Ron's Cousin Yvonne

Chile  (circa 1958)

Left:  Yvonne Helen (Vincent) (Stephens) Cardemil  (1929-1998)

Right:  Gustavo H. Cardemil  (1927-2008)

Yvonne earned a degree in mathematics from Los Angeles City College and became a woman pioneer

in the aerospace industry of the early 1950's.  At twenty-two, she married a forgettable character

named "Tex" and divorced him shortly thereafter.  By the mid-1950's, she had met and married the

love of her life, Gustavo Cardemil, a Chilean naval officer.  For nearly a decade, the couple enjoyed

an exotic lifestyle in South America before leaving the Navy and settling in Arizona; but, by 1976,

that marriage also ended in divorce, so Yvonne relocated to southern Oregon near her mother,

Virginia Plummer, a real estate broker.  With Virginia's financial backing, Yvonne opened a small

grocery store deep in the Cascade Mountains, across the road from the South Umpqua River, and

just around the bend from the tiny town of Tiller.  For more than twenty years, Yvonne managed the

Telequa Cash Grocery Store completely alone, in quiet solitude, as she preferred.  Her sound

business acumen, keen wit, and honest service soon turned the market into a favorite stop among

passing logging truckers -- an enduring landmark of sorts.  Following Yvonne's death from throat

cancer, new owners stepped in and, thankfully, continued to operate the store in a similar spirit.