Anita Pipes

Anita M. Pipes, 104, a resident of Parkview Estates, Kennewick WA, died on Friday, June 25, 2021.  A Celebration of Anita’s Life will be held at a later date.

Mrs. Pipes was born December 12, 1916, in Quincy, IL, to Arthur and Hulda Schroeder Herrmann. She graduated from Gem City Business College in Quincy Illinois in 1938.  Living in the La Grande, OR, area for 87 years, she attended grade school in Island City and graduated from La Grande High School.  Over the years she did bookkeeping was bookkeeper for several companies in La Grande including Paul Bunyan Company, Montgomery Ward and Fountain Wholesale.

On July 4, 1940, she and Taylor Roby Pipes married in Weiser, Idaho. Anita rode her horse to her violin lessons which she began playing the violin at the age of 9 and played in the high school symphony. She was a founding member of the Grande Ronde Symphony; she played with the symphony for 26 years and served as Concert Mistress for many years. She always enjoyed music and started playing the autoharp when she was 67; then she began piano lessons at the age of 88. Anita started using a computer when she was 72, and she was still sending emails on her iPad shortly before her death. She enjoyed her role as a homemaker; she always did the wash on Mondays and baked bread on Tuesdays. She followed the stock market almost daily for 50 years. Her hobbies included salmon and trout fishing all over the Northwest, pheasant hunting, camping, domestic and international travel and all kinds of cards including bridge. Anita and her husband, Taylor, were quiet philanthropists, having given generously to many local and regional causes.

Anita moved to Walla Walla, Washington in Sept 2004 where she resided at Wheatland Village for 16 years. She moved to Kennewick’s Parkview Manor Estates in 2020 following a stroke.  Survivors include two married daughters: Janice (Tim) Kerns of Haines, OR, and Jean (David) Conklin of Pasco, WA;  two granddaughters and two grandsons; six great-grandchildren and three nieces and a nephew. She was preceded in death by her husband Taylor in 2003 and a brother, Harry Herrmann.

For those who would like to make a memorial donation in memory of Anita, contributions may be made to any charity of donor’s choice through Pine Valley Funeral Home, P.O. Box 543, Halfway, OR 97834.  Online condolences may be shared at www.tamispinevalleyfuneralhome.com