Carey, Charles Henry.  "History of Oregon." Vol. 2. Chicago-Portland: Pioneer
Historical Pub. Co., 1922.  p. 411.

LEWIS E. OBYE

     One of the alert, wide-awake and progressive business men of Portland is
Lewis E. Obye, president of the Lewis E. Obye Motors Company. He is a native of
the west, his birth having occurred at Mariposa, California. The family is an
old one in this part of the country, the grandfather, Christian Obye, having
made the voyage around the Horn to California in 1851. His parents were Lewis
Scott and Annie (Calhoun) Obye, who early became residents of Oregon.
     After completing his public school education Lewis E. Obye pursued a course
in a business college and at an early age started out in life for himself,
securing a situation as clerk with the drug firm of Blumauer & Frank at a salary
of three dollars and a half a week. He was also employed as clerk in a shoe
store located on the site of the Lewis and dark exposition grounds, retaining
that position for a year. Subsequently he took up electrical work which he
followed for some time. He first became connected with the automobile business
as salesman for the Oregon Motor Car Company, selling the Studebaker cars and
previous to that time had engaged in the sale of pianos. In 1918 he entered upon
an independent business venture in this city, specializing in the sale of used
cars and so successful was he along that line that he became known as the "Used
Car King." He operated three different salesrooms in the city, employing
fourteen salesmen in the conduct of the business and between July 1, 1918, and
July 1, 1919, he succeeded in selling sixteen hundred and eighty-two used cars.
He is now the president and treasurer of the Lewis E. Obye Motors Company, with
David Goodell as the vice president and M. W. Hawes as secretary. They occupy a
two-story building fifty by one hundred feet at Nos. 40-46 North Broadway and
have the agency for the Standard eight steel car for Oregon and southern
Washington, theirs being the authorized service station for this car in
Portland. In the control of the business Mr. Obye displays marked ability,
initiative and aggressiveness and as a result the patronage of the firm is
steadily increasing, ten men being employed to take care of the work.
     In 1906 Mr. Obye was united in marriage to Miss Florence Cox and they have
become the parents of two children, Gordon and Maxine. He is an active and
earnest member of Chamber of Commerce and is also identified with the Oregon
Motor Dealers Association and the National Automobile Dealers Association. He is
also a member of the Press and Ad Clubs and is a prominent Mason, belonging to
the Scottish Rite Consistory. He likewise has membership in Al Kader Temple of
the Mystic Shrine and during the national convention held in this city in 1920
served on the reception committee. He is a man of determined purpose who carries
forward to successful completion whatever he undertakes and he is accounted one
of the substantial and progressive business men of Portland whose record has at
all times been characterized by strict honesty and integrity. He is always loyal
to the best interests of the community and enjoys the esteem and regard of a
large circle of friends.
 
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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in May 2011 by Diana Smith.  Submitter has
no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.