Elsie (Yee) Keppinger passed away Sept. 9, 2026, in Salem, at the age of 96.

Born April 29, 1930, in Crane, Elsie was the sixth of eight children born to Hom Shee and Yee Jue Quong. Her parents and grandfather Yee Hong Ming were longtime residents of Harney County, where the Yees were the first Chinese American family.

Elsie’s early years were shaped by family hardship. At age 9, she and her family escaped when their house burned down. Elsie lost sisters Joy (age 6) to suspected food poisoning and Pearl (9 months) to pneumonia. Her brother Donald (19) was killed in action in Belgium during World War II.

Despite these losses, the Yees persevered and Elsie’s early years were also marked by her family’s positive community involvement. Her grandfather ran a restaurant, pool hall, and boarding house in Crane. Her parents ran the 24-hour Club Café (later the Hilander Restaurant), a wild honey business, a cattle ranch, and a Chinese frozen food business that stocked grocery stores with dishes from their home commercial kitchen. Elsie waitressed after school and on weekends with her sister Lillie, serving late-night hot noodles to boisterous post-dance crowds and truckloads of soldiers.

Elsie graduated from Burns Union High School in 1949, where she was a member of the Pep Peppers drill team. She later attended business college in Portland and went on to do clerical work for the State of Oregon. In 1952, she moved to Salem with Lillie and friends. After meeting Gary Keppinger at the Cottonwoods Dance Hall, they married in Burns on Nov. 21, 1954.

As a young couple, Elsie and Gary enjoyed dancing, music, and entertaining. They spent time with the Keppinger family in the Salem area, and with the Yees in Burns. Elsie and Gary went fishing with her parents, visited Elsie’s brothers and sister and their families, and enjoyed her dad’s roasted duck and goose dinners.

Elsie and Gary shared a passion for hard work. For over 30 years, Elsie served as bookkeeper and secretary for Gary’s rock-blasting business. She worked alongside him on their acre home parcel with fruit orchards, flowerbeds, vegetable gardens, aviary, native plant and rock collection, handmade stone fireplace, and creative landscape designs. When Gary began having debilitating health problems in 2008, Elsie became his full-time caregiver until his death in 2015. 

Elsie had many interests over her lifetime. In the 1970s, she took up jogging and racquetball. For 30 years, she played racquetball at the Salem YMCA every Tuesday and Thursday with her friends, the “9 AM Gals.” Elsie valued being strong and active. Even at 96, Elsie regularly attended physical therapy and exercise classes, and took frequent neighborhood walks at Capital Manor.

In the 1980s, with help from family and friends, Elsie started the Harney County Picnic. The annual gathering brought together current and former Harney County residents for music, reminiscing, and a potluck. Elsie remained involved up into the 2000s.

Elsie was an amateur historian. In the 1980s and 1990s, she renewed friendships with Harney County old timers and their families, met new contacts from the area, and collected stories, memories, photos, and anecdotes. She spent hours at the University of Oregon library, researching her family and other Chinese people in Harney County at the turn of the century. Her research led to her self-published family history, “My Name is Yee,” in 1999. Her work and historical family materials are in the Harney County Historical Museum. 

Elsie was a lifelong Oregonian who also liked traveling. She and Gary rode through the Pacific Northwest backcountry visiting friends, family, and work sites for Gary’s business. They explored wilderness areas and shared an appreciation for natural beauty and wildlife. In her mid- and late 60s, Elsie trekked through the Costa Rican rainforest and rode city buses to museums and markets in Mexico. At 75 she climbed the Great Wall and visited Toisan, China, to meet family and see the home where her dad was born and raised.

Elsie’s interests centered around family and friends. Her warm, open nature won over many. She fearlessly started conversations with new people wherever she went and found something to like about nearly everyone. She made friends easily and her friendships brought her comfort and happiness throughout her life. She liked helping others, making and sharing good food, and sharing laughter, stories, goodwill, and social harmony. She was a caring person who wanted joy and peace for others.

Elsie will be deeply missed by those who survive her: daughters, Amy Jo Thomison and Katie Jo Keppinger (Gregory Murphy); grandchildren, Joseph Thomison (Katherine McGanty), Jesse Thomison, Jasper Keppinger-Murphy, and Jade Keppinger-Murphy; great-grandson, Benson Thomison; sisters-in-law, Elaine Yee, Stella Yee, and Gaylee Evans; brothers-in-law, Larry Keppinger and James DeLapp; 25 nieces and nephews and their families; and cousins, Mike (Tina) Yee and Richard (Shirley) Yee.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Gary Keppinger; son-in-law, Patrick Thomison; parents, Hom Shee and Yee Jue Quong; sisters, Joy Yee, Pearl Yee, and Lillie Toy; brothers, Bill Yee, Donald Yee, Henry Yee, and Ning Yee; sister-in-law, Angela Yee; and brother-in-law, Chok Toy.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, Nov. 21 at 1 p.m., at Capital Manor, 1955 Salem Dallas Hwy NW, Salem, OR 97304.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Elsie’s memory to the Harney County Historical Society, P.O. Box 388, Burns, OR 97720.