Argus Observer (Ontario, Malheur County, Oregon)
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Ora Willis Deskin Cockerum was born Sept. 25, 1919, in Oroville, Calif., passed away April 17, 2009, at her home in Payette. She was the daughter of Edward Oliver Deskin, born 1864, in Monroe County, Iowa, and Fannie Melinda Bilderback Deskin, born April 6, 1875, in Topeka, Kan. The wife of Guy Lemuel Cockerum, born Sept 10, 1919, in Filer, IIdaho, they were married Oct. 21, 1944 in West Los Angeles, Calif.
Ora’s early years were spent with her family and pets. She always had a dog, cat, or guinea pig to play dress up with, for a time she even had goats and they’d follow here everywhere.
In her later years, she hated open stairs and heights but with her goats behind her, she’d climb to the top of silos to watch the people below and the ever-growing city of Los Angles. Ora was a dancer at heart she studied Tap, Ballet, and Adagio, performing from one end of California to the other with two of her brothers and was the lead dancer in many a school of dance.
After her marriage to my father, Guy, they continued to dance until he passed away, whether it was ballroom or square dancing with their sense of timing, grace, and style they were magic to watch.
Ora had a love of film, knowing the names of all the actors, actresses, and their rolls. Ever the little sleuth before dumpster diving became popular she found many an interesting item thrown away by the studio; pictures, scripts, and casting books. With her brother being a chauffeur, she knew many an inside story that was kept from public knowledge.
Our weekends were filled with movies during the day, with mom it was mysteries, love stories, or musicals and with dad along in the evening, it would be westerns. Mom and Dad loved to entertain I can’t remember a Sunday when there wasn’t a pool party in the summer and always at least one Luau with guests of 100 or more.
Their parties were reviewed by the Los Angeles Times as the place to go. Ora loved her sports and was very proud of her bowling trophy, but in the ’60s and ’70s, it was her beloved Rams. Attending every home game, she was awarded by the team by being named their number one fan for the 1969-70 season.
As Ora slowed up more and more, and TV sets got bigger and bigger, she kept up with all her teams and players. Football, basketball, baseball, golf, tennis and bowling, she knew them all.
She loved pinochle, bingo, and slot machines. Ora worked for a brazier company, her favorite job was as a telephone operator in L.A. but took an awful lot of pride for installing the pilot’s hatch during the war years for Douglas Aircraft, as one of the "Rosie the Riveters."
She retired from McDonell-Douglas in 1972 after 30 years being a statistician. In 1974 after her husband, Guy, retired, they moved to his hometown of Payette, where she found another pastime, fishing.
When no one else could catch a fish she could, always getting her limit, then eagerly helping others catch theirs. She was a wonderful cook, she was known for her fresh apricot pie, also her fresh strawberry pie. Every Deskin learned at an early age how to make a family tradition since the 1880s.
Enchiladas for which has become a Cockerum tradition for a large group. In the early 1980s mom became a mother again to her very special daughter, Mary, also a grandmother to her onlyest granddaughter, Terry, and grandsons, Rick, Ron, and Don.
Ora was preceded in death by her parents, nine brothers and sisters, and her husband. She is survived by her son, Guy Lee, of Payette, daughter, Mary, of Oakdale, Calif., four grandchildren and their spouses, and 10 great grandchildren.
Of the many pictures we all carry of Mom in our minds and hearts, I’ve chosen one rarely seen of the happy little girl as she starts to dance her way through our lives.
