Frank and Betty Nims

Marriage of Frank and Betty (Hogg) Nims
Marriage of Frank and Betty (Hogg) Nims

Frank Leslie Nims, son of Lee and Ethel Nims, was born in 1917 on the family farm in Sumas, Washington. In "This I Remember", Frank documented his memories of life growing up on the farm in Sumas.

Betty Miles Hogg, daughter of John and Beatrice Hogg, was born in 1918 in Vancouver, Washington, where she was raised.

Frank met Betty at a mixer dance when they were both working towards degrees in education at Western Washington State College of Education, now Western Washington University, in Bellingham, Washington. They met the very day that Frank received his letter of acceptance for flying cadet training, so he had something to celebrate. Having served for 3 years in the National Guard while in college, after graduation Frank completed flight training and joined the Army Air Corps. Commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in March of 1940, Frank's first assignment was at Grey Field, Fort Lewis, Washington. Frank and Betty's courtship survived the separation during flying school and continued upon his return to the area. In August 1941 they were married. Four months later, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and the United States entered World War II.

Serving first as a pilot, then in various staff and command roles, Frank's military service career spanned 23 years, and he retired from the U.S. Air Force in August 1961, with a rank of Lt. Colonel.


While in the service, Frank and Betty had five children:

Linda Jean NimsBorn in 1942 at Fort Lewis, Washington. Linda died of cancer in August, 2006, In Albequerque, New Mexico.
David John NimsBorn in 1944 at San Rafael, California
Daniel Fred NimsBorn in 1949 at Holyoke, Massachusetts
Ronald Lee NimsBorn in 1958 at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho
Richard Paul NimsBorn in 1958 at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho. Richard, a twin to Ron, died at birth.
Frank and Betty Nims

Upon retiring from the Air Force, Frank and Betty bought a 100-acre farm in Cove, Oregon. Later that year, they purchased another 700-acre farm, about a mile away from their home place. During their farm years, Frank and Betty were engaged in a variety of farming and ranching enterprises, focusing in the latter years on their 85 acres of sweet cherries. In 1978, Frank received the Chamber of Commerce award as County Orchardist of the Year. He was also elected county president of the Union County Farm Bureau and served 9 years on the Oregon Farm Bureau Board of Directors.

While in Cove, interest and involvement in national and Oregon state politics and conservative issues motivated Frank to found Oregonians In Action (OIA) , a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the rights of property owners. With his political interests requiring Frank to spend more and more time in western Oregon, in 1989, Frank and Betty sold their Cove properties and bought an 80-acre farm near Sherwood, Oregon, about 30-minutes drive south of Portland.

Throughout his life, Frank has been an avid hunter and fisherman. During his Air Force career and in his early life in Cove, Frank enjoyed hunting waterfowl, upland game birds, deer, and elk. Because of his love of salmon and steelhead fishing, in 1980 Frank purchased 145 acres on the Siletz river, which he used as a fishing get-away property. He also planted trees and harvested timber from the Siletz place. Frank and Betty spent much enjoyable time on the Siletz, staying in the mobile home Frank purchased and moved onto the property. They eventually sold the Siletz property in 1996.

Frank's other passion was genealogy. His early interest in tracking his family history uncovered a Nims Family Association, which had been dormant since 1938. In 1979, Frank organized a reactivation of the Nims Family Association, and it has been active since, with regional meetings around the country annually, and a biannual meeting at Deerfield, Massachusetts, where the common ancestor of all Nims, Godfrey Nims, settled in 1667 and a home built by his son John Nims around 1710 still stands.

Betty passed away in November, 2008. The video below was played at her memorial. Frank passed away on May 20, 2017, just 3 months short of his 100th birthday. Both died peacefully in their family home in Sherwood.






Family Picture Slideshow
Frank (5th from the right in the back row) - Flying school graduating class - 1940
Frank - On graduation from flying school - 1940
Frank and Betty wedding - August 1941
Frank and Betty wedding - August 1941
Baby Linda with Betty - Taken at Betty's parents 29th Street home in Vancouver, WA
Baby Linda with Betty - Taken at Betty's parents 29th Street home in Vancouver, WA
Linda with David - 3 months (1944)
Frank - Taken while he was stationed on Adak Island, Alaska, at David Air Field, when he was serving as Inspector General for the 11th Air Force.
Linda and David with Cake on Adak - June 1948
Linda and David with dolls on Adak (circa 1948)
Linda, David, and Pete on Adak - (circa 1948) - (Pete was with the family in Adak, and while Frank was stationed in Pullman, in Hoyoke, and while teaching ROTC at Washington State University. He was old, and was put down just prior to the family leaving for Alabama in 1954.)
Betty with Linda and David - Playing with Pete on Adak (circa 1948)
Linda, David, & Pete - Christmas on Adak (circa 1948)
Linda and Dave in Holyoke, MA (circa 1949)
Betty with Linda and Dave in Holyoke, MA (circa 1949)
Holyoke, MA house
Frank and Betty (circa 1949)
Betty and her mother, Beatrice Hogg - Probably taken on a beach in Massachusetts, while Frank and Betty were living in Holyoke.
David, Dan, and Linda - 1st Christmas in the new house Frank built in Pullman, WA
Easter - Linda, David, and Danny sitting on the front porch in Pullman
Linda, David and Danny - Feeding ducks at Betty's sisters house (Freddied and Billie (Hogg) Meissner - (circa 1953)
David, Danny, and Linda - In cotton patch in the southern U.S. - Taken traveling to or from Alabama, where Frank was attending a training course in 1954.
Dan, David, and Linda - Taken at the Texas border while the family was on the way to Alabama
Linda, David, and Dan - Taken while the family was on the way to Alabama
Betty with Dan, David, and Linda - Taken while the family was on the way to Alabama
Linda and Dave - At the Sunny M Ranch - Taken after the family's return from Alabama (circa 1955)
Betty with Danny, David and Linda - (circa 1955)
Betty - Cooking pancakes for David, Danny, and Linda - One of the many famiy fishing trips to the Salmon River in Idaho, while Frank was stationed at Mtn. Home AFB in Idaho (circa 1956)
Linda and Betty - Possible breakfast for Ginger (circa 1956) - (After the move to Mtn. Home, Frank bought Ginger as the Brittney Spaniel was supposed to be a good hunting dog. But the first time he fired his shotgun, Ginger ran under the car and wouldn't come out … gun shy)
Betty - Fishing, while David sits with Ginger
David and Dan with Ginger - Taken in the yard while the family was quartered in 'Brick Quarters' on the Mtn. Home AFB in Idaho (1953-1957)
Frank with David and Dan - Taken in Mtn. Home. (Frank had a photographic darkroom set up in an upstairs room in the apartment).
Dave and Dan with Ginger in Mtn. Home
Betty, with Linda in Mtn. Home (circa 1958)
Betty with baby Ron - Mtn. Home 1958
Frank with Ron (1 year old) - Mtn. Home 1959
David and Dan carve pumpkins with Ron watching - Taken in their home on Fairchild AFB, WA (circa 1960)
Betty with David, Dan, Ron, and Linda - Christmas dinner - Fairchild AFB (circa 1960)
Betty with Dan, Ron, David - Fairchild AFB (circa 1960)
David and Ron on Cinnimon Roll - Taken after Frank retired from the Air Force, and moved to the farm he bought in Cove, OR (circa 1961)
Frank and Betty with Dan, Ron, David, and Linda - Cove, OR (circa 1965)
Betty with Linda, Ron, Dan and David - Taken on the porch of the farm house in Cove, OR - Christmas 1965
Dan, Ron, David, and Linda - Cove, OR - Christmas 1965
Betty and Frank with Dan, Ron, David, and Linda - Christmas in the Cove farm house 1965
Dan, Ron, Linda, and David - Taken on the occasion of David's graduation from Oregon State University - May 1966
Cherry orchard hillside - Pretty sure this isn't either one of Frank's orchards, but probably was taken nearby.
Betty, Dan, Ron, and Betty's mother Beatrice - Taken at the occasion of Dan's graduation from the Air Force Academy - June 1967
Betty, son Ron, and her mother Beatrice Hogg. Probably taken on the way to or from Dan's graduation in June 1967.
Linda and Ron - Cove farm house (circa 1968)
David and wife Carol (Leistiko) with Betty's mother Beatrice, Frank and Betty, holding David and Carol's 1st child, daughter Kristine - Taken at the Cove farm house (circa 1971)
Frank and Betty with Linda, David, Dan, and Ron - Taken at the home of Lad Hogg's family, Betty's brother, in Phoenix, AZ (circa 1971)
Frank and Betty - Mother's Day 1971
Old stone house in Cove
Ron and Linda - by the Cove farm house (circa 1972)
Dan and Linda in London (circa 1975)
Betty - Cove, OR with Mt. Fanny in the background.
Mt. Fanny near Cove, OR
Frank and Betty with kids and grandkids - Standing from left: Dan and wife Trudee (Finley), Ron, Dave and wife Carol (Leistiko). Seated from left: Linda, holding Dave and Carol's son Brian, Dave & Carol's daughter Kristine, Betty, Frank (circa 1977). (The polar bear was acquired by Frank in 1954, while on duty at T3, an ice island in the Arctic Ocean
Frank and Betty with David, his wife Carol (Leistiko) and their children Kristine and Brian. Taken in 1981 during the celebration of Beatrice (Nutter) Hogg's 90th birthday celebration, Betty's mother.
Frank and Betty - Taken in the new house that Frank built on the Cove farm.
Frank holding son Dan's 3rd child, son Kevin. 1989
Godfrey Nims plaque in Deerfield, MA. Godfrey was the forefather of all the Nims line.
Jana Nims (upper left), daughter of son David. Clockwise from Jana are Jessica, Kevin, and Nancy, children of son Dan. Take in the sun room of the new house that Frank built on the farm in Sherwood, OR (circa 1991)
Betty with her first great grandchild David Lee Hoggatt, son of Kristine, elder daughter of Betty's son David. David Lee is held by Jana, younger daughter of Betty's son David (1993)
Family gathering at the Sherwood farm. Standing from left: Son David Nims with his wife Carol, daughter Linda Nims, Betty, David and Carol's daughter Jana, son Ron, son Dan with his wife Trudee. Kneeling from left: Kevin and Jessica, son and eldest daughter of Dan and Trudee, David Lee Hoggatt (with Shiloh), son of Kristine (Hoggatt) Nims on his right, Nancy, youngest daughter of Dan and Trudee. (circa 1996)
Jessica, Nancy, and Kevin Nims - Children of son Dan. Take in Frank & Betty's Sherwood home (circa 1998)
Frank & Betty -Sherwood (circa 2005)
Sailing in Puget Sound, in and around the San Juan Islands. Son Dan rented a catalan sailboat. His brother David and his wife Carol joined them.
San Juans sailing 2
San Juans sailing 3 - Dan's daughter Nancy and her husband Rob joined the trip for a couple of days.
San Juans sailing 4
San Juans sailing 5
San Juans sailing 6
San Juans sailing 7
San Juans sailing 8
San Juans sailing 9
San Juans sailing 10
San Juans sailing 11
San Juans sailing 12
San Juans sailing 13
San Juans sailing 14
San Juans sailing 15



If you have comments, corrections or additional information or pictures you would like to contribute, feel free to contact Dave Nims.