Timotea ‘Timmie’ Echanis
April 3, 1912 - March 10, 2008

Friday, March 14, 2008 1:26 PM PDT

Ontario - Timotea “Timmie” Echanis, 95, of Ontario, passed away Monday, March 10, 2008, at a local hospital.

Timotea “Timmie” Echanis was born to Jose “White Horse” and Claudia Yraguen on April 3, 1912, in a stone house with a mud floor on the Antelope Ranch, located in Malheur County on the Oregon-Nevada border. She was delivered by a “horse” doctor.

Timmie started attending school in McDermitt when she was 7 years of age and, as was true of all of her siblings, couldn’t speak a word of English. When sheep prices collapsed in the early 1920s, her family moved in a wagon with everything they owned to Bully Creek, outside of Vale.

While attending school at Star, which was located between Vale and Grove, she acquired the nickname “Timmie,” by which she has been known throughout her life.

When she turned 15, her schooling was terminated, as was true of all of the Yraguen children, and she returned to work on the farm until she decided at age 16 that she was going to start working for herself.

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She went to work for Ygnacio “Jack” and Maria Echanis at the Echanis Boarding House, in Ontario, and remained with them until 1934, when she married the love of her life, Jose “Joe” Echanis, Jack’s younger brother. Joe bought Timmie her house in Ontario in 1935, and she continued to reside in her house until her death.

Timmie cared for her husband and her children and was involved in all sorts of church and Basque Club endeavors that spanned her entire lifetime.

Timmie loved to dance, loved a good party and loved her family. Timmie was always a matriarch of faith for her family and all with whom she had contact.

Timmie is survived by her daughters, Dolores Gianotti and her husband, Jerry, Portland, and Kathy Franks and her husband, John “Pud,” McCall; two sisters, Juanita Ybarzabal Hoff and Martina Echanis; one sister-in-law, Babe Yraguen; 11 grandchildren, Jerry Gianotti, Alan Gianotti, Tom Gianotti,  Tim Gianotti, Maria Gianotti, Victoria Echanis, Joe Echanis, Larry Echanis, Tom Echanis, Angela Franks P’Pool and Ciriaco Franks; 27 great-grandchildren and their spouses and extended families.

She was preceded in death by her son, Joe, who was lost in the Vietnam conflict in 1969, followed by the death of her husband, Joe, in 1976; three brothers, Fanneo, Boni and Joe Yraguen; two sisters, Mary Arana and Carmen Inda; and by her brothers’ and sisters’ spouses.

In one of her life’s proudest moments, Timmie was inducted into the Basque Hall of Fame on Nov. 11, 2007.

There will be a viewing from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, March 16, 2008, at  Lienkaemper Chapel, Ontario. Rosary will be held at 6 p.m. Sunday, March 16, 2008, at the Blessed Sacrament Church in Ontario. Mass of the Resurrection will be held at 11 a.m. Monday, March 17, 2008, at the Blessed Sacrament Church. Vault interment will follow at Sunset Cemetery, Ontario.

In lieu of flowers, Timmie’s family requests that contributions be made to the Ontario Basque Center, in care of the Ontario Basque Club, P.O. Box 1233, Ontario, OR 97914. Condolences to the family may be made at www.lienkaemper-thomason.com.