Whispers From The Tomb

If you’re stopping by Wilhelm’s Portland Memorial on Memorial Day weekend, there’s much to behold during your visit. Yet while touring the ‘Rae Room’ tomb is a unique experience, several key figures at rest nearby hold important connections to the man in the Rae tomb. These were George Rae’s accomplished business associates. This excerpt from the book ‘Whispers From The Tomb’ summarizes how important these men were to one another:

Prior to their forming Inman-Poulsen, the co-founders each ascend their own ladder of success.  Recognizing the potential of their combined talents, the men figuratively connect their individual ladders end-to-end, taking them all to dizzying heights. From their earliest days, the men sense great opportunity, not obstacles.

What George Rae and his associates could not accomplish alone, they accomplish as a team.

George Rae

To grasp the caliber of Rae and his co-founders, it’s helpful to comprehend the significance of Portland’s Inman-Poulsen Lumber Company, an astonishingly successful business. In 1890, Rae co-founded that firm with three other men. As a team, the four co-founders accomplished much. They employed many workers and broke a world lumber production record in the process. For all their effort, each was amply rewarded with significant wealth. Along with Rae, three of the four co-founders are interred at Wilhelm’s Portland Memorial. This includes Robert Inman & Johan Poulsen, both located close to each other in the structure’s older, southern subterranian section.

Robert David Inman

Johan Poulsen & wife Dora

George Rae is linked to another, little-known but noteworthy man at rest in the hallowed halls of Wilhelm’s Portland Memorial. That man was Inman-Poulsen executive George Thatcher, whom Rae entrusted to oversee his substantial estate upon Rae’s own death in 1918. Ironically, George and Elizabeth Rae are ensconced in their own marvelous Rae tomb, while these also successful friends, co-founders and executives reside in less opulent quarters.

Job Hatfield was George Rae’s son-in-law and an Inman-Poulsen co-founder. He rests at Portland’s Riverview Cemetery, next to Hatfield’s wife, Edna Rae Hatfield and Rae’s first wife, Lottie. Next to Lottie is George Rae’s initial gravesite, where George rested briefly before his second wife Elizabeth completed the stunning tomb where they now rest together.