Whitney Aaron Cude, Sr. (1909-1997) was an electrician who served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. In 1946, he moved to Vanport, Oregon, with his wife, Priscilla H. Cude (1912-2004), and their children, Dallas; Whitney Aaron, Jr.; and Jean Frances. After Vanport was destroyed by flooding in 1948, Cude and his family continued to live in the area of Portland, Oregon.

Whitney and Priscilla Cude later divorced, and both remarried. Dallas Cude Gray later worked for the Oregonian.

The city of Vanport, Oregon, was built on a Columbia River floodplain just outside of Portland, Oregon, during World War II to house employees of the Kaiser shipyards. In 1944, it had a population of about 42,000, making it the second-largest city in Oregon. The population declined following the end of the war, and was about 18,500 in the spring of 1948. Post-war residents included African-American shipyard workers who were unable to find housing elsewhere.

On May 30, 1948, floodwaters broke through the Northern Pacific Railway embankment, one of the dikes protecting Vanport. Residents had only a little more than half an hour to flee. Although the flood caused few deaths, the town was virtually destroyed. Some refugees subsequently lived in temporary housing at Guild's Lake in Portland, which consisted of 285 trailer units. The land on which Vanport stood later became Delta Park.