Longtime Sandy resident, Faye Vollmer-Eicher died on Friday, March 3, 2023 in Gresham at the age of 94.
Faye was born July 23, 1928 in Streator, Illinois to Vernon and Evangeline Baumgarner. The family later moved to Deer River, Minnesota. Faye was no stranger to hard work. Her father owned a gravel pit in Deer River. It was her job along with her 4 brothers and 6 sisters to shovel the gravel into dump trucks to be delivered and sold. She told many stories of her happy childhood from playing in the fire of burning bed springs to the joys of playing on the farm, in the woods and deep snow of Minnesota.
Faye graduated from Deer River High School. At the age of 17 she married Donald Vollmer on November 3, 1945 in Grand Rapids, Minnesota where they started their family. In 1955 they moved to Sandy, Oregon where they continued to grow their family. Don worked hauling logs for a short time before starting Don Vollmer Excavating, installing septic systems. While Don ran the equipment, Faye was in the trenches, running grades and shoveling drain rock. She handled a shovel like it was a feather. In the early years their children worked laying newspaper in the drain ditches alongside their mom.
When God called Don home in 1987, Faye and their son, Scott, continued running the business. Scott talked to her many times about retiring and taking it easy but she was determined to go to work every day. At the age of 68 she was still crawling in the ditch and get the job done. In 1996 she finally hung up her shovel.
Faye filled her time with family, grandchildren, great grandchildren, Church friends and traveling. At any time of the day or night, her house could be full of grand children playing games with her. She had a way of making everyone feel that they were the most special person in her world, from the very young to the very old. She was a true blessing to all who knew her.
In 1998 Faye married Ronald Eicher. They made their home in Sandy for 24 years. During that time, they loved to walk the town. People would comment on seeing them throughout Sandy, walking and holding hands like teenagers. They loved to travel, taking trips to Hawaii, South Dakota and California to visit family and friends. Some of her favorite trips were to National Parks. In 2022 Ron and Faye moved to Gresham for health reasons.
Faye’s hobbies included games, reading, rock collecting and polishing, sewing, embroidery, and puzzles.
She sewed many of her own dresses and many outfits for her grandchildren. She also embroidered blankets for each of her grandchildren with their names on them. She loved to polish rocks and had a great collection of them. She loved to bring them out and share her finds with anyone that was interested. In her later years there was always a puzzle laid out on the table, in various stages of completion.
Faye was a strong, kind, loving, giving, God fearing woman with a great sense of humor that led her through the trying times.
Survivors include her husband, Ronald; sons, Roger and his wife Cindy, Wayne, Randy, Scott and his wife Loretta; daughters, Eileen Ellingson and her husband Clinton, Sandra Carl and her husband Lyle, Sharon Kennedy, Darlene Christle and her husband John, 3 step children Renee Lewis, Ronald Eicher, Ryan Eicher; sister, Grace Hall (100 years young), 23 grandchildren,43 great grandchildren, and 19 great-great grandchildren. Faye was preceded in death by her husband Donald Vollmer, son Ronald age 4, son-in-law Larry Kennedy, Daughter-in-law Laura Vollmer and great grandson, Wyatt Mogren.