A. F. Bickford Dies Saturday at Lakeview, Oregon
Chehalis Pioneer Succumbs To Paralytic Stroke While Visiting With Daughter In Oregon
A. F. Bickford, 70 former prominent Chehalis manufacturer, for many years president of the Chehalis Brick & Tile Company, died Saturday evening at Lakeview, Ore., according to a message received by his former business associate, Geo. H. Burrows, Sunday morning. Death followed a paralytic stroke Saturday morning. Mr. and Mrs. Bickford had been living at Gardena, Calif., since leaving Chehalis about ten years ago. Recently, however, he had been engaged with a son-in-law, Harry Plass, doing development work on a gold mining property in Modoc county, California. Mr. Bickford and Mr. Burrows came to Chehalis in 1902 having for ten years previously lived at Tacoma, from which place they operated a brickyard on Vashon Island. For several years they did business under the firm name of Bickford & Burrows, starting on a small scale, all the work being done by hand. About 1906 the business changed to the Chehalis Brick & Tile Company. In 1912 it was incorporated under that name with Mr. Bickford as president, with Mr. Burrows and Samuel J. Saindon, now of Long Beach, Calif., as the other members of the company. Over a period of years the plant was developed into one of the finest equipped and most outstanding of its kind in western Washington, an extensive market having been developed for its product over the northwest. Its payroll has been one of the large ones of the city and the plant has been operated more regularly than any other in Chehalis, many men being employed. About ten years ago Mssrs. Bickford, Burrows and Saindon retired from active management of the firm, delegating the handling to others of the Burrows and Saindon families, Mr. Bickford and Mr. Saindon going to California later to live. Mr. Bickford was a high type of man and a splendid citizen, and his friends were shocked to hear of his death.
A little over twenty years ago Mr. Bickford was a member of the city council. It was largely due to his influence and some of his associates that the present location of Chehalis' wonderfully beautiful civic center was chosen over the determined oppostion of others who favored an unsightly out of the way location.
Mr. Bickford is survived by his widow, Mrs. Ada M. Bickford; a son, Ralph Bickford of Lakeview, Ore.; five daughters, Mrs. May Ripper of Los Angeles, Calif.; Mrs. Florence Plass of Lakeview, Ore.; Mrs. Permilia Rawlinson of Shanghaie, China; Mrs. Bessie Bunn of Los Angeles; and Mrs. Edith Sells of Gardena, Calif.; two sisters, Mrs. Susie Young of Santa Cruz, Calif., and Mrs. Ella Robertson of Olympia; and seven grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held tomorrow, Saturday afternoon at 2 o'clock at the Episcopal church. Honorary pall bearers will be F. M. Power, John West, Dan W. Bush, N. B. Coffman, H. H. Scribner, A. A. Hull, J. H. Johnson and Geo. R. Walker. The active pall bearers will be employees of the Chehalis Brick & Tile Company, as follows: Robert Wisner, Wayne Wheeler, Chris Karmer, John Strait, M. S. Archer and R. H. Sullivan. Burial at Claquato will be directed by the Sticklin Mortuary.
Source: The Chehalis Bee-Nugget, 11 December 1931, front page. Microfilm available at Washington State Library, 6880 Capitol Boulevard South, Tumwater, WA. 98512
Transcribed by Kathryn Lester. She has no further information on this individual.