743rd Railway Operating Battalion - Pipes

 Taylor Roby Pipes Sept. 9, 1916-Sept. 20, 2003 LA GRANDE -

 Taylor "Roby" Pipes, 87, of La Grande, died Saturday, Sept. 20, 2003 at his home. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on Oct. 24, at the First Christian Church in La Grande. A gathering for friends who wish to visit with the family or who were not able to attend the service will be held at 3:30 p.m., Oct. 24, at the Grande Ronde Retirement Center. Mr. Pipes was born on Sept. 9, 1916, at the Pipes family home near Fayette, Mo. As a young man in Arvada, Colo., he enjoyed going with his dad who was buying and shipping dairy cattle to California. In his spare time he enjoyed playing baseball, ice and roller skating, fishing and swimming. He quit high school near the end of the Depression, working many days for a place to sleep and eat. Fifty-cent-per-day wages were considered a gift! After his parents divorced when he was 19, he made his own way in life, spending much time at Filer, Idaho. 

On July 4, 1940, he married Anita Hermann at Weiser, Idaho. He always said "he gave up his independence on Independence Day, on Leap Year." On Dec. 18, 1943, he enlisted in the Army and served with the 743rd Railroad Operating Battalion, Company C-European Theater. He served mostly in Belgium keeping supplies going through for the ground troops. A perfectionist, he was very mechanical and skilled with his hands. After he was honorably discharged as a Captain, he joined the Army Reserves and was discharged in 1963. In 1946 he returned to La Grande and went to work for Union Pacific Railroad. When the yard office closed in La Grande, Yardmaster Pipes went on the road as a brakeman on the Wallowa Branch line and later worked on the main line between Hinkle, La Grande and Nampa. He retired in 1977 as a conductor. 

He loved to fish, pheasant hunt, camp, to putter around in his shop and to visit people. In 1984 he had a lemon-size brain tumor removed and was fully recovered after three months. He and his wife then went on a European trip to visit their daughter's family in England, and then on to Belgium to revisit World War II sites and to renew foreign friendships made during the war. In 1997 he suffered a massive hemorrhagic stroke following the removal of a second brain tumor. Intensive therapy and tenacity helped him to regain his ability to walk, read, write and speak small sentences. After living in their own home on Washington Avenue for 50 years, the Pipes moved to the Grande Ronde Retirement Center in 2001. In 2002, he had a third brain tumor removed. 

Even after suffering further setbacks, he was committed to regain and retain his health. He could be seen walking around various parts of town, carrying his cane like a "country gentleman," only using it for safety purposes when going up or down curbs or crossing rough spots. 

Survivors include his wife, Anita Pipes of La Grande; daughter, Janice Kerns and her husband, Tim, and daughter, Jean Conklin and her husband, David; four grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; a sister, Helen Burt of Arlington, Wash.; and other relatives and friends. A brother, David Pipes preceded him in death. Memorial contributions may be made to the GRH Hospice or a charity of choice through Daniels Chapel of the Valley, 1502 7th Street, La Grande, OR 97850