Bobbe Needham found part of her father this weekend at the dusty, deserted remains of White Bluffs and Hanford.

She found him in the soil that dusted her feet when she walked where he had when those two communities thrived along the Columbia River near the present-day Richland. She found him in the memories of those who knew Bobby Needham.

He was one of earliest American casualties of World War II.

Needham, a soldier, was killed in action in the Philippines just 19 days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Bobbe Needham was born 5 months later.

Bobbe Needham of Ashland, N.C., said Sunday she came to the 50th reunion of Hanford-White Bluffs residents and their descendants to learn more about her father.

"Every single person I talked to who knew him said he was really nice," Needham said.

On Sunday she attended the White Bluffs-Hanford 50th reunion picnic at Howard Amon Park in Richland. Saturday, with her uncle and aunt, George and Ruth Needham of Fullerton, Calif., she was on a tour of the old townsites. The land was taken by the U.S. government for the Hanford project 50 years ago.

"I was very surprised at how moved I was," Needham said.

When Needham was 4 years old, her mother remarried. As a girl, Needham learned little of her father as her mother kept the pain of her loss private.

"I didn't have any sense of who he was, of his growing up, of his friends, his personality," Needham said. This weekend helped fill in missing parts of her life, she said.

Others used the weekend to visit memories of the past.

Vic Hetherington, who lives in Lind with his wife, Emma, was 8 years old when his parents, John and Nellie, moved to Hanford on Jan. 2, 1920. After his dad had a stroke, his mother raised the children and later ran the old Planters Hotel, Hetherington said.

Emma Hetherington remembers the government taking her brother's home in old Richland.

"I don't think a lot of people realize they moved a lot of people out of (old) Richland, too," Emma Hetherington said. "My brother had a home and they made him move out. I think he got about $400." Herbert Brinson of Valleyford, near Spokane, said his parents got $700 for a 9-acre farm. His parents, Henry Lee and Addie Brinson, moved to East Hanford on the Franklin County side of the Columbia River in 1921 when Brinson was 5 years old. They later moved to Hanford in Benton County.

"They didn't get their money for 90 days," Brinson said.

Six brothers and sisters of the seven-sibling Moulster family were at this year's reunion, including Verna Brinson and Mildred Moulster of Kennewick, June Jones of Tacoma, Louise McBride and Lyman Moulster of Fresno, Calif., and Jack Moulster of Seattle. One sister passed away.

Their parents, Lewis and Lena Moulster, settled at Hanford in 1918.

"Dad was the agent for the Milwaukee Railroad," Mildred Moulster said.

Louise was born in their depot home.

"It was wonderful growing up there," Verna Brinson said. "Everything was free. Swimming was free, ice skating was free, we had free barbecues at the river. The river was recreation for all."

Their father retired in 1937 and settled at Hanford.

"They got the notice to vacate the same day our little brother Jack got his notice to report to the Navy," Mildred said. Their parents got $1,000 for their home.

George Medina, 87, still farms near Benton City. He left the Philippines as a young man, planning to travel the world. He got as far as White Bluffs and Hanford in about 1923, and liked what he saw. He started farming. He had 35 acres, all in orchards, when the government took his property in 1943.

He loved the Mid-Columbia and stayed, except for a short time with the railroad.

A favorite pastime of Leonard Walker while growing up at White Bluffs was diving off the old stern-wheelers running the river. He and friends would dive over the paddle wheel.

"We wanted to dive in the waves," he explained.

Leonard, now living in Sequim, attended the 50th reunion with six brothers and sisters, Alma Shelledy, Olive Bonar, and Ray Walker, also of Sequim, Helen Meredith of Port Townsend, Louise Ferguson of Laguna Hills, Calif., and Gilbert Walker of Burien. Another sister, Sylvia, lives in Saudi Arabia, couldn't attend.

Their parents, Dennis and Rose Walker, settled in White Bluffs in 1926.

"Dad was the contractor who built the school at Hanford in 1937 after the other one burned down," Bonar said. Alma, Olive, Gil, Louise and Ray all graduated from White Bluffs High School.