Document text
P/CLOUDY Temp: 48 °F Wind: CLM at 0 mph Thursday, November 21, 2002 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine W3 Magazine Jobs @ Mail Tribune Tempo A & E Oregon CarZone Wellness Connection Real Estate Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend October 10, 2002 Eve Nye is greeted on her 100th birthday by Jim Semple at a party hosted by her family on Wednesday. Semple was a supervisor at the Nye and Naumes Packing Co. that Eve�s husband co- owned. Mail Tribune / Roy Musitelli Growing with Medford Eve Nye, who came to the Rogue Valley more than 80 years ago, celebrated her 100th birthday Wednesday By GREG STILES Mail Tribune When Eve Nye stepped off the train at the Front Street railroad depot more than 80 years ago, the community of 5,000 she entered was agrarian and not easily accessible. "High-tech" meant having a telephone. She was a long way from Aberdeen, S.D., where she had spent her formative years and was ready for her senior year in high school. "My first impression was that it was a nice little town, smaller than Aberdeen. A lot of the streets weren’t paved and the school was smaller. But it was friendly and I liked it very much." Fifteen presidents and 60,000 residents later, the former school teacher, school board member and state representative celebrated her 100th birthday on Wednesday, having seen the rise and decline of fruit as the Rogue Valley’s predominant industry. "I’m amazed I’ve lived as long as I have," says Nye, who along with her son and three grandchildren entertained well-wishers throughout the afternoon. "It’s an awful long time. "How much Medford has changed, I really don’t know, because I was changing so much and Medford was doing it right along with me. But I thought it was a good place to raise kids and the schools were good." Evelyn Dew was born in Dubuque, Iowa, in 1902. Her father was a postal clerk who sorted mail on rail cars. Her mother’s sister had found her way to the Rogue Valley and it wasn’t long before the campaign to go west was on. "My aunt wrote such glowing letters about the Oregon climate and so forth that my mother couldn’t wait to get out here. My dad wasn’t for it, but he finally came along." She graduated from Medford’s old high school on Bartlett Street in 1920 and took a job as a stenographer. But she was ambitious and her talent lay elsewhere. She entered the University of Oregon and in 1924 earned a bachelor’s in music education. In 1930 she was married to Stephen G. Nye "in a very quiet ceremony in my parents’ living room." The couple honeymooned in San Francisco before returning to the Rogue Valley, where he worked the family orchards outside Talent. After the birth of her sons Philip (1931) and Stephen Jr. (1936), Mrs. Nye returned to teaching to make ends meet during the Great Depression. During World War II her husband served in the U.S. Army as a lieutenant colonel, helping direct the Red Ball Highway supply line that stretched from the beachheads in France to the front lines in Germany and later to rail operations between Cherbourg and Liege. In that period, she helped her father-in-law run an expanding pear operation. When her husband returned from Europe, he and Joe Naumes formed Nye and Naumes Packing Co. Nye was its president of the company from 1946 until his retirement in 1965. Eve Nye’s teaching experience and interest in community affairs led to a 10-year run on the Medford School Board from 1947 to 1957. She helped recruit Superintendent Leonard Mayfield, under whose leadership the school district gained national notoriety. "He did a great job for our schools," she says. In 1958, she reluctantly moved from education issues to partisan politics. There was a movement "to introduce a law that would’ve been harmful to fruit growers, so they asked if I would run for the Legislature. After my husband asked me, I finally agreed to it." Although she helped her father-in-law run the family business during World War II, she listed "housewife" as her occupation under her legislative photo in the 1959-60 Oregon Blue Book. In a 1985 article in the Mail Tribune, she admitted "I was pretty green." But she was more than up to the task — fending off the new tax for which she had entered the political arena. "We killed the law and I came home," she recalls. But she didn’t leave the public domain, serving on the state Interim Education Board from 1961 to 1963. She continued to be active in Republican Women, Mercy Flights and the Rogue Valley Manor board, among other groups, for many years. "I think my greatest accomplishment," Nye says, "was just growing along with Medford." Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or e-mail [email protected] Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright 1997-2002 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy webmaster feedback A D V E R T I S E R S