Mary Frances Salsbery passed away peacefully at her home on April 26, at the age of 89.

Mary was born Dec. 18, 1928, in a house on East E Street in Burns, which is still there today. She attended Burns Grade School, graduated from Burns Union High School in 1946, and went on to attend the University of Oregon for two years. She studied business administration and came back to Burns to work at Edward Hines Lumber Company. She married Bud Salsbery in 1951, and they had two children, Scott in 1952, and Terri in 1954. When Bud passed away in 2006, they had been married for 54 years.

Scott is now retired and lives in Hines with his wife, Dawn, and has two children, Collin of Hermiston, and Rachel of Eugene. Terri is married to Fred Hellbusch. They are both now retired and also live in Hines. They have two children, Tony, who lives in Baker City and has two children, Jordyne of Rolette, S.D., and Dustin of La Grande. Jordyne has a son, Ryker, which made Mary a great-great-grandmother. Angela is married to Olin Sitz, and they live in Sisters, and have two daughters, Kendra and Natalie.

The following was taken from Mary’s Harney County History, written by Mary in 2016 when she was Queen Mother for Harney County Pioneer Day:

David and Rebecca Cary came to Harney County in 1863 from Linn County, and spent the first winter at Egan and then in the next year, they homesteaded on Crane Creek where they resided until their deaths. The homestead cabin was there for a long time, and it is my understanding that the Crane school kids accidentally burned it down on one of their outings. The big house there was built by my grandfather and his dad, Claude, and James Brown, and is still there today. They had five children, three girls and two boys, one of which, Mahalia, was my great-grandmother. She married George Shelley, a blacksmith who was sheriff of Harney County from 1900 to 1902. They had two daughters, Lenore and Frances. He died in 1905, and she later remarried and moved to Pasadena, Calif., and lived her life out there. My grandmother, Lenore, married Claude Brown who came to Harney County with his father, James Brown, in 1900. They were both carpenters. My grandfather, Claude, lived his life in Harney County, building many houses and buildings, and he built a house for me when he was approaching 80. He and my grandmother had two children, Claudia, who was my mother, and Shelley. My grandmother passed away when I was young due to complications from surgery. My mother, Claudia, married Willis Skiens, who came here with his family, Tom and Mary Skiens, a little after 1900 with their seven children, five boys and two girls. She is who I am named after, as she died a few months before I was born. They raised all their children here in Harney County. My grandfather, Tom, had a delivery service with horse and buggy and retired when cars put him out of business. I guess you can say I came from three pioneer families.

One of my early memories was when my stepfather and I used to go on the other side of Wright’s Point and shoot jackrabbits when they were really thick. When you shot them, you ran over and cut their ears off, and when you had 50 pairs in your gunnysack, you would take them to the courthouse, and they paid you 5 cents a pair for them. I remember how bad that courthouse basement smelled. Another good memory was the year we lived at Fish Lake and ran the rentals for Harry and Florabell Smith. We had boats and wood-floored tents for rent, not many of either. We kinda lived on fish, sage-hen, and deer meat, and when the sheepherders would butcher, they would bring us mutton and sour dough bread, which tasted very good. That summer, Maryanna Brown Otley lived in their cabin a few miles from the lake, and she and I rode horses all over the mountain. We lived in an old log cabin and that fall, after my mother and I left for school, John and Harry built the A-frame cabin that probably many of you remember. That was probably the best summer of my life, and I still have a great love for Fish Lake. I spent lot of vacations there and still go up there fishing every chance I get.

Another great memory I have is of the swimming pool that Edward Hines built for the community, and up until I went to work, I spent a good deal of my summers there. We used to hitchhike if we got out on the road before mill workers went back to work at noon. In those days, they came home for lunch, and everyone didn’t have cars, so they carpooled a lot. Sometimes we would have to sit on their laps, but thought nothing of it, and then would try to get back to the mill before 5 so we could get rides home again. That pool was never locked up, and no one ever drowned. My kids even got a lot of use out of this pool. This was just one of many things Hines did for this community, and it was all free.

Over the years, I have done many things, worked in a confectionary all during high school, spent one summer working as a welder in the shipyards in Portland, spent summers working at Safeway, kept books for four different businesses, babysat, worked on building two houses, drove taxi, and worked some at Gayway motel and trailer park. I got my real estate license and worked at that for a while. It was my idea to build B & B Sporting Goods after a trip to Bend to buy some fishing supplies, which we ran for five years. We then bought 80 acres of alfalfa and another 50 acres bare ground and put in alfalfa. I found out what I really liked to do, farming and haying, and even changing sprinklers. We stayed on that place for 32 years and only left because our health deteriorated, so we ended up moving back to Hines.

When Body Wise Sports Center opened in 1983, I became a member and have worked out there regularly since that time.  In the early days, I would play racquetball with my grandkids, teaching them how to lose gracefully. But more frequently I can be found riding a bike or walking on the treadmill while watching the “Price is Right”.

I have traveled with family and friends on many trips, a little bit all over world, but Africa stole my heart, and I have been there three times and would go back tomorrow if I could. We have gone to Puerto Vallarta for a week or 10 days for more than 20 years, and that was always a lot of fun.

The last 20 years or so, I have worked with the Historical Society and a few years with Pioneer Association and have enjoyed that very much. All my life I have loved to fish and hunt, so I am right at home here. Harney County is where I was born, and I have loved all 87 years of it. 

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Monday, May 14, at Burns Elks Lodge No. 1680, with a luncheon to follow.  Contributions in Mary’s memory may be made to the Harney County Historical Society. LaFollette’s Chapel is in charge of arrangements.