HERMISTON — Rema Fleener’s friends and family don’t know if she is the oldest person in Umatilla County, but at 105 years old, they know she has to be close.

“She’s certainly had a long life,” her nephew, Mike Gillespie, said.

Growing up in Vale, he remembers visiting his Aunt Rema (his mother’s sister) and Uncle Bob many times. They lived on a ranch near Burns for a while, but when Bob developed health problems that that precluded him from ranch work, the couple moved to Hermiston, where Bob worked at the Umatilla Chemical Depot and Rema was a teacher.

“She has a lot of students still in the Hermiston area,” Gillespie said.

In fact, at least two of them currently live at Sun Terrace Assisted Living with her.

Verla Frost said Rema taught her in junior high, at a time when the school was small enough teachers taught multiple subjects.

“I don’t remember what subjects she taught, but I remember she was a good teacher and very well liked,” she said.

These days, dementia has taken over many of Rema’s memories; her friends and family say she seems happy but is much less aware of her surroundings than she was a year or two ago. But Verla said when she moved into Sun Terrace about five years ago, Rema knew who she was and remembered teaching her.

She said her former teacher was always patient with students.

Kathy Farabee, a close friend of Rema’s, said since getting to know her, she has seen that same patience with young people. Kathy recounted her friend’s reaction when she was telling her about a conflict between a mother and teenage daughter.

“I thought of course she would take the mom’s side, like ‘Darn those kids,’ but she just takes a deep breath and says, ‘That is such a hard age.’ She was so sympathetic to the teenager,” Farabee said.

She got to know the Fleeners when they ended up keeping some of her heifers on their property about 30 years ago, she said. As they got up in age, she started mowing their lawn and helping out with other chores around the property. 

“Bob was a heck of a good guy,” she said. “They were both good people.”

Bob died in 2001, just two days shy of their 60th wedding anniversary. When Rema moved into Sun Terrace, Farabee said she kept in touch and would visit multiple times a week — a tradition she continues.

Gillespie said his aunt has always been “very well spoken” and kind.

“I think she was well thought of by the student body because she was very knowledgeable and really liked the young people and had a lot of patience with them,” he said. 

She and Bob always lived a frugal lifestyle with their acreage. they raised racehorses on the property for a while, he said, and their horses won some races at Portland Meadows.