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Mory Feed and Supply
Maurice 'Mory' Slaymaker; proprietor
June 1955 - January 1973
Compiled by Mike Clark

Maurice 'Mory' Slaymaker came to Rainier for periods of time in 1948 and 1949 to handle the Rainier Feed Store while the manager Sam Fetter was detained by the illness of Mrs. Fetter. Maurice moved to Rainier from Klamath Falls with his wife Marie and sons Curry and Neil and took over management of the Rainier Feed Store on June 1, 1955 when Sam K. Fetter retired. The store was located next to (West of) the Rainier, Oregon City Hall. Maurice Slaymaker purchased the Rainier Feed Store from the Centennial Milling Company of Portland and took over the business January 15, 1956 as Mory Feed and Supply. Both Maurice and his wife Marie were involved in the community and their sons were active in high school sports and other activities. In Janaury 11, 1973 Maurice announced his plan to sell the store and retire. Both Maurice and Marie remained in Rainier.
Sons of Maurice and Marie Slaymaker. Click on names.
Curry Slaymaker
Neil Slaymaker

In this uncredited photo taken in the 1960s, Mory Feed and Supply is shown next to (west of) the Rainier City Hall (110 West B St.).
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From the June 2, 1955 issue of the Rainier (Oregon) Review. Maurice Slaymaker took over management of the Rainier Feed Store June 1, 1955 from Sam Fetter who was retiring. Maurice 'Mory' came from Klamath falls with his wife and two boys of grade school age.
From the December 22, 1955 issue of the Rainier (Oregon) Review. Maurice Slaymaker will take over ownership of the Rainier Feed Store on January 15 when Centennial Feed withdraws from the local community.
From the Janaury 12, 1956 issue of the Rainier (Oregon) Review. Maurice Slaymaker purchased the Rainier Feed Store and took over the business January 15 as Mory Feed and Supply.
From the Janaury 19, 1956 issue of the Rainier (Oregon) Review. An ad announced that the former Rainier Feed Store was now open under new management as Mory Feed and Supply. The owner, Maurice Slaymaker.
The former Mory Feed and Supply store as it looked in March 10, 2014.
From the Janaury 11, 1973 issue of the Rainier (Oregon) Review. Maurice Slaymaker announced that he planned to sell his business and retire.
Maurice J. 'Mory' Slaymaker's obituary. He passed away on September 29, 1980 at age 71.

Curry Slaymaker

John (Curry) Slaymaker, was the eldest son of Mory and Marie Slaymaker. He graduated from Rainier Union High School in 1961. He joined the Peace Corps and traveled to Peru. After his service in Peru he returned home and was met with a draft notice that sent him to Vietnam. He took leave from the army in 1970 when he received word that his younger brother Neil had been seriously injured, hit by a car after stopping to help a stranded motorist. Curry then returned to Peru and helped create the Huascarán National Park and became its director. Curry tragically died when he and his climbing companion Michael Rourke fell into a ravine while scaling the 18,000 foot peak of Nevado Paria in the Peruvian Andes on July 13, 1976. They were never found. For a blog written by Lew Scholl about Curry please Click here.
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Michael Rourke and Curry Slaymaker
Last photo of Michael Rourke and Curry Slaymaker before their climbing accident.
Caption of photo at left: Curry, who was the first director (jefe) of the park and his friend and companion Michael Rourke, the mountaineering director, died in a mountaineering accident only a year after the park was formed. Their bodies were never recovered, but a monument was constructed in their memory near Lake Llanganuco. The photo was taken in 1976 during construction of the monument. The woman with the baby is Nora, Michael's widow, the baby - their daughter, Cathy.

Neil Slaymaker

Neil Slaymaker, was the second son of Mory and Marie Slaymaker. Neil graduated Rainier Union High School in 1964. He completed three years at Oregon State University in pharmacy and served in Vietnam. Upon his return he was employed as a lab technician at Wah Chang Corp. in Albany. In April 1970, he and a roommate attended the Whitewater Boat Races near Springfield. On their return trip on I-5 between Corvallis and Springfield they stopped to help two women who had run out of gas. They got help from the nearest station and as a final gesture Neil went around to the front of the car to pour a little gasoline on the carburetor to make sure it would start. It was then that Neil was hit by a passing vehicle severally injuring him. Neil went through many months of rehabilitation and had to put aside his plans of becoming a pharmacist to focus on his health. (source; The Longview Daily News, 1972)

  

Neil Slaymaker was asked to be the Rainier Daze Grand Marshal in 1972. He was selected by members of the Rainier Volunteer Fire Department who was sponsoring the parade because they had known him since he was a little boy and because they wanted him to know that the townspeople of Rainier had not forgotten him. Neil was salutatorian in his 1964 graduating class from Rainier High School and a four-sport athlete who one year wrestled an entire season without losing a match. His was a familiar face around Rainier, especially on the baseball field and the tennis courts, in the high school band too. (source; The Longview Daily News, 1972)
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From the April 16, 1970 issue of the Rainier (Oregon) Review. "Neil Slaymaker Critical After Struck By Auto." This article mentions Neil was assisting a woman by changing a tire, which differs from a later article in the Longview Daily News, printed in 1972, that he and a friend were helping two women who ran out of gas.

Additional information:

        Maurice 'Mory' John Slaymaker , on "Find a Grave" page.

        Marie Friedrichsen Slaymaker, on "Find a Grave" page.

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