Glenda Lenore Pancake

Glenda L. Pancake passed away peacefully Sunday evening January 27, 2013, at her home in Powell Butte, Oregon. She was 87 years old. Glenda was born December 3, 1925 in Portland to Vera L. Smith. When she was 2 months old, she was adopted by her father and mother Willard E. Colpitts and Edith Dundee Colpitts. The proud parents brought her back to Suplee, Oregon and their home on the Washburn ranch. She joined her two brothers Jim Washburn and Robert (Bob) Colpitts and her sister Lillian Washburn Hershburger. Her family moved to Klamath Falls, Oregon in 1929 to work, and she was raised and schooled there. She would come to Central Oregon from time to time for a visit, and in 1945 she met Robert A. Harris, a “young, dashing sailor” home on leave. She followed him back to Seattle, Washington where they married on December 22, 1945. When Bob was released from the Navy, they settled in Prineville to start their life together and begin their family. Together, they raised three children and built their first home on Combs Flat Road, joining the growing “Harris Clan”. They were surrounded by family and good friends who enriched their lives. In her own words, “We had fun hunting and fishing. We never missed a ball game or anything that involved sports, especially when it came to our children and the family”. She was an accomplished dancer in ballet, tap, and adagio. She loved rhythm and music and she taught her children to enjoy dancing and passed this part of her life on to them and their posterity. Together, Bob and Glenda served as the first Veterans Service Officers in Crook County. She was honored to serve the Veterans of Central Oregon. In 1967, after Bob died, she carried on this job for the next 23 years, until she retired to Powell Butte, Oregon to run her 40 acre farm on Kissler Road with her second husband, James T. Pancake. Even after retiring, she always made sure flags were placed at the Powell Butte cemetery to honor the veterans who were buried there. She was not afraid of work, and at one point in her life she worked as VA officer and dealt black jack at Gee’s restaurant and the Pastime. She paid for her farm, and never acquired any debt, something her generation tried to teach the next. Her Motto was, “Work hard for the things you need!” She was an avid fisherman and hunter who loved the upper Suplee country, or just get away to the Oregon coast to crab and camp on the beach. She was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Glenda is survived by her daughter and son in law, GlenEllen and Alan Hudspeth of Powell Butte, Oregon and her brother and sister in law, Les and Janice Robertson of Brothers, Oregon. Her grandchildren: Shannon Hudspeth-Lepin, Todd Hudspeth, Joseph LaChappell, Ronnie Harris, Robbie Harris, Tracy Weston, Kristi Harris, Justin Harris, Mason Lockwood, Halie Harris and Mikel Harris along with 31 great grandchildren and her extended family, Ruth Olsen, Van and Mary Ellen Harris, Gerald Harris, MaryAnnie Harris, Ronald Harris, and Bob and Vickie Storey, and numerous nieces and nephews.

She is preceded in death by her husbands Robert A. Harris- 1967 and James T. Pancake – 2012, her sons Darwin L. Harris and Robert A, (Bobby) Harris, and her parents. At her request, there will be no service. “Just remember her for the way she lived, and how she loved everyone.”

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to St. Charles Hospice of Prineville, 1201 NE Elm St. Prineville, Oregon 97754