River and delighted in the outdoors, especially the area called Idleyld Park up the North Umpqua River. She lived in the world so magnificently portrayed in the writings of Ken Kesey although she could never bring herself to read them (she could have been a character in Sometimes a Great Notion).
At the age of 19 she met a curly haired drummer named Walter George Call who had a wicked talent for pitching softballs and baseballs. He came to Roseburg from Portland as part of a Civilian Conservation Corp program and would become June’s husband and the love of her life. Soon they endured the painful separation imposed on so many by World War II while he fought in the Pacific as a Marine. When their prayers were answered and he returned they bought a small house on the banks of the Clackamas River near Oregon City where they raised two sons, Patrick Joseph Call and Timothy Michael Call – and witnessed two of the greatest Northwest weather events of the twentieth century – the Columbus Day wind storm of 1962 and the Christmas Floods of 1964. She and Walt made sure that their boys’ lives were immersed in the outdoors and sports. One enduring memory of June is her swimming into the current in the river behind the house – for an hour and not moving more than a few feet upstream or down.
June valued intellectual pursuits even more than sports and pushed her sons to excel academically. College was a luxury she and Walt never had but regardless of financial hardship Pat and Tim knew higher education was not optional. Side jobs, scholarships, and living at home were all combined to make a college education possible. After Pat graduated from Reed College in 1971, June joined the staff at the college and worked there for the next decade. Her love of math, science, language and art took her back to the classroom during this time.
In 1973 Walt passed away leaving a hole in June’s world and heart. Her strength, optimism, curiosity, love and devotion to her family carried her onward for nearly four decades. After she retired she moved to the Oregon coast, first to Tolovana Park where she walked on the beach nearly every day, played tennis, took art classes, and experienced a few trips to foreign lands. Later she moved to Astoria where her apartment looked out on the Columbia River. No matter where June lived she gardened with intensity, skill and an artist’s eye. Even as she aged and grudgingly gave up other activities she insisted she couldn’t live if she couldn’t grow something. She spent the winter of her 93rd year planning the flower bed and pots she would plant around her apartment. The minute local nurseries brought in the spring flowers she was buying and planting her geraniums, pansies and dahlias.
Perhaps June’s strongest connection to her early years with Walt was her ongoing enjoyment of jazz and swing. Since moving to Vashon six years ago she never missed a Portage Phil street dance during Strawberry Festival. She had fond memories of the Grand Canyon having heard stories of her mother’s work as a “Harvey Girl” and visiting the park several times. June chose to celebrate her 90th birthday with a family reunion at the lodge on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
A great tribute to June was that as she aged and her peers passed away, she developed new friends often decades younger who truly loved and valued her. In the end her will never flagged but her heart could not go on. She will be missed so very dearly by all that knew her and none more strongly than her adoring family: Timothy and Janet Call, Fountain Hills, AZ; grandson Andrew Benjamin Call and his spouse AnaMaria and their newborn son Alexander Benjamin Call (who June was able to meet just prior to her death), Tempe, AZ; granddaughter Megan Emily Call, Tempe, AZ; and Patrick and Ellen Call, and grandsons Baxter Beatty Joseph Call and Fletcher George Quillan Call, Vashon, WA. Remembrances may be given in June’s name to the Vashon Fields Project c/o of the Vashon Parks District (17130 Vashon Highway Southwest, Vashon, WA 98070 or www.vashonparkdistrict.org).
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