Goldie Kelsey

Obituary of Goldie E. Kelsey

Friends may pay their respects prior to the service beginning at 10:00 AM at the Masonic Center (next to the cemetery), 521 North Street, Tumwater.Officiating Ronald Reed, Jr. Certified Celebrant Goldie Kelsey was born Goldie Emily Burlingame on April 15, 1912 in Chehalis, Washington. She was the daughter of Jay Burlingame and Louise Bodice Fredrica (Pratt) Burlingame.She married Orville Arthur Kelsey of Tenino on December 7, 1929, he preceded her in death in 1999. Orville was the son of Ira James Kelsey and Clarabelle (Brainard) Kelsey of Tenino. Goldie attended school at Twin Oaks and Adna, Lewis County Washington. She lived most of her life in Astoria and Portland, Oregon. Goldie was fond of saying that her star came forth the day the Titanic went down. She was a true star to family and friends and will be greatly missed. Goldie had four brothers and sisters, all now deceased, Clarence R. Burlingame, Clyde Pratt Burlingame, Helene May Burlingame and Mary Louise Salm. She is survived by a large number of nieces and nephews; Vi Kelsey of Tenino, Iva Riner of Rochester, Clara Harris of Branson, Missouri, Mel Kelsey of Corvallis, Oregon, Linda Petke of Tacoma, Dan Kelsey of Hillsboro, Oregon, Don Burlingame of Olympia, Mrs. Jeanie Ames of Chehalis, Kaye Forrrest of Kansas City, Missouri, Dan Burlingame of Pelsor, Arkansas, Jim Watkins of Highland, Utah, Elizabeth Watson of Richland, George Watkins of Kennewick and a brother-in-law, Lloyd Kelsey of Hillsboro, Oregon. Goldie's earliest recollections were growing up in the tiny community of Joy, Washington on the banks of the Chehalis River. It was a short walk down a country road to the Twin Oaks school. The school is long gone, but the two old oaks are still standing in a large pasture. Goldie's father was Jay Burlingame, a saw filer who worked in the booming logging camps of Lewis and Pacific counties. About 1916 the family moved to Little Quillayute Prairie near Forks, Washington. Jay took a job running a cattle ranch for the Halberg family who own a string of eating houses in Seattle. The Quillayute Prairies, located in the middle of the rainforest had for centuries been burned by the Indians to provide hunting grounds. Game was plentiful around the prairies especially grouse and pigeons. Perhaps it was here that Goldie learned to make pies, pigeon pies. Most of the bandtail pigeons are long gone, but Goldie would become famous for her pies. Goldie was a great story teller only surpassed by her husband Orville Kelsey. The only way to get to Quillayute was to cross Lake Crescent on the ferry Lady of the Lake. At that time, another story teller lived at Crescent Lake. He too was a frequent traveler on the Lady of the Lake and would gather Goldie and her siblings around and tell marvelous stories of Alaska and Africa. It seems that Jack London could tell a story even better than he could write. When Goldie was 16, she met Orville Kelsey of Tenino, he was a "flying man." Orville wanted to be a barnstormer, a "Walter Pepper type" and take Goldie to fly in air-shows that were all the rage throughout the country. Orville's father had purchased Orville a state of the art, all metal bi-plane. Goldie would put on her leather flying helmet and off they would go in one of the fastest aircraft of its day. The dream of barnstorming was shattered when the plane was wrecked when it hit a car that was coming down the runway at the Olympia Airport. Then came the Great Depression. Both Goldie and Orville's families were hit hard. Work was almost impossible to find. Finally, her husband and brother Clarence Burlingame found work helping to build the road around Crater Lake, Oregon. Goldie was soon hired as the camp cook. During the depression Goldie worked at several major construction sites as camp cook. In the late 1930's Orville got a full-time job working for Arden Farms, which at the time was the largest distributor of dairy products in the Pacific Northwest and they moved to Astoria, Oregon. Goldie worked as a civil defense volunteer during World War II. When Japanese scout planes launched from submarines and flew up the Columbia River, individuals who could spot and identify aircraft were key to coast defense during the war. For years Goldie worked for Welcome Wagon, Inc. in both Astoria and Portland, Oregon. Her job was to call on each new family moving into the city and welcome them. She had great people skills and could make life-long friends after only a few minutes conversation. Goldie liked to show her photographs of people she met, Howard Hughes, Jack Dempsey and the notorious King of the Chicago Gypsies. Perhaps it was those old Jack London stories that helped spark Goldie's love of travel. For years, she did volunteer work for the National Tuberculosis Association. Often her work for the Tuberculosis Association took her to New York, Washington D.C. and Chicago. In later years, she and Orville traveled to Germany, England, Mexico and throughout the Southwestern United States. Goldie and Orville retired in Woodburn, Oregon where they filled their days with travel, hunting, fishing and gleaning. Goldie seemed to know every farmer and orchard owner in the Willamette Valley. She enjoyed gleaning, freezing, canning and having an overstocked larder as insurance against the haunts of the Great Depression. It also enabled her to provide banquets for a host of family and friends at a moments notice.
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Interred

8/16/2005

Service

Ronald Reed, Jr. Certified Celebrant

Interment

Masonic Memorial Park

Visitation

8/16/2005
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