Tatone

Alice M. Tatone, 95, former longtime Boardman resident, died Tuesday, August 29, 2017, in The Dalles. A graveside service with military honors will be held on Saturday, September 9, 2017, at 1 p.m. at the Riverview Cemetery in Boardman, with a reception to follow at the Boardman Senior Center.

She was born in Boardman on August 2, 1922, the daughter of Charles and Mary Louise Dillabough Wicklander. Mary Louise passed away when Alice was 3½ years old. In 1931 the family moved to La Grande where Alice attended school. After high school she went to Oregon State College and then to Kinman Business University.

Alice left college and joined the United States Navy right after Pearl Harbor. She was the first WAVE in Oregon sworn in on the radio station KOIN.

In 1944 she married Joseph “Joe” Tatone and they moved to Arlington where Joe was raised. Joe worked with his family on the farm and Alice had a Merle Norman studio. The couple later moved to Portland where Alice attended Reed College and Joe took classes at Portland State University and worked on the river dredges.

In 1952 they moved to Boardman, Oregon, with their 2-year-old daughter Linda Jo and their 2-month-old son Joseph Jr. “Jody”. They converted the Cottage Inn into a home and opened a restaurant and lounge called the Hitchin’ Post. They ran the Hitchin’ Post and Joe did some farming and cattle ranching. In 1968 with the displacement of the town of Boardman from the John Day Dam they built Dodge City Inn (restaurant-lounge-and motel). Joe passed away in 1999. The family continued to own and operate Dodge City Inn business until 2012.

Alice was a member of the Tillicum Club and was president of the OFWC Junior Women’s Club of Oregon. She also served as the president of the 4th District of the Oregon Federation of Women’s Club. During the ’60s Alice was the leader of several 4-H clubs. In 1967 she became a counselor for Western Business University. Her position took her around the state speaking to high school students about business education. In 1965 she received an insurance license and sold insurance and later she also received a real estate license and sold real estate.

In 1991 at the age of 69 she wanted to fulfill a promise she made to her father when she left college to join the Navy and she went back to college and graduated from Eastern Oregon University with a Bachelor of Science degree.

Alice was preceded in death by her husband of 55 years, Joe Tatone. Survivors include her daughter Linda Jo Smith and her husband Roger of Condon and her son Jody Tatone and his wife Cindy of Roseburg, six grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren that where the joy of her life.

Memorial contributions may be made to the South Gilliam Ambulance Service, P.O. Box 85, Condon, OR 97823.

Sweeney Mortuary of Condon is in care of arrangements.