Adella Johanna Paetsch Ward Bischoff combined resourcefulness with an innate courage that she viewed as plain common sense, ignoring the awe she often inspired in onlookers.
She was 93 when she died Nov. 5 in Louisville.
At age 90, she encountered a rattlesnake as she hiked down an Eldorado Canyon trail that featured sharp drop-offs on each side.
She eyed the rattler, tensed and ready to strike, between her and the rest of her hiking party – her daughter, former Boulder Mayor Josie Heath; adult grandchildren; and small great-grandchildren.
Holding up a warning hand to the others, she instructed the adults to carry the children, directing them as they edged past the coiled snake.
“She was not afraid, and she immediately stepped in to what we had to do,” Heath said admiringly. “That, for me, embodied her spunk and spirit. Here was something bad, but we can get around it.”
Born in Milwaukie, Ore., she was raised in a stark lumber mill settlement and loved to hike. After growing up without electricity or plumbing, conservation came naturally to Ward, who went by her second husband’s surname even after marrying Charles Bischoff late in life.
When pennies required pinching during Heath’s childhood, Ward’s economies included feeding her child at the counter of the Forest Grove Greyhound bus stop that she managed with her sister. Ward’s motto was: If you didn’t grow it or can it, you don’t have it.
Ward established a reputation as a superlative cook. She once made 13 pies from the blackberries she picked that morning.
She could make jam from nearly anything – strawberries, apricots, peaches, chokecherries and, naturally, the wild blackberries that Oregonians view as both blessing and curse. She presented Heath’s family of five with so much “Grandma Jam” that they had barely finished one shipment when the next case arrived.
She took pride in belonging to the elite Mazamas Club, which requires members to summit Mount Hood, and took less than 10 days to hike the 93-mile Wonderland Trail circling Mount Rainier.
Ward displayed even more pride in her daughter, the first person in the family to attend college.
When Heath decided to run for a Colorado seat in the U.S. Senate in 1990, she called her mother, who was in Oregon at the time, on the morning she declared her candidacy.
“Mom, I really wish you were here,” Heath said. “I almost wish I could take something that’s yours with me to the announcement.”
Neither could think of anything appropriate.
Finally, Ward said, “Oh, wear my courage.”
In addition to Heath, survivors include three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Two husbands preceded her in death.
Staff writer Claire Martin can be reached at 303-820-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com.
