By James Day Maybe it was the white shirts and green bow ties. Or the way Roth’s always seemed to be involved in community affairs and causes. Or the tradition of an employee, often a student or teenager, always ferrying your groceries to your car. Or maybe you ran into Orville Roth himself in the produce section or bagging and […]
By Brenna Wiegand Silverton resident Bill Schmidt realized Orville Roth was getting older but he never thought of him as ever passing away. “He had so much energy and he acted like a kid most of the time,” Schmidt said. Schmidt was one of Roth’s many friends who were shocked and saddened by the news Roth died on Oct. 13 […]
By Brenna Wiegand Mount Angel’s 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Orville Roth, founder of Roth’s Fresh Markets. “My relationship with Mount Angel goes back 46 years, when Paul DeShaw and other local people started a committee to have an Oktoberfest in Mount Angel,” Roth said. “Who would have ever thought it would be what it is today?” He was […]
Fifty years ago, a rawboned farm boy from North Dakota got the break of his life – but nothing comes cheap.
The eldest of four children, Orville Roth was 10 when his father died. Any dreams of a life of ease or of carrying on the farm himself vanished in the dust as his widowed mom moved her young brood to Salem, where they found jobs and made ends meet.
