Short News Items from 1924

Mrs. F.T. Sullivan entertained a few friends Tuesday at a turkey dinner honoring her mother, Mrs. E.H. Rorick, on her seventieth birthday anniversary. Covers were laid for Mrs. Lewis Converse, Mrs. M.C. Rorick and Mrs. Will Rorick of Morenci, Mrs. W.O. Ford, Mrs. G.H. Crane and Mrs. W.L. Knoff. (Adrian Daily Telegram, February 22, 1924)

Mr. and Mrs. H.G. Bunch, accompanied by the latter’s sister Mrs. Marion Bunch left for Medford Friday for a few days’ visit.  While there Mrs. Bunch will consult an eye specialist. They made the trip in their touring car and will return Sunday. (Klamath News, April 15, 1924)

Mr. and Mrs. Frank Groover spent Sunday with Mr. and Mrs. Cassius Sutton of Hunters Creek. (Oxford Leader, May 2, 1924)

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Funeral Services Held For Pioneer Valley Resident

Ashland, Oct. 8—Funeral services were held at the Litwiller-Nuget funeral home for Mrs. Emma T. Loosley, 90, who passed away at her home Tuesday.

Mrs. Loosley, born at Brownsville, Ore., December 8, 1858, was the former Emma Anderson, the Anderson family having been pioneer residents of the Talent district. She was married to George W. Loosley May 2, 1878, at the Klamath Agency.

Survivors include two sons, C.V. Loosley of Portland, and E.K. of Fort Klamath; three grandchildren, Joe of Medford, K. Frederick of Portland and Mrs. William Lutz of Corvallis, and a sister-in-law, Mrs. Fannie Bunch, with whom she was living at the time of her death.

Source: Medford Mail Tribune, October 8, 1948.

Oscar Baker Bunch, Pioneer Of Fort Klamath, Passes

By Mrs. E.K. Loosley

Funeral services were held at Fort Klamath Monday for the late Oscar Baker Bunch. The passing of Oscar Bunch takes a pioneer, a man who knew the country before the railroad; in fact, he drove stage between Klamath Falls and Fort Klamath in the early nineties. Later he operated a livery stable; where now an automobile or truck covers the distances in an hour, he rented saddle and buggy horses that took a day and a half, good traveling, to make the same trip.

He “put up” the freight teams, staying open late at night to welcome such well-known teamsters as “Big Mitch,” who might have aboard thousands of dollars sent by Jud Ager, of Ager, Calif., as “bolts and nuts”—this to thwart the hold-up men—and Ditsworth, who raised and peddled the only known green vegetables and fruits. These he hauled all the way from Dead Indian or Medford. The lives of such men were mellowed by these hardships and experiences.

Short News Items from 1938

Sunday visitors at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Bunch were Mr. and Mrs. H.G. Bunch and daughter Beth Lee of Henley, and Mr. and Mrs. Loy Barker and son of Malin. Mrs. Barker is the former Marion Bunch, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Bunch of Fort Klamath. (Klamath Falls Evening Herald, February 4, 1938)

Mrs. E.N. Baldwin entertained at her home this Tuesday afternoon honoring her house guest, Mrs. Roscoe Baldwin and daughter Jane of Marquette. (Livingston County Press, May 4, 1938)

Mrs. Roscoe Baldwin and daughter Jane, of Marquette, are visiting at the home of Mr. and Mrs. E.N. Baldwin on West Wetmore street. (Livingston County Press, May 4, 1938)

Bunch Funeral Held Monday

FORT KLAMATH—Funeral services for Mrs. Fanny Bunch, 84, were conducted Monday, Nov. 7, at 2 p.m. in O’Hair’s Memorial Chapel, Klamath Falls.

Mrs. Bunch died in Klamath Falls Saturday following an illness of several years. She was a pioneer of the Wood River Valley. Her parents were John and Lucy Loosley. She was born at the Loosley homestead south of Fort Klamath Jan. 17, 1876. Ten other children in the family preceded her in death.

John F. Loosley Rites Thursday

John Frederick Loosley, pioneer son of Oregon, born at McMinnville on July 18, 1862, passed away here suddenly March 19, 9:30 a.m. Mr. Loosley spent his entire life in Oregon, being educated in Willamette valley schools. He came to southern Oregon at the age of ten with his parents, and they settled at Fort Klamath.

He was united in marriage to Miss Mary Culbertson at Fort Klamath, Oregon, in November, 1885. Five children were born to this union: one daughter, Mrs. Bessie Hartley, Merrill, Oregon; four sons, Forester W., and Claude F. Loosley, of Pittville, Calif., Raymond S. Loosley, Forth Klamath, and Merle J. Loosley, Malin, Oregon. Fourteen grandchildren also survive as do two sisters, Mrs. Mary Smart, Los Angeles, Calif., and Mrs. Fannie Bunch, Chiloquin, Oregon; six brothers, George W. Loosley, Ashland, Oregon; Phillip S. Loosley, Medford; B.F. Loosley, Chemault, Ore.; Marion F. Loosley, Long Beach, Calif.; Milan A. Loosley, Berkeley, Calif., and H.B. Loosley of Malin, Oregon.

J.F. Loosley Drops Dead At Medford

John Frederick ‘Fred’ Loosley, 74, widely known Klamath county stockman and pioneer resident of this section, dropped dead shortly before noon Tuesday in Medford.

Mr. Loosley was shopping in a grocery store, it is understood, at the time of his death. Mr. and Mrs. Loosley had been visiting relatives in the valley this past week.

Henry Benjamin Loosley

Funeral services were held Friday, July 30 at 3 p.m. at the Forest Lawn Hollywood Chapel, Santa Monica, California, for the late Henry B. (Ben) Loosley, whose passing on Monday, July 26, removed another member from the thinning ranks of those early settlers who pioneered the Wood River Valley. In memory of this beloved long time resident of Fort Klamath, the following is written:

Ben Loosley was born November 28, 1877, at the Wood River valley homestead of his parents, John and Nancy [sic] Walling Loosley, who were among the first to settle here; he was reared in Fort Klamath and received his education at local schools with the exception of two years spent in Boise, Idaho, with his mother and her relatives, members of the prominent Walling family of that city, where he attended school for the two year period. Later on, he and his father initiated the first industry to be started on Wood River, where they operated a creamery, which became famous because of the excellent quality of the cheese produced by father and son; some years later, he went into sheep raising with the late John Smart and eventually settled on his ranch, the present Leonard Meschke place, where he pastured cattle on a share basis. Several years later, he and Mrs. Loosley moved to Malin, where he engaged in ranching until forced by ill health to retire, when the couple went to Santa Monica to make their home with their only child, a daughter Helen, and her husband, the Ert Hollenbachs, where they have lived quietly ever since.

Loosley

FORT KLAMATH – Word was received here of the death on December 30 at Letterman Army Hospital, San Francisco, of Major Milan Loosley, USA (Ret.), age 84. Services were held from St. Clement’s Episcopal Church at Berkeley on January 2 with full military honors. He was born on the old Loosley homestead in Fort Klamath, joined the Army Signal Corps in 1900, served in Alaska, the Philippines, and during World War I he organized and went overseas with the 415th Railroad Telegraph Battalion, participated in the Saint Mihiel offensive and subsequently commanded the 302d Field Signal Battalion, 77th Division, during the Meuse-Argonne offensive. He retired in 1925 and lived Berkeley. He was the son of the late John Loosley of England and Lucy Walling of Iowa. Survivors include the widow, Margaret Birdsall Loosley of Berkeley; two sons, Allyn C. Loosley of Washington, D.C., and Richard V. Loosley of Berkeley; a daughter, Mrs. Ruth L. Ansberry of Berkeley; a sister, Mrs. Fanny Bunch of Ashland and numerous nieces and nephews. It is thought by the family that he was the first white child born in Klamath County as his birth date is recorded as April 17, 1873.

Source: Klamath Falls Herald and News, January 23, 1958.

Death Claims Basin Pioneer

FORT KLAMATH—Fanny Bunch, 84, pioneer of Klamath County, died Saturday in Ashland.

Mrs. Bunch had been in failing health for the past several years.

Born January 17, 1876 at the Loosley homestead south of here, she was the last survivor of 11 children born to John Loosley and Lucy Walling Loosley and had lived most of her life in this county.

She was married in 1894 to the late Oscar Bunch.

Survivors are Mrs. Loy (Marian) Barker, Klamath Falls, a son, Harold, of Olene, and one grandson.

Services will be held in Klamath Falls Monday at 2 p.m. at O’Hair’s Memorial Chapel. Interment will be in the family plot at Fort Klamath Cemetery.

Source:  Klamath Falls Herald and News, November 6, 1960.