JAMES G. WOODEND
The death of the husband and father occurred on September 21, 1915, and his remains were interred in the Starbuck cemetery. He left a widow and six children to mourn his loss, his demise being also a matter of deep regret to his many friends who sincerely esteemed him. He possessed many sterling traits of character, was thoroughly reliable in business, was public spirited in citizenship, held friendship inviolable and was devoted to the welfare and happiness of his wife and children. Mrs. Woodend still owns and manages her farm property and in fact has added to the sixteen hundred acres left by her husband, making an additional purchase of six hundred and twenty acres, also in Columbia county, so that she now owns over two thousand two hundred acres of valuable land in this section of the state.
M. B. WINCHELL.
M. B. Winchell, who is engaged in general merchandising in Touchet, Walla Walla county, ranks with the foremost business men of this section of the state. A spirit of progress and enterprise actuates him in all that he undertakes and his course has been characterized by a determined purpose. He has ever recognized the fact that when one avenue of success seems closed there can always be marked out another path that will lead to the desired goal. Alert and energetic and thoroughly reliable, his position among the business men of Walla Walla county is indeed enviable. A native son of Washington, he was born at Lyons Ferry on the 28th of March, 1888, his parents being Hezekiah and Alice L. (Palmer) Winchell. The father was a native of Michigan and the mother of the state of New York. They were married, however, in Minnesota, where the father was identified with timber interests for a number of years. In 1883 he brought his family to the west, settling in Walla Walla county, Washington, at which time he filed on a homestead near Lyons Ferry but resided thereon only long enough to prove up on the property. He then took up his abode in Waitsburg and for twenty-two years the family lived in or near that town. The father was engaged in farming during this time. He died in 1905, at the comparatively early age of fifty-six years. The sons in the family continued to make their home with their mother, her death occurring on the 5th of June, 1917. Mr. and Mrs. Winchell were worthy pioneer people of this section of the state and contributed much to its development and progress.
M. B. Winchell pursued his education in the graded schools of Waitsburg and also in the Waitsburg Academy, while subsequently he spent three terms in the Waitsburg high school, which he attended in the winter seasons. In fact his attendance at school was by no means continuous, but he utilized every opportunity to promote his education by entering school whenever he could. His father met with financial reverses and thus Mr. Winchell of this review was obliged early to start out in the business world and provide for his own support. He also earned the money that enabled him to continue his education. After finishing his course of study in the graded schools he devoted two years to work before he entered the academy and there was also a period of two years between his academic course and his high school course. In the meantime, however, he was learning many valuable lessons through experience. He was employed during the summer months and he made every spare hour count. He continued farm work and subsequently turned his attention to the grain business, becoming manager of an elevator when a youth of but seventeen years. This elevator was located at Alto, and he subsequently managed elevators at other points for the same company, a fact which is indicative of his capability and of his faithfulness. It is recognized that the best way to learn to do a thing is to do it. Habit brings accuracy and power grows through the exercise of effort. Labor does not tire—it gives resisting force; and all of these facts Mr. Winchell demonstrated in his life. He studied every task that came to his hand and from each new experience learned valuable lessons which have proven of worth to him in later years. He learned to correctly judge men and read character, while at the same time he was acquainting himself with commercial methods. While engaged in the grain trade he bought and shipped grain on tonnage during the winter months and attended school when there was no grain to ship. In other words he improved every opportunity to promote his knowledge as well as to advance his material interests. In 1914 he entered the employ of the Allen Grocery Company in Waitsburg and there laid the foundation for his mercantile success. In 1916 he took up his abode at Touchet and became one of the dominant factors in the organization of the Quality Stores Company, having stores at Touchet, Lowden and Waitsburg. He became the manager of the establishment at Touchet, which at the last inventory showed a stock of over thirty-one thousand dollars value, while annually he does a business of from seventy-five to eighty-five thousand dollars. This is a splendid establishment to be under the care of a young man who had to fight his own way, make his own way through school unaided and at all times rely upon his own resources. In the parlance of the present day, he is a live wire, or in other words he has the dynamic force which makes things move. An opportunity is to him a call to action and the call is never neglected.
On the 22d of September, 1912, Mr. Winchell was united in marriage to Miss Alberta Williams, of Walla Walla, by whom he has two children, Zilpha Alice and Ruth Emily. Mr. Winchell maintains an independent course in regard to politics, voting for men and measures rather than for party. Fraternally he is connected with Delta Lodge, No. 75, K. P., of Waitsburg, and also with the Ancient Order of United Workmen, while both he and his wife hold membership in the Community church of Touchet. He is interested in all that pertains to the material, political, social, mental and moral progress of the community. In a word his aid and influence are given on the side of advancement and improvement, and with him each day must mark off a full-faithed attempt to grow more and to know more.
WILLIAM C. WOODWARD.