Mary Leah (Dick) Dearborn

Mary Leah Smith Dearborn was born September 28, 1926 to her parents Walter and Wilma Dick in Pilot Rock.  She was joined by her brothers, Bill two years later and Don four years later. Her family lived in Albee until Mary was 5, when they moved to a wheat ranch west of Pilot Rock.  She attended a one-room schoolhouse through eighth grade and then attended Pilot Rock High School where she graduated in 1944 in a class of eight students. 

Mary met Harold Smith in high school and started dating him her senior year. He was a year behind her in school, but enlisted in the Navy Seabees his senior year as many men were doing during WWII.  After graduation, Mary decided to go to Portland to beauty school.  Harold would come home twice a year on leave and they became engaged.  They were married July 21, 1946 and settled in Pilot Rock.  Harold started working on the family ranch up Yellowjacket Road. They moved there in 1957 and raised their family.  Mary loved working in the huge garden and took care of the beautiful yard.  She worked alongside Harold in the cattle business, changing sprinkler pipes and helping with the haying.  In the fall of 1971, Mary started driving bus for Pilot Rock School district  and continued for 21 years.  Many students loved her and requested her as a driver.  Right up until the end of her life, students would come up and give her hugs and say how they loved her as a bus driver.

In 1988, Harold passed away and Mary moved into Pilot Rock.  Mary met Lew Dearborn on a blind date and they were happily married for 30 years. They  traveled to Arizona as Snow Birds, buying a home in Wickenburg. One of the highlights of their life was to make a trek to Alaska with their friends Don and Marie Roy.  Lew and Mary owned a home in Joseph and went over there as often as possible.  Their favorite watering hole to visit with friends was the Stubborn Mule.  Their home was always a gathering place for kids and grandkids to play games and for holiday events. Many games of pinochle were played at the kitchen table. In 2014 they decided to move out of their home and live with Mary’s daughter Annie and husband Gary.  They lived happily together there until Lew’s passing in July of 2021.  Mary passed away July 3, 2024 surrounded by family members.  She will be missed dearly.

Mary is preceded in death by husbands Lew and Harold, a baby son Larry and daughter Sandy Dearborn Price.  She is survived by son Bob Smith (Sheryl), daughters Glenna Smith and Annie Tester (Gary), son Tom Dearborn (Tana), daughter Becky Dearborn Holmes (Dane), 17 grandchildren, 25 great grandchildren, and several great great grandchildren.

A graveside service will be held Thursday, July 11, 2024 at 10 AM at the Pilot Rock Cemetery.  In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Vange John Memorial Hospice or Pilot Rock Education and Community Foundation through Pendleton Pioneer Chapel.