Frances Dorothy (Lanell) Bushnell

Frances (LaNell) Bushnell was born March 20, 1922 in Minot, North Dakota, to parents Robert and Catherine (Botz) LaNell.  She passed away Friday, June 17, 2016 Saint Charles hospital in Prineville at the age of 94.

     Frances was orphaned at age 6 and spent her childhood with her Botz family, who were engaged in many enterprises between North Dakota and Oregon. When she was five, the family owned the Alfalfa store, as well as a Cinnabar mine in the Mauries. At the age of 12, she helped the family move a couple of bands of sheep from  Orofino, Idaho, to the railhead in Missoula, Montana. She walked every step of what is now Lolo Pass and had the pleasure of picking huckleberries off the same bush as a big sow bear.

     On her second trip to Oregon, she moved in with her Aunt Gertie (Botz) Reif and uncle Bruno Reif on their farm in Powell Butte, where she finished grade school. From there, Frances went on to Prineville and graduated from Crook County High School in 1939.

     After graduation, she worked as a kitchen helper for Mrs. Ralph Breese on the Pilot Butte Hereford Ranch, then headquartered on Combs Flat out of Prineville, from there she hired on as a cook for the Mills ranch above Paulina, and met the foreman Merle Bushnell, from the Lister ranch, at a dance in Powell Butte. Merle and Frances were married October 1, 1942, in Prineville. Together, they continued working for Robert and Hazel Lister until they leased the Earl Laughlin Ranch above Paulina. While there, two daughters were born to them in 1946 and 1948.
     From there, Frances and her family bought Bruno Reif’s ranch on Combs flat and moved closer to Prineville in 1952. She and Merle raised their daughters to appreciate and participate in ranch life until Merle's failing health forced her to sell the ranch. He passed away in 1989, and Frances moved to town.

     In the following several years, she took agriculture tours to Australia, New Zealand and Africa, as well as seeing a lot of the U.S.

     In addition to a great sense of adventure, Francis enjoyed vegetable and flower gardening, oenology (she made some mean batches of dandelion and rhubarb wines), fishing, hunting and camping. We saw her put a cranky Hereford bull in his place with a wet dishtowel when he wanted to make a detour through her outdoor camp kitchen. The war was on, and she won.

     In 2007, Francis moved into Ochoco Village Assisted Living in Prineville. She was preceded in death by her parents and husband Merle, and a younger half-brother, William McGahan of Klamath Falls. She is survived by her two daughters, Nancy Knoche (Keith) of Powell Butte and Eloise Brummer  (Jerry) of Pineville, as well as niece Kathy and nephew Mark, both of Klamath Falls. She is also survived by grandson Colin Brummer of North Dakota and granddaughter Kitsi Bass of Prineville, in addition to five great granddaughters, two great grandsons, three great great granddaughters and one great great grandson.

 Memorial contributions in her memory can be sent to Crook County Historical Society, 246 N. Main St., Prineville, OR 97754.

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