Fenton served in the US Army during World War I. His Discharge Papers give the details of his military service. He had multiple German machinegun bullet wounds to his left side & survived. His left arm was left disabled. He was awarded the Purple Heart, Oregon Bronze Medal, & a WWI Victory Medal. He married Ida Belle Morris in 1917 & she died in 1976 & their only child died in 1989. Fenton had 7 siblings, 4 died before him & 2 after him. He has 6 grandchildren, 2 were deceased before him, 1 died in 2012, & 1 died in 2018. Two adult grandchildren are still living today & eight great-grandchildren, now there are several great-great grandchildren. Ida talked about his job with the Forest Service. He owned a string of pack horses, & packed in supplies to the back country for the Ranger Stations. Ida told us of one of his trips. He was in an area where a forest fire broke out. He & the horses got caught on the trail with trees down blocking the trail behind them & in front of them. They couldn't back up or go forward. The trail was along a steep side of a mountain, & the fire was coming up toward them. He did the only thing left he started shooting at the tree, trying to cut through the tree with his bullets. He couldn't use the ax because of his injured left arm. He finely cut through enough so he and a couple of the horses could be saved. But the flames were coming upon them to fast. He turned around & had to shoot one horse just seconds before the flames would have got it. According to Grandma he was one upset man loosing his good pack horse. Before he went to war he was the nicest man you'd want to meet, according to Ida. But when he returned he was a different man. Between the night mares & the constant pain he turned to drink. As small kids, the grandchildren didn't understand why their grandpa drank so much. As adults his grandchildren have a more understanding of what happened to him & why he turned to drink. When he was sober they said he was the best grandpa anyone could wish for. His older great-grandsons look up to him.

Fenton & Ida divorced but they never remarried. She was living with their son Rod in Walla Walla when she died in 1976. Thus Ida is buried in Mountain View Cemetery, in 2021 we were finally able to get her marker. Their son Rod & his wife Thelma are buried in Blue Mountain Memorial Garden in Walla Walla also.

Submitted by Kathy
27 Sept. 2015
Revised 22 Nov 2021