The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Jesse Crawford Edgington, born on the Edgington Ranch near Sisters on September 22, 1918, died on the Fourth of July, at Green Acre Foster Care Home in Redmond.

One of four children of Ellis and Ellen Edgington, he grew up living a robust outdoor life of ranching, farming, hunting, fishing and exploring the Cascade Mountains.

He loved, and was intimately familiar with, the back country of the Central Cascade Mountains and surrounding areas, having roamed over much of it from the ranch on Squaw Creek.

Jesse was the Class President of the 1936 graduating class of Sisters High School, and then graduated from Oregon State College July 2, 1942, with a degree in Animal Husbandry.

To make money for college he managed saddle horse concessions at Elk Lake and Breitenbush Resort, taking the horses overland to Elk Lake from the ranch.

Shortly after college graduation he joined the Army and served in World War II in the China-Burma-India Theater, with the 13th Mountain Medical Battalion, Company E, Veterinary Corps.

When his unit was disbanded in Lashio, Burma, August of 1945, he returned to the United States, sailing by the Statue of Liberty and into New York Harbor.

He later said seeing the Statue of Liberty that day was one of the most profound moments of his life.

Upon his return to Sisters after the war, Jesse married his wife Joy and raised a family. He continued ranching, and then for many years in the 1960s and '70s was the Sisters Postmaster.

He served on the Sisters School Board, was a member of the Oregon State Grange, and of the Sisters American Legion Post 0086.

He was a faithful member of Sisters VFW Post 8138 for over 50 years. He served as Commander of the Post from 1989 to 1996.

He is survived by a great multitude of friends and family including his former wife Joy of Mt. Angel; his devoted companion of his later years, Alice Estergreen of Florence; sister Georgia Gallagher of Sisters; children James and Vidya (Hivale) Edgington of Tualatin, Cliff and Jerrie Edgington of Prineville, Jon and Margaret Edgington of Hillsboro and Margie Edgington of Milwaukie; daughter-in-Law Margaret Dickerson of Milwaukie; grandchildren Amber Dickerson-Edgington of Fort Jackson, South Carolina, Sam Dickerson-Edgington of Milwaukie, and Hannah and Elizabeth Edgington of Hillsboro; and four nieces and seven nephews.

A service in Sisters will be announced.