Sepia Saturday: Elmer and Lela (Lile) Miller

I introduced you to my maternal grandfather,

Elmer Miller, the little boy on the right

in the formal portrait of the three children from
the Sepia Saturday three weeks ago.

Now it's time for you to meet his bride,

Lela Emoline Lile.

I'm not sure whether this was taken before or after

their wedding, but it was around that time.

As you can see, they were married on October 6, 1920

in Enterprise, Oregon in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
The witnesses were Samuel P. Miller, Elmer's father,
and Sarah Emoline Clayton Lile, Lela's mother.
She'd been widowed only nine months
when her daughter married. I'm sure
everyone missed him that day.

Lela was twenty-one.

Elmer had turned twenty just the day before.

Initially, they lived on Elmer's parents' homestead.

A couple of years after that, they moved to Echo, Oregon

where my Aunt Mona was born.

By 1925, they moved to LaGrande, Oregon,

where my mother was born and her father worked

in the lumber mill.

By the time the Great Depression befell the country,

Elmer and Lela had three daughters,

of whom my mother was the third.

Elmer lost his job at the mill,

but luckily was able to find work on the Grimmett place,

a large farming spread in the Grande Ronde Valley north of town.

My grandmother Lela cooked for all the farm hands

and did their laundry, as well. She grew vegetables and fruit 

and always canned things for the winter. She also sewed and mended, 

did embroidery, and crocheted. Both Elmer and Lela 

were active members of the First Christian Church

in LaGrande, Oregon throughout their adult lives.

During World War Two,

Elmer worked for the railroad for a while.

He eventually got a job with the local power company

and worked there until his retirement.

Lela died on her 73rd birthday,

after going out to a celebratory dinner

with her husband.

They had been married almost 52 years.

For more Sepia Saturday stories,
go visit today's hostess Kat/Poeticat.
You can read her piece about a girl and her car,
and she'll link you to more stories.