Laura Marie Grubbs

Laura Marie Grubbs of Roseburg, Oregon died Monday August 4, 2008 at the age of 97. She was a retired teacher of English, Spanish, speech, and drama. In her twenty-four years of teaching she taught in the following Oregon schools: Douglas High School, Ashland High School, and Rogue River High School. In Kansas she challenged students at Plainview, a suburb of Wichita, Bird City High School and Ulysses High School. Miss Grubbs began her teaching career at age seventeen in Grant County, Kansas, after scoring the highest score in Kansas on her qualification exam in 1927. She also worked for Kaiser Ship Builders in Washington in 1942 and for Sullivan Grain of Ulysses, Kansas, in the 1930's when five bushels of wheat sold for a dollar. Laura was a Linck Pilot Trainer in the WAVES during World War II from 1943 - 1945 where she trained many beginning pilots. Laura received her teaching degree at Pittsburg State College, Pittsburg, Kansas, and a master's degree at Greeley, Colorado. She also completed many post graduate courses at the University of Oregon, Washington, and Gualdira, Mexico. Laura was born to Gillis Morton Grubbs and Fannie Belle Roberts Grubbs on October 24, 1910 in Meade County, Kansas. She moved to Grant County, with her parents in 1917, where she attended a one room school across the road from her parent's home. She graduated from Moscow High School in 1927. In 1930, she was the first Grant County Wheat Queen to compete in the state contest in Hutchinson, Kansas. She was preceded in death by her parents, a sister, Jennie Louise Kepley, and three brothers, Glenn Morton Grubbs, Everett William Grubbs, and Lloyd Leroy Grubbs. Laura is survived by many nieces and nephews living in Kansas, North Carolina, and Oklahoma, and many friends in Oregon and Washington. Laura was active in the National Education Association as a Washington, D.C., convention delegate, Delta Kappa Gamma, State Secretary and Treasurer of the Language Arts Association, and the Roseburg United Methodist Church. During her years at Douglas High School, she directed such musicals as South Pacific, Oklahoma, Brigadoon, and many others. Memorials may be given to Haiti Children's Fund, Delta Kappa Gamma, or the Roseburg United Methodist Church Youth Fund in care funeral homes. Services will be held at the Roseburg United Methodist Church on Saturday August 9, 2008 at 11:00am.and the Ulysses United Methodist Church at a later date. Her final resting place will be with in the grounds of the Moscow Cemetery in Ulysses, Kansas.