CRISMAN, Filomena

The Record-Courier 14 Dec 2012 Filomena Crisman, 92, of Baker City, Ore., passed away Dec.3, 2012, at St. Alphonsus Medical Center. A service celebrating her life will be in Vale, Ore., in late April. Her cremated remains will be placed in her daughter’s grave in the Vale family plot. Filomena Veristain was born Oct. 11, 1920 in Boise, Idaho, to Ventura Veristain and Rita Bengoechea Veristain in a family of five girls and one boy. She graduated from Vale High School in 1938. Filomena attended Southern Oregon, earning a 3 year teaching certificate in 1950, then continued on at Eastern Oregon graduating with a BA in 1961 and attended the University of Oregon receiving a MA in 1972. In 1942, Filomena married Fred Lee Crisman in Ontario, Ore., just before he was sent to the Pacific Theater as a fighter pilot in the US Army Air Corp. Later that year, Filomena gave birth to a daughter, Rita Louise Crisman. In 1955, Filomena gave birth to a son, Fred Lee Crisman Jr. While living in Huntington, the couple divorced. Rita was killed in automobile accident in 1964. She moved to Baker in 1957 working as a nurse’s assistant until being hired by the Baker School District to teach PE and Social Studies at Baker Junior High. She was a dedicated teach-er who loved working with students in their early teens. Based on the cards and personal comments of her ex-students over the years, she touched the hearts and minds of many. After 23 years of teaching, she retired in 1982. In retirement, Filomena traveled extensively from Asia and Northern Africa to the Middle East including India, Nepal, and Afghanistan. After seeing much of South America, she enrolled in the Peace Corps and served in Poland in 1988-89. Later in mid 1990′s, she lived in Spain and attended the University of San Sebastian for a year. Between her trips, she was a reading volunteer at the elementary school level, worked as tour guide in the Baker County Museum, and helped at the Senior Center. Regardless of how far and how long she left, Filomena always returned to the blue skies and majestic mountains of the beautiful Baker Valley. In her heart and spirit she was truly an Eastern Oregon gal! She is survived by a sister, Santa Jacinta Hill in La Grande, Ore., a son, Fred L. Crisman in Eugene, Ore., and a grandson, Alec F. Crisman in Eugene, Ore. Memorial Contributions may be made to American Breast Cancer Foundation through Gray’s West & Company Pioneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey Ave., Baker City, OR 97814.