The Chinook Observer-August 1988 Martin S. Wirkkala Businessman, 73 Well-known lifetime Naselle, Wash., resident Martin S. Wirkkala died Sunday, Aug. 21, in Ilwaco, Wash. He was 73. Mr. Wirkkala was born April 6, 1915, in Naselle, the son of Andrew and Hilda Korpela Wirkkala, and attended school in Naselle. He married Esther Johnson on Aug. 16, 1937. She died March 18, 1976. He then married Lorraine Beatty of Santa Cruz, Calif., on Oct. 9, 1976, in Naselle. She survives. In 1940 Mr. Wirkkala started his own logging business, MW Logging Co., and at times more than 100 employees worked for the company. At the end of the 1950’s he closed his logging business and continued to operate a business he had established earlier, the Naselle Rock and Asphalt Co. He also was active in ranching. Mr. Wirkkala was a member of the Naselle Assembly of God Church and served on the board of regents of Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla., from 1966 to 1988. He was a lifetime member of the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship International, an international lifetime member of the Gideons and a board member of the Living Sound in Tulsa. A son, Warren Wirkkala, died in 1939, and his brothers Arne and Paul died in 1928 and 1961, respectively. Surviving besides his wife are two sons, Brian Wirkkala, Chinook, Wash., and Arne Wirkkala, Naselle; three daughters, Marilyn Madden, Seattle, Margery Ellis, Vancouver, Wash., and Brenda See, Naselle; nine brothers, Oiva, Howard, Edwin, Lauri, Albert, Ben and Fred, all of Naselle, Hannes, Brush Prairie, Wash., and Urho, Cosmopolis, Wash.; three sisters, Elizabeth Lindholm and Eva Pellervo, both of Naselle, and Aimee Carathers, Vancouver; eight grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews. Friends may pay their respects at Penttila’s Chapel by the Sea, Long Beach, Wash., Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 8 o.m. and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Funeral will be Thursday at 2 p.m. at the Naselle Assembly of Good Church followed by graveside service at Peaceful Hill Cemetery in Naselle. Memorial contributions may be made to the Naselle Assembly of Good Church, PO Box 26, Naselle, Wash. 98638. Martin Sidney Wirkkala Peaceful Hill Cemetery-Naselle, WA 6 April 1915-21 August 1988 (As transcribed by the Wahkiakum County Historical Society 2012 from original from Mabel Kandoll Herold Collection.)