The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

WAITSBURG – More than 100 friends and family members gathered at Waitsburg Town Hall on Saturday to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Dr. Roger and Laura Jean Hevel. Attendees came from as far as Santa Cruz, San Jose, Oakland, and Los Altos, Calif., Portland and The Dalles, Ore, to honor the couple, who have been an integral part of the Waitsburg community for more than 60 years.

The couple met in Pendleton, Ore., where they attended second grade together. By their junior year of high school, they were going steady, according to daughter Claudia Hevel. At 17 Roger left to attend the University of Oregon. He later enlisted in the Navy and was sent to boot camp at Farragut, Ida.

While in the Navy, he attended Carroll College in Montana, then graduated from the University of Washington. He entered the University of Oregon Medical School in July 1945. Laura Jean graduated from Oregon State University in 1947 and the couple was married during her spring break of that year.

Courtesy Photo

The Hevels on their wedding day in 1947.

Their son, David, was born Jan. 31, 1950, during Roger's internship at Ancker Hospital in St. Paul, Minn. The Navy assigned Roger to MSTS (Military Sea Transportation Service) and he served as a doctor on Navy troop transport ships during the Korean War until he was honorably discharged in 1952.

Dr. Hevel took an additional year of medical training in Portland at Immanuel Hospital. Their daughter, Claudia, was born on Sept. 13, 1952. After completing a year of family practice residency, Dr. Hevel was recruited locally by the Waitsburg Commercial Club.

The family moved to Waitsburg in July 1953, and Dr. Hevel began a private medical practice. The couple have been active local civil servants and philanthropists ever since.