Anita Augusta Hooper
Anita Augusta Hooper was born July 14, 1921 the youngest of five children to Arnold Alan and Mary Dorothy (Haynes) Dunlap. She died at age 98 in The Dalles on November 5, 2019.
Anita was raised in Kent and Grass Valley in Sherman County. She was an outdoor kid who especially loved Camp Sherman and the Metolius River.
The Dunlap’s moved to Grass Valley after her father’s general store in Kent burned. Anita’s father was the manager of the Grass Valley Grain Growers for many years, a position she later held. During her tenure of about ten years, the concrete elevators in Grass Valley and Kent were built and put into service.
She married Kenneth Barnett, until his death aboard a U.S. Navy ship in World War II. She then joined the WAVES, and acronym for Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service in the U.S. Navy. She was assigned to Camp Adair near Corvallis, Oregon, her roll was to help returning veterans recover, there she met Harry Herschel Hooper.
Harry was another Navy man. He suffered in a Japanese prison camp for more that three and a half years after his ship the USS Pope (DD-225), was sunk in the Battle of the Java Sea. They were married in 1946, and moved to Harry’s hometown, The Dalles, Oregon. Harry work at the Sunshine Mill. Harry became the owner of a farm property near Hazelton, Idaho in 1949, when his name was drawn as the winner of a contest. They moved to Idaho and developed and farmed that property for several years.
They later moved to Grass Valley, where they purchased the Motel and Union 76 Service Station. While in Grass Valley their son Floyd Arnold Hooper was born on October 13, 1952. Floyd has now recently retired and lives with his partner Terrie Haag at Pine Hollow, Oregon.
Harry had suffered permanent injuries during his internment, making it difficult to sustain the kind of work the service station required so they sold the Motel and Union 76 Station. Soon they were operating a feed lot near Tygh Valley. Then they leased property on Juniper Flat, where Anita led an effort to create a rural fire protection district and became the first fire chief.
After several years of successful farming they bought a place on Hood Canal in Washington and divided their time between that home and a place in Yuma, Arizona.
Anita loved to water ski slalom style, but when she turned 80, Harry decided it was time for them to quit, and sold the boat. They eventually decided to also slow down on travel and bought a home in The Dalles. After one of their morning card games following breakfast, Harry dosed off in his chair… and didn’t awaken. Anita lost her partner of sixty -five years on October 10, 2011.
Anita continued her independent ways, despite macular degeneration and hearing impairment. She played cards and had good friends that provided transportation. Her only medication was an occasional aspirin. Anita continued to live independently at her home in The Dalles until three months ago, when she moved to Flagstone Senior Living in The Dalles.
The family is planning a Memorial Event 2:00 Sunday November 24 at The Pavilion in Grass Valley, Oregon. Music and tributes will be provided by the Mobley Family.
Contributions to the Grass Valley Pavilion in Anita’s memory are encouraged.