Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Mel Lester, one of the men who helped build Sweet Home’s timber industry and shape the community, died on Aug. 25 at age 94.
By the seventh grade, Lester was working weekends and afternoons at Brattlie Bros. Mill Co. in Ridgefield, Wash. He quit school in the eighth grade and worked in the mill; and during the summer months, he seine fished with horses on the Columbia River near Astoria.
He didn’t want to cross the picket line in 1936 when the crew at the Brattlie mill went on strike, but he didn’t want to join the union either; so he went to work at St. John’s Shingle Co. north of Portland. He worked there for 11 years as a sawyer.
Lester decided he wanted to do something on his own and saw an advertisement for a shingle mill near Sweet Home. He paid $23,000 for the single-machine operation in 1948, beginning a business that has remained in the family for four generations.
In 1950, he decided to expand and began construction of Lester Shingle Mill off 18th Avenue. That operation began with four machines and 24 employees. He expanded his business into other areas over the years.
“I worked with him my whole life; we were partners,” said his son, Stanley Lester. “I became a partner in ’58, a quarter partner; and in ’64, I became a half partner.”
When his father bought the business, he cut shingles himself, Stanley said, and then he had to do the filing. Eventually, he couldn’t keep up with all of the timber coming into the mill.
“Willamette Industries told him if he didn’t handle all their timber, they wouldn’t give him any,” Stanley said. The business was soon running four saws on two shifts. A couple of times, it had to run three shifts just to handle all of the timber.
“There’s hardly a shingle industry anymore,” Stanley said. The mill produces some shingles, but now it mainly produces lumber.
The business remains in the family, with the lumber yard and building supply store managed by Jim and Marsha Philpott, Mel Lester’s granddaughter and her husband, while his grandson and wife, Larry and Sandy Lester, oversee the mill.
Lester wasn’t in on the ground floor of the timber industry. It was more like the second floor. The timber industry began booming in Sweet Home right after the end of World War II, Stanley said. “There were mills all over the place when we moved here.”
Three mills were for sale, and about nine different mills were scattered from Sweet Home to Lebanon, Stanley said.
Still, Mel Lester was among a group of men who led the way through the early decades of the timber industry in the area, men such as Amos Horner, Jim Stock and Vern Geil, said longtime resident Mona Waibel.
“I think he really looked ahead at things,” Waibel said. “He thought about how to really help our town. He was always looking for ways to help Sweet Home.”
He was active in the Chamber of Commerce and was board president when her mother, Audrey Bryant, was secretary, Waibel said. “He was someone that had the respect of the whole town. Mel was who we all looked up to.
“When I would go with my mother at the Skyline and Mel was there, he would always say, I have to buy breakfast for my girls.”
He was good role model, Waibel said. “I really liked the guy. He was so special,” always encouraging others.
Lester was instrumental in forming the Chamber of Commerce, she said. “I think we wouldn’t have got it off the ground without Mel at all.”
Vern Geil, another longtime resident, said he respected Lester.
“I didn’t know Mel well,” Geil said. “But I liked Mel. He was very good. He seemed to run his sawmill and (did well).”
He was president of the chamber when Green Peter Dam came into the area, daughter-in-law Sharon Lester said, and he was part of the committee that pushed for the widening of Highway 20 into Sweet Home.
He was also active in the Rotary Club and a member of the Sweet Home Yacht and Regatta Association, Sharon said. The club is known as the only yacht club with no body of water to call home.
He was involved in many community activities, Sharon said. “That’s just the way he was, just a person that liked to get involved. He never said no, that I’m aware of anyway.
“He was quite a colorful character. He was a good sport about everything.”
The Lester family spent the weekend reminiscing about Lester, she said. She recalled a story about a mustache contest to be held during Sportsman’s Holiday. He spent the weeks leading up the event perfecting his mustache complete with curlicues. The night before the contest, friends cut one side of the mustache off after he went to sleep.
Lester also was a trustee at the Elks Lodge for many years and recently received his 50-year pin from the Masons.