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Salem Pioneer Cemetery ~ Viola Barbara Hunt ~ part of the Marion County Pioneer Cemeteries of Oregon
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Viola Barbara Hunt
LAST NAME: Hunt FIRST NAME: Viola MIDDLE NAME: Barbara NICKNAME: 
MAIDEN NAME:  AKA 1:  AKA 2:  AKA 3: 
TITLE:  GENDER: F MILITARY: 
BORN: Abt 1904 DIED: 18 Oct 1931 BURIED: 22 Oct 1931
ETHNICITY:   OCCUPATION:  Housewife
BIRTH PLACE:  Russia
DEATH PLACE: Salem, Marion Co., Oregon
NOTES: 
1930 OR CENSUS - Viola Hunt b. Siberia, age 23, married (at age 18), enumerated with husband Howard M. Hunt, age 25, b. New York, carpenter, married (at age 21), and son Harold, age 3, b. Washington.

DISCREPANCY - Although Salem Pioneer Cemetery is named in the obituary as her place of burial, she is not actually buried here - she looks to have been buried at Belcrest Memorial Cemetery.
[perhaps the burial was originally here - there is a marker and inscription given from the S&H survey - but later moved to Belcrest]
DEATH CERTIFICATE: 
OSBH DC (Marion County 1931) #752 - Viola Barbara Hunt, female, married (Howard Melvin Hunt), b. in Russia, d. 18 Oct 1931 in Salem, Oregon (2135 Bellevue St) at the age of about 25, usual residence 460½ S 21st St., Salem, interment 22 Oct, 1931 in IOOF cemetery; undertaker Rigdon & Son, informant Mr. Albert Hunt of Salem.
OBITUARY: 
HUNT -- In this city Sunday, October 18, Mrs. Viola Barbara Hunt, about 25, survived by son, Harold of Salem and relatives in Russia. Funeral arrangements later by W. T. Rigdon and Son. 
Oregon Statesman 21 Oct 1931 5:2 

In this city Sunday, October 18, Mrs. Viola Barbara Hunt, about 25, survived by son, Harold of Salem and relatives in Russia. Private Funeral services from the chapel of W. T. Rigdon and Son Thursday, Oct. 22, at 10 a. m. Interment I. O. O. F. cemetery, Rev. D. J. Howe officiating. 
Oregon Statesman 22 Oct 1931 5:6.

JOINT FUNERAL PLANNED FOR SLAYER AND VICTIM
Estranged in life, Harold [sic] Hunt and his wife, Viola Barbara Hunt whom he met as a soldier in Siberia, will be united in death when funeral services will be held this afternoon at 2 p.m. for both at the chapel of W. T. Rigdon & Son. Interment services will be held at Belcrest Memorial park.
Hunt shot and killed his wife who was suing him for divorce, late Sunday night at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Sylvanus Page, 2135 Bellevue street, then returned to his home nearby and as police were arriving, he laid his burning cigarette on the kitchen stove and shot himself in the head, dying at once.
Hunt, evidently unbalanced by his domestic difficulties, penned an extensive letter before his death, expressing his regret that he could not take the life of other persons whom he accused of breaking up his home. The 30-year old murderer shot through a screen of his own home and through a screen and glass door in the Page home to pierce Mrs. Hunt's head as she was in the kitchen of the adjoining residence preparing sandwiches for her five-year-old son.
Harold Stilson, a neighbor, was alarmed by the noise of the shot and the scream from the little boy and was the first to discover Mrs. Hunt's body. He summoned police who arrived just as Hunt was committing suicide.
The dead man and his wife had exchanged complaints and answers in a pending divorce case in the Marion county circuit court. Hunt charged his wife with being a poor mother for the child while the wife answered that her husband was curel and impossible to live with.
In Hunt's effects were found letters addressed to his sisters, Mrs. Martha Geisler and Mrs. Pearl Ritchie in which he accused them of being false to him. Another letter complained of bad treatment from his wife whom Hunt declared did not smile at him and assumed a harsh attitude when he recently returned from an unsuccessful trip to California where he sought work as a carpenter.
Mrs. Page, neighbor of Mrs. Hunt, described the latter as a woman of good character for whom she felt sorry and for this reason Mrs. Page had permitted her to stop for several weeks at her own home.
Hunt's honorable discharge papers give him an excellent record in the marines. He enlisted November 16, 1921, and served in Siberia and the Philippines. He was born at Syracuse, N.Y. August 15, 1901. Among Hunt's effects in the possession of Coroner L. T. Rigdon is a life insurance policy dated March 18, this year, making Mrs. Hunt the beneficiary. Presumably suicide would void the policy. In some of the notes written recently Hunt expressed great affection for his small son. One note addressed to "Dear dad and mother" Hunt wrote: "I have a model T Ford and a chest of carpenter tools which are at present in care of H. R. Zander in Glendale, California. Will you please get these and keep them for Harold. Send for the tools anyway. They will be something for Harold to remember me by. Please. Goodbye and good luck. Howard. Tell the kids I have not time to write them; but am thinking of them anyway. Take care of our little home for Howard, if you please. It's all I have to give him.
Oregon Statesman 20 October 1931 1:1-2 & 2:3-4.
INSCRIPTION: 
Viola Barbera Hunt 
Died 
Oct. 18, 1931 
27 yrs. 8 mo. 19 days
SOURCES: 
OSBH DC (Marion County 1931) #752 
S&H pg 54 
1930 OR CENSUS (Marion Co., Salem Pct. 5, ED 24-60, sheet 6B) 
OS 21 Oct 1931 5:2 
OS 22 Oct 1931 5:6
CONTACTS: 
LOT: 821 SPACE:  LONGITUDE:  LATITUDE: 
 
 

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