Myron Leslie Halse (1908–1972)
Myron Leslie Halse was the 6th child born to Guy and Mabel (Cutting) Halse. He attended school in Dexter, South Dakota, to 8th grade. At age 21, he married Gladys Belle Brown in Rupert, Idaho. Prior to the marriage, he lived and worked at the Brown family dairy farm.
By 1935, Myron and Gladys lived in Skamania County, Washington, where their first daughter, Lois Elaine, was born. Myron, with his wife and daughter, worked at a Forest Service lookout on Flattop Mountain in 1938, not too far from Trout Lake, where Gladys had been born. They would spend most of their married life in Trout Lake.
The couple began a dairy farm at Trout Lake, specializing in the Brown Swiss cattle breed. Myron was also a tree farmer.
Feature image: Myron Halse in a clip from a family portrait around 1925.
Myricopia 
Trout Lake couple! What an accurate, yet slightly humorous, way to describe someone. Do you have any idea how many ancestors you’ve researched at this point? You never run out of them.
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I haven’t kept count, but quite a few! Though I love doing in depth stories, this bio bite format is a challenge for me, fun, and a good way to include some ancillary relatives (I’ve been working through my parents aunts and uncles).
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It sounds like he lived a full and happy life—a life that was very different from my ancestors for sure!
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Gotta love cattle! I think he did have a good life – beautiful place to live and work and play.
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It sure seems that way. Idyllic.
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I could have enjoyed it, I think.
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Neither of my parents got past Grade 8. It would be unthinkable today, but the norm back then. Priceless to have those newspaper clippings.
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It was certainly the norm in the South Dakota farm communities. The work was important. It may be that he went on to high school, but I didn’t have anything to back that up.
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Yes, farm communities needed the help at home. Out of my mom’s 7 siblings, only one went on to high school determined to be a nurse. Against her parents wishes though.
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Glad she had the gumption!
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Eilene, I absolutely love these glimpses of life from the past. It’s especially nice to see someone who found his place in the world and spent a lifetime doing good work for the environment. Lovely story!
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Thank you, Brandi. I think working at that fire lookout would have been awesome!
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Sounds amazing.
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I love this snippet of life. They seemed to live a good one!
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I think they had a happy existence. Sure seems so, anyway. I do know their younger daughter and did meet Lois, too. Nice people.
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Fun to learn of the connection to your family here in WA. Such a beautiful part of the state to live in and then to spend your final years down by the gorge…lovely. I haven’t been that way in so many years.
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Many of the Halses came to Oregon and Washington. My dad grew up in Corvallis and went to Trout Lake on family trips.
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I love the newspaper clipping “Mr and Mrs Soil Conservation”… What a wonderful tidbit of information – really tells you a lot about them 🙂
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That was a fun find while putting this together. Had not known about that or the fire lookout until yesterday!
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An interesting snippet. I love the headline Myron Halse Catches Fish. Big news! I suppose it was a big fish.
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The headline writer didn’t stretch himself far, for sure!
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Myron was industrious and he was lucky – even though he retired due to ill health in the 1960s, he was still able to enjoy fishing in that same time period. That was a whopper of a fish and since the headline didn’t tease what type of fish, I looked at the story and learned it was a steelhead (trout)
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It seems he had a good life, if a tad, if a tad on the short side. He had a heart attack in 1952, at about age 44. My grandfather, Myron’s younger brother, had three heart attacks. The last one killed him at age 60. Despite that, I’m not sure that was really a family trait.
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Well back then they worked the land and they worked hard, out from dawn to dusk, only taking a break for lunch. Heart disease runs in my family – my grandmother had eight siblings and they all died of heart issues, the youngest from a leaky heart valve at age 18. One of her brothers was dancing at his 60th wedding anniversary celebration and dropped dead on the dance floor. What a shock that must have been!
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They worked hard – and didn’t exactly have a heart-healthy diet! Well married for 60 years isn’t too shabby. My maternal grandparents made it 63 years before Grandpa died.
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Yes, lots of fried foods and sodium (a lot of ham according to my grandmother) and always a big farmer’s breakfast. Well, your maternal grandparents had many years of married bliss.
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Bliss, huh? Maybe a stretch.😀
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Well … it was probably no walk in the park!
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Another fascinating snippet, which reaffirms that everything and everybody has a history. Keep up the great work!
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All lives matter. Thanks for reading, Frank!
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Absolutely!
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Fascinating snapshot of a life lived, Eilene, and a happy life at that….JIM
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Thanks, Jim. He got to live in a beautiful place and with a wonderful family. Does it get better?
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I love the name Trout Lake. And Myron led a good life, and was a pretty good fisherman!
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I think he had a lot of practice at that fishing thing.😁
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It shows!
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They sound like they had a very happy life. What’s better than that?
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Indeed. I think a lot of these Halse siblings did find good partners. They all had a good work ethic from growing up on the farm with a big family to feed. None of them opted for big families, though!
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That’s a good thing. Funny how they all opted for small ones.
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Well, they generally did not take up farming, or even stay in South Dakota.
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Where extra kids were a necessity!
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Yep!
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