Wesley Moore Slaughter

Wesley Moore Slaughter passed away at his home the evening of March 15, 2017, with his daughter and son at his side.

He was born December 29, 1923, in Pendleton, Oregon (as had been his father before him, in 1885). His parents, Laura Margaret Victoria Moore Slaughter and Wesley Wood Slaughter, raised him in northeast Oregon, living at various times in Pendleton, La Grande, and Sumpter. He had what he considered an idyllic boyhood, every summer following or working with his parents in the mountains - with his horse, his dog, his .22, and lots of books. A voracious reader all his life, he inherited both work ethic and love of learning and literature from his school-teacher mother and forester/horseman/blacksmith/hunter father.

He graduated from La Grande High School in 1940. Following a semester of college, he and Peggy McEwen eloped on January 25, 1941, to be married at Weiser, Idaho, commencing a 65-year journey of mutual love and devotion. They were living at Sumpter, Oregon, when their two children, Margaret Anne and Charles, were born. Wesley was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1945 and was commissioned 2nd Lt, Infantry. Upon return in 1946 from duty in Belgium and Germany, he accepted a U.S. Forest Service position at Dale Ranger Station, Umatilla National Forest. In late 1949 he accepted (grudgingly, really not wanting to live in town!) a transfer to Walla Walla district, USFS. He was an expert hands-on forester and wildfire authority, at various times working on fires from the Blue Mountains to the Cascades to southern California. In the 1960s he and Peggy agreed that he should complete the college work which their marriage had interrupted; he enrolled at Washington State University (where Margaret Anne was a senior), and completed his BS in Forest Management in 1969. He then established Forest and Wilderness Construction Company, with forest management consulting and back-country trail work from the Blue and Wallowa Mountains to the North and South Cascades (he regretted that a sector of the Pacific Crest Trail which he had built disappeared when Mt. St. Helens erupted). In collaboration with Bill Gulick, Carroll Adams and others he constructed the amphitheater and outbuildings for Trails West (now Fort Walla Walla Museum).

His work with private forest owners was recognized by the Environmental Excellence Award presented him by Washington’s Governor in 1979. He also continued military service with the Washington National Guard, serving as Company Commander, H Company, in Walla Walla, and on Battalion Staff, retiring as Major in 1983. Wesley was a 33rd Degree Mason (McEwen Lodge #125, Sumpter OR), member of Scottish Rite, Elks, Pioneer Methodist Church, and Life Member of Fort Walla Walla Museum.

He remained in his own home thanks to the dedicated support of his family and friends and with aid of excellent care-giving companions. We are particularly grateful for the kind and caring services of Dr. Paul Parker and Dr. Joanne Perez; for Maybelle, Greg, Ann, Selene and their colleagues at Providence St. Mary’s Home Health; and for the long-term friendship and excellent care provided by Maria Bahena, Tammy Armstrong and colleagues of ResCare.

Wesley’s devoted wife, Peggy, died in 2005. Wesley is survived by Margaret Anne (Slaughter) and George Sampson, and Charles and Mary (Murrills) Slaughter; grandchildren, Shawn Toskey (Eric) of Fulshear TX, Kent Slaughter (Ruth Prokopowich) of Fairbanks AK, Mark Slaughter of Anchorage AK, Meg Sampson of Anchorage AK, Jeff Sampson of Palmer AK, and Colleen Linnan of Denver CO; and great-grandchildren, Wesley Thomas Slaughter; Laurel, Elsa, Anya, and Ivar Toskey; Koran and Ian Bell; Carolyn, Ashley, and Daryl Palembas; Cassidy and Rhyann Linnan; and Rob Spears; and nephews, Greg, Bob and Bill Walden of Hood River OR.

Interment will be adjacent to his beloved Peggy at Mountain View Cemetery, Walla Walla, with a graveside service at 2 p.m. Friday, March 24, 2017, followed by a celebration of his life and sharing of memories at the family home. Memorial donations may be made through Herring Groseclose Funeral Home, 315 West Alder, Walla Walla, to Shriners’ Hospital for Children, The Salvation Army, or Fort Walla Walla Museum