Orvin Earl Rowe

Orvin Earl Rowe

Son of Alfred B. Rowe & Emily Cecelia Nelson Rowe Larson. Husband of Lily Marie McClaskey. Father of Marvin William Rowe, Sr., Alvin Cecil Rowe, Alfred Lee Rowe, James Arther Rowe, Maurita Jane Rowe, Alveta Lorine Rowe, & Baby “Anita Marie” Rowe, and Richard Robert Rowe. Grandfather to too many to list!

Orvin was a construction worker and worked on many of the dams and bridges in Oregon.

Grandpa Rowe
by Peggy Ann Rowe

My grandfather Orvin Rowe died December 27, 1964. I met him only once when I was so young I can’t remember, but to me he is still bigger than any legend. If I had a choice to meet anyone that ever lived, I would choose to meet him, simply because of the stories about him that I’ve been told.

Orvin Rowe holding son, Marvin W. Rowe, Sr., & Lily holding Alvin C. Rowe.

His personality fits the all-American man. He was proud, sentimental, honest, hard-working, and family oriented. My grandmother told me that because of his declining health, my grandfather was afraid he would never see any of his grandchildren. My grandfather was both proud of us and over joyed to be able to see his first (me), second and third of his now ten grandchildren. When he couldn’t attend my mother and father’s wedding he listened to a recording of it, and when he heard the recording, he asked to hear it again and again. In fact, each time he asked he had to wipe away tears.

My father said his father was an honest man, and that my grandfather never to his knowledge told a lie to anyone.  My grandfather worked hard for his family of nine. By trade he was a carpenter, but he occasionally worked as a hard laborer. As a carpenter, one of his projects was building the family home, all of it. As a hard laborer, he worked on the Detroit and Dallas Dams. He climbed on to the top of the dams on scaffolds carrying pounds of tools with him to do his work.

I would love to see my grandfather. I would love to be able to get to know this tough, strong, proud, and dedicated man. I know he’s dead, but it seems like I can feel his presence. And because of of what I have been told, I will always try hard to live up to the standards of honesty, family, and working dedication that he has set indirectly through my relatives in my mind.

Entered Into Eternal Rest. Sunday, December 27, 1964

Orvin E. Rowe

Orvin Earl Rowe, courtesy of Rosetta M. Rowe-Savage

SILVERTON – Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Thursday in Unger chapel for Orvin Earl Rowe, 54, of 413 Jefferson St., who died at his home Sunday night following a heart attack.

Born in Toledo, he came to Silverton with his parents as an infant. Rowe worked as a carpenter until he retired a few years ago because of bad health.

Survivors include his widow, Lily, Silverton; five sons, Marvin, Albany; Alvin in California; Alfred, Salem and James and Richard, Silverton; 2 daughters, Alveta and Maurita, Silverton; 2 brothers Albert in Washington; and Walter, Silverton and 2 sisters, Mrs. Lelia Pepiot, Sutherlin, and Mrs. Eleanor Bovee, Roseburg.