Celeste A Landon

Alvina Celeste Cook was born in Madison, Wisconsin to parents John Cook from England and Annie Walters of Scotland. Celeste grew up in Portland and as a young girl she loved to sing and play the piano. She married her first husband, Lyle Swarts on July 4, 1938 in a double ceremony with his sister and her husband. They were married 18 years before he died in 1956. Celeste married Thomas Landon on May 2, 1964 who had four children; Carol, Margaret, Alan and Gordon. She loved cooking for family gatherings, reading western romances, doing various crafts, and caring for her family, claiming her four step children as her very own. Celeste and Thomas ran Standard Service Station in Gresham and later a motel in Reno, Nevada. They enjoyed playing cards, putting together jigsaw puzzles and they would even bet on ball games they watched on TV, paying off their debts to each other in pennies. They moved back to Oregon and retired in Gresham. Thomas passed away in 2008. In her later years, Celeste moved to the Beehive, an assisted living community in Forest Grove where she lived for the past 9 years. She loved being involved with the activities at the Beehive. She was an active member of the food committee and was proud to show off photographs of her grandkids to the other residents. You would always find Celeste with a word search in her hand or watching a western on television with the sound off. Whenever you’d visit Celeste her last words to you were always to “drive carefully.”

Celeste is survived by her four children, Carol (Duane) Freudenthal, Margaret (Dave) Niess, Alan (JoAnn) Landon and Gordon (Gloria) Landon, 12 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren and 1 great- great grandchild.

A graveside service lead by Pastor Bruce Rumsch will be held on Tuesday, April 28, 2015 at Lincoln Memorial Park & Funeral Home.

In lieu of flowers, any memorial contributions can be made to Trinity Lutheran Church in Hillsboro, or to a charity of your choice.