Viola Mae Lindstrom of Hermiston passed away in Hermiston on Jan. 16, 2018 at the age of 95.
She was born on March 25, 1922 in the Rothiemay District of Montana to Benjamin and Ruth Wallace Taylor.
She was born on her grandmother, Elizabeth Taylor’s 40-acre homestead in the Snowy Mountains at the mouth of Swimming Woman Canyon in a blizzard. She attended the Swimming Woman School through the sixth grade. The family moved to Harlowton, Mont., where she attended Edison Grade School and then Harlowton High School. She was the oldest of 11 children, and she quit school to care for her younger siblings. In 1935, at the age of 13, she went to work at the Milwaukee Railroad beanery.
In July 1940, she married Clyde A. Duncan of Harlowton. He was inducted into the U.S. Army in 1943 and served during World War II. The couple had one daughter, Claudia Clydette Duncan, and later divorced. Viola married Carl Lindstrom on Nov. 8, 1956. The couple moved to Ontario, where they owned and operated a Coast to Coast store for many years. Viola attended beauty school in Payette, Idaho in 1957. She owned and operated Rose Marie Beauty Shop in Ontario from 1960 to 1967, when she sold the business. In the 1970s she built a beauty shop onto her home, which she operated until Feb. 10, 1997. She moved to Hermiston on April 15, 1997, where she had resided since.
She is survived by her daughter, Claudia (Bob) Irby; granddaughter, Kyli (Arturo) Mendoza; great granddaughters, Brielle Mendoza and Ariona Mendoza; grandson, Corey Cartwright; brother, Don Taylor; sister, Veda Strong; great-great grandchildren, Aaniya, Issiah and Anessah Ochoa and Haigan Blaine; and many nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Carl, on June 27, 1997.
A funeral service will be held at 1 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 22, 2018 at Burns Mortuary of Hermiston, 685 W. Hermiston Ave.
Burial will follow in Hermiston Cemetery.
To leave an online condolence for the family, go to burnsmortuaryhermiston.com.
