Edith Leithauser – Pioneering Sisters Retailer

(This article first appeared in the Feb. 13th, 2008 edition of the Nugget Newspaper)

Edith Leithauser recalled, “Must have been about 1944, I was in another part of our store (Leithauser’s Grocery on Cascade Avenue) when I heard my two young children, Frank and Joanne, giggling wildly with a customer in one of the aisles.”

“Thinking they were bothering the customer I apologized to the pleasant-looking man as he approached the cash register.”

Smiling, the man said, “They’re not bothering me at all. I was talking with them in my Daffy Duck voice and they thought it was hilarious!”

The man was Mel Blanc, the well-known voice actor behind the animated characters of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Sylvester the Cat, Tweety Bird, and many others.

This is just one of the many interesting stories that Edith Leithauser, eighty-nine and a resident of Sisters since 1941, relates about the early days of owning and operating a retail store in Sisters.

Born in 1919 in Boring, Oregon, Edith was the second of four daughters born to Floyd and Viola Lake. Boring, at the time, only had an elementary/middle school so all four girls attended and graduated from Sandy High School.

The depression affected many families in the area but the Lakes’ fared better than most. “My father was a postal carrier in the area so he had consistent employment throughout those years,” she recalled.

Steady employment, however, couldn’t prevent her mother’s debilitating illness during that time. Even after all these years Edith still gets emotional when she remembers her mother’s pain.

“My mother was bedridden with peritonitis so I had to step in and take care of my sisters, getting them ready for school, putting the cow in the pasture, and preparing meals. I learned about responsibility at a very early age,” she recalled.

Edith’s mother eventually had surgery in a Portland hospital with a full recovery and lived to be ninety-five years old.

Following graduation from Sandy High, Edith Lake attended Behnke-Walker Business College in Portland to obtain basic business skills. Her stay at the College, however, was short-lived as she caught the eye of another student, a young man raised in Sisters by the name of Pete Leithauser.

“Pete was ahead of me at the college so he was more prepared for what was ahead of us,” Edith recalled.

Edith had never been in Sisters before visiting Pete’s family in the late 1930’s. Trading barbs about each other’s home towns, Pete would call Boring “a lighted up cemetery” and Edith would counter that “Sisters was a wide spot in the road.”

Pete and Edith married in 1938 and soon after made their first move to Sisters. This initial move didn’t work out and they departed, only to return again in 1941. With one child in tow (Frank, born in 1940) the Leithauser’s began the process of buying Pete’s father’s grocery store, Leithauser’s Grocery, which was located at the present site of Sisters Bakery on Cascade Avenue.

“We lived in the back of the store in a large room, it had everything we needed and it was convenient because we worked all the time, all my kids too!” recalled Edith.

As the 40’s rolled into the 50’s and the Leithauser family grew to five children, Pete simply expanded the store to accommodate both an expanding product line and his growing family. “We built on a couple of rooms in the back so our family could have more room,” laughed Edith.

The store name changed as well to keep up with the changing times. Initially named Leithauser’s Grocery, the new store became known as Leithauser’s Supermarket.

“Seems like we were always expanding, moving stock, bringing in new items to meet the needs of people at the time. I listened very carefully to what folks wanted because there wasn’t anywhere else locally to get certain items,” said Edith.

Interestingly there were three food retailers in Sisters at the time. Residents were generally very loyal and “traded” (a term used at the time for “purchased”) items with one retailer. This may have been due to family relationships, business ties, proximity to the store, or the availability of credit from the retailer.

“I was always very friendly to my customers and, as a result, we had a loyal following. I even made a point of remembering tourist’s names – folks who only came in once a year,” recalled Edith.

Leithauser’s Supermarket operated from the early 1920’s to 1977. After operating the store for thirty-six years, Pete and Edith sold the store to Art Tennell, who then transformed the store into the first Ray’s Supermarket, eventually moving it to its present location in the Three Winds Shopping Center.

Edith and Pete moved into a new home they built on forty acres just outside the city limits north of town in 1977.

Early promoters and volunteers with the Sisters Rodeo, Edith fondly recalls cutting out pieces of oil cloth to use as numbers for the contestants in the 1942 rodeo which took place in the field just north of the present site of Conklin’s Guest House.

“A few of us did everything, from making numbers to operating the chutes, seems like everyone in town got involved in some way,” remembers Edith.

In recognition of their heritage with the Sisters Rodeo, both Pete and Edith were honored by being named Rodeo Parade Grand Marshals. Pete in 1986, Edith in 2005.

Recalling the experience, Edith said “They treated me so well! A beautiful jacket with my name on it, wonderful seats at the rodeo, and being parade marshal, it was so nice!”

Sadly, Pete did not live long enough to see his wife receive her honor. He passed away in 1990. At eighty-nine Edith still enjoys all that life has to offer. She’s active in her church, attends senior events in the community, and enjoys Model A Fords, a passion she shares with her family.

Be sure to watch for Edith Leithauser’s bright smile and shining eyes in next summer’s rodeo parade – she’ll be riding in a Model A Ford, waving to everyone, just like she does every year!