The Descendants of John Heywood of Concord, Massachusetts

From The World, April 4, 2008

A private family memorial service will be held for Leonard Carroll Farr, 86, of Coos Bay. A guest registry and condolence card basket will be available at Coos Bay Chapel, 685 Anderson Ave. from Monday, April 7, through Friday, April 11. Cremation rites will be at Ocean View Memory Gardens Crematory, in Coos Bay.

Len was born Oct. 16, 1921, in Coquille, to Chester C. and Iva (Haines) Farr. He died April 1, 2008, in Coos Bay at Bay Area Hospital, after being struck by a vehicle while walking across a street.

Prior to graduating from Coquille High School in 1939, he had worked in the family business, sweeping floors during the Great Depression, and earning Eagle Scout honors. The business is now in its 93rd year in Coquille and Coos Bay, and he worked his way up to full partner, eventually serving 25 years on the national board of the True Value Corporation.

Len attended the University of Oregon, majoring in business. A scholarship awarded after his junior year at Harvard Business School was interrupted by World War II. After serving in the war, he returned to Eugene and completed a degree in business administration at the University of Oregon.

He volunteered for service with the U.S. Army, though he was a conscientious objector, and, after officer's candidate school, served with Patton's Third Army during staging for D-Day through the occupation in Germany. He wrote and recorded his eyewitness memories of the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp, and they are on file with the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. He served in a U.S. Army Medical Evacuation Corps (precursor to MASH units) and received an honorable discharge in 1946, with the rank of major.

During training in Alabama, on Dec. 26, 1943, he married Joyce Shirley Addis, of Portland, whom he had met and courted at the university in Eugene.

After the war and completion of college, he and Joyce returned to Coos Bay to become partners in the business with Chet and Iva and his brother, the late Donald Farr and his wife, Emma Frances of Coquille. The couple also began a life of raising four children and of extensive community service.

He was a member of Chadwick Masonic Lodge in Coquille, an active member and president of the Coos Bay Lions Club, participated in Little Theatre on the Bay and he had joined the Chamber of Commerce. In 1981, he was named the chamber's Citizen of the Year, and the business was named Business of the Year in 2006. He also was on many public boards, beginning service with the Coos Bay Library Board, during the time the current library was built. At the time, he was the first male ever to serve on the board. He served two terms on the board of Southwestern Oregon Community College and as president of the Oregon Community College Association. He was appointed by the governor to the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay Commission. He also served as president of the Retail Council of the Association of Oregon Industries. He was a past president of the Coos Bay-North Bend Rotary Club, and a Paul Harris Rotary International Fellow. He also received the Rotary International Service Above Self Award at an international convention. Speaking by invitation at a Los Angeles gathering of International Rotary presidents, he told them he had gotten so much more than he had ever given through his service.

For the Institute of Cultural Affairs, for Rotary and for church organizations, the couple traveled to more than 20 countries on 37 different trips, to build schools, help start cottage industries, improve water quality, sanitation and housing; and to distribute polio vaccine in the international effort to eradicate the disease. Even after retiring from active travel, he supported projects to donate and distribute medical equipment and supplies, textbooks and computers for elementary students and clothing. At home, he was instrumental in assisting the Community Food Bank and in making other organizations aware of the issue of hunger on the South Coast.

He was active in church throughout his life, with the work and thoughts of the late Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Albert Schweitzer as his deepest spiritual guide. He was a member of Unity by the Bay Church at the time of his death.

He loved to sing and whistle, and in early youth, formed a band with his father and brother that performed throughout the county. He was in the LTOB musicals "South Pacific" and "The King and I." He loved to sing in the church choir. He was an instrument-rated pilot and experienced recreational sailor. He was an English-as-a-second-language instructor and a grade-school reading volunteer. At the end of his life, he was polishing his memoirs.

His children have described his personality thus: He wanted his kids to be happy and encouraged them in their interests and careers throughout his life; he was kind and sensitive and had a helping heart. He took the responsibility in meeting whatever needs he encountered. He welcomed his children's spouses and enjoyed and was proud of his grandchildren and their accomplishments. He was respected by his employees and he treated them as colleagues. Finally, he let no barriers arise in friendship with anyone, including race, religion, sexual preference or cultural differences.

He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Joyce of Coos Bay; daughter, Susan and husband, Otto Wassenaar of Groningen, The Netherlands; daughter, Nancy and husband, Dale Sekijima of Winthrop, Wash.; daughter, Janet and husband, Dr. Rodney Eiger of Chicago; and son, Jay and wife, Linda of Coos Bay. He also is survived by four others who became his lifelong offspring: AFS exchange students, Ute Preisser of Dusseldorf, Germany; Susanne Testrup of Copenhagen, Denmark; Alejandra Vallejos of Talcahuano, Chile, who now lives in England; and Ted Cookson of Cairo, Egypt. Survivors also include his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Maaike Wassenaar of Hague, The Netherlands; Eelco Wassenaar and his wife, Chantal and children, Tibbe and Amelie of Utrecht, The Netherlands; Doeke Wassenaar and his fiancee, Sophie of Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Will M. Farr of Boston, Mass., and his fiancee, Rachel Thessin of Herndon, Va.; and Lillian Eiger, Chicago, Ill.

He was preceded in death by his parents and siblings, Dorothy Farr, Edythe Farr-Thompson and Donald Farr.

The family suggests memorial contributions of non-perishable food items to the food bank at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Fourth and Market streets in Coos Bay or to either Farr's store, 880 S. First in Coos Bay or 220 N. Central Ave., in Coquille. The couple also supports the Coos Art Museum, the Coos Historical Society, the Coos Bay Library Foundation, Jefferson Public Radio and the Oregon Coast Music Association, and donations are welcome to these organizations in his memory.

Arrangements are under the direction of Coos Bay Chapel, 267-3131.