First, obits back in that time period were not as common as today, unless a person was rich, famous, infamous or had died to a newsworthy accident or homicide. A true obit was written by a reporter. Many family members did not want to pay for an in-depth notice for many reasons, cost, the member didn't live in the area long enough, people that would have known they died-probably did, etc. Or, the person lived in a remote area...such as
Stevenson, where anyone knowing the departed would know.. There could be a funeral notice, but it wasn't much more than an advertisement for the funeral home.
The
Washington State Library has a free research service, the ask-a-librarian program, where they will look for information in the archives, in this case the newspaper microfilm for an event, such as an obituary. They will look up to an hour and send you the results. Contact them at:
http://www.secstate.wa.gov/library/ask.aspx . Depending on the amount of requests, it could take up to a couple of weeks.
Stevenson obits would be at:
http://cals.evergreen.edu/search?/dstevenson/dstevenson/1,1,...,
Ron Bestrom