Margie Louise Metcalf

NASELLE — Margie Louise Metcalf, of Naselle, passed away on Sept. 25, 2013, in Portland, Ore. Margie was born on Aug. 30, 1923, in Astoria, Ore., to Finnish parents, Waino Erik Rinell and Laina Marie (Hokkanen) Rinell. She was the granddaughter of Andrew Rinell (Antti Riippa) who homesteaded in Salmon Creek in 1879. She lived her entire life in the Salmon Creek valley of Naselle.

She spoke only the Finnish language until she started school at the Maple Grove Grade School in upper Salmon Creek. Her father died when she was 12 years old and she helped her mother with the raising of four younger siblings. In 1939 she married a “Tennessee CCC Boy” Lattie Metcalf, and they made their home in Salmon Creek. During the war years of 1944-45 she raised her two oldest sons alone while Lattie was in the Army. In the early 1950s they bought Naselle Valley Electric and Margie operated the store for over 40 years while Lattie was building, plumbing and wiring homes in the Naselle-Grays River area. He passed away in 1990.