Ora 'Pat' Grimes

Ora “Pat” Grimes passed away on Nov. 6, 2008, at the SunBridge nursing facility in Moses Lake. Pat, born in 1915 as Pat Gwaltney, in Springfield, Ill., was a longtime resident of Moses Lake. She and her husband Neil Grimes moved to the Columbia Basin in 1953 from Montana.

Pat’s early childhood was spent in Minnesota and she moved to Montana with the Gwaltney family where they were employed at the Hill Ranch, near Wilsall, Mont., in the early 1920s. This ranch, which specialized in raising draft and dray animals for Midwest markets, was owned by Walter Hill, the son of the famous railroad magnate, James J. Hill. Pat’s father managed the ranch for Hill.

In 1933 Pat married Neil Grimes and they began their family life in Wilsall, Mont., where Neil and his family ran an automotive and blacksmith business. In the midst of the Great Depression this business did not prosper and Neil and Pat moved to the gold fields of Montana which looked, and turned out to be, more promising. They eventually moved to Helena, Mont., and during the Second World War moved widely over the western states doing heavy construction work associated with the war effort. This included the building of Camp White in Oregon and the Geneva Steel Plant in Utah as well as other projects in Wyoming. After the war Pat and Neil started and operated several businesses in Montana including a trucking company, an implement company and a marine and hardware company.

In 1953 Pat and her husband moved to Royal Camp near what is now Royal City in Grant County, where Neil worked on constructing canals, first with Sime Construction and later with a company he and Pat formed with a partner, Peters and Grimes Construction. As the Columbia Basin Project wound down, Pat and Neil started an auto service and sales company called Vista 66 in Moses Lake.

Pat and her husband were fond of horse trips into the high country of the North Cascades and used Early Winters Resort as their base for these frequent trips. They raised and trained their own horses and pack animals at their home near Moses Lake. Pat was very active in the Karneetsa Chapter of the DAR in Moses Lake and was elected several times to offices in that organization.

Pat is survived by two sisters Alta Woosley and Pearl D’Ewart both of Wilsall, Mont., a brother, Bob Gwaltney of Dallas, Texas and her daughter Patricia Lucier of Yakima and son Clint Grimes and daughter-in-law Jan of Lakewood, Wash. A memorial gathering of family and friends will be held Wednesday, Nov. 12 at Pat’s home between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. In lieu of flowers it was Pat’s suggestion that donations be made to the Moses Lake library. Pat will be interred at her husband’s side at the Woosley family cemetery on the east slope of the Bridger Range near Sedan, Mont., in early June.