Author: paedwards

Sweet Lorane Community News, July 29, 2021

July 29, 2021Newspaper Columns, , Leave a comment

Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
July 29, 2021
By Pat Edwards

Three of Lorane’s long-time residents and friends passed recently and I want to recognize them here.

I was remiss in failing to report Briggie Maley’s passing last May, two months short of his 100th birthday. He and his wife Toby moved to Lorane in 1946. He was a timber faller for Chambers Logging for a number of years before hiring on with Murphy Logging. He retired in 1982. Briggie was active in the Lorane I.O.O.F./Lorane Rebekahs for a number of years as well as the Lorane Christian Church. Both Briggie and Toby were avid golfers and they reluctantly sold their home in Lorane and moved to Cottage Grove in 2005 to be closer to medical providers and the golf courses they loved to play. Toby passed in 2013—they had been married for almost 72 years. They are survived by their children, Pat Adams, Linda Sturtevant, Mike Maley and Jaynie Wiser and grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grands. A Celebration of Life was held for Briggie on July 10.

Jack Graham and his wife Doris moved to North Hill Road, east of Lorane in 1963. Doris died in 2019, and Jack passed at the age of 91 on July 23 of this year. I never got to know them well except for the occasional times they came in our store in the 1980s. A memorial service celebrating them both was held this past weekend.

According to his obituary, Michael “Mike” Atkinson, who died on July 18, 2021, “attended St. Francis High School, which is now Marist, then Oregon State University, where he graduated with a degree in Forestry. While enlisted in the Army, he married Grace Jungwirth in 1963. He was employed at Chickering Surveying, and then worked at Weyerhaeuser, retiring after 39 years.”

Sometime in the 1970s, Mike and Grace, along with his parents, Theron and Trudy, purchased a tree farm located between Lorane and Crow on Territorial Hwy. He and Grace had 5 children. They succeeded in growing not only beautiful trees on the farm, but great kids as well. Mike also donated considerable time to St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church in Veneta, and he served on the Crow-Applegate-Lorane School Board with Jim in the late 1970s and 1980s. Over the years, he kept active and donated his time time to organizations like Oregon Small Woodlands (OSWA), Western Lane Forest Protection Organization, Oregon Tree Farm System, and other organizations supporting family tree farm growth and forestry stewardship.

“He is preceded in death by Grace Atkinson (d 1997), and survived by his wife Constance, his children Richard and Martin Atkinson, Michele Stowell, Sara Nickel, and Anna Atkinson, and 13 grandchildren, his siblings, Sharon Hurst, Trudie Atkinson, Lorna Pletnikoff, Paul, and Tim Atkinson.”

Briggie, Jack and Michael raised their families and lived separate lives within the community of Lorane, but by doing so, they are etched into its fabric and history. Each will be missed. Our condolences to the families.

Just some reminders—

  • The Lorane Community Potluck is being held on Saturday, August 7, beginning at noon at the Lorane Grange. Doors open at 10 a.m. Bring a main dish, side dish or dessert to share and visit with neighbors and friends, welcome and meet some of our newer residents, and just enjoy being social again.
  • The Lorane Ice Cream Social will be held the next day, on Sunday, August 8, at 1 p.m. on Old Lorane Road in front of the fire station, and enjoy the wonderful ice cream and homemade pies, the live music and entertainment, and participate in the fun family events.
  • The Crow Grange’s Chicken ‘n Pickin’ barbeque (aka Joe’s BarB-Q) will also be held on Saturday, August 7, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Music this year will be provided digitally by the Poodle Creek Pickers and the Green Mountain Boys.
  • The Lorane Community Yard Sale is scheduled for Saturday, August 14. Maps will be available. Look for more details on the Lorane Facebook page.

Sweet Lorane Community News, July 22, 2021

July 22, 2021Newspaper Columns Leave a comment

Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
July 22, 2021
By Pat Edwards

This past week, I signed up for two days to work with the Oregon Authors’ Table at the Lane County Fair. I opted to display and sell my books for the first two hours each day; most of the authors stayed longer, but getting back into the swing of things for me right now necessitated a shorter stay. How I enjoyed being social again—meeting and talking to the many people who stopped by to ask about and consider my books and the other authors who shared the table with me.

I’ve never participated in these things for the sales proceeds. I’ve discovered that most authors and poets never get rich from putting their stories and interests onto the pages of a book. Like me, they usually do it because they love to write and share their thoughts and experiences with others. I’ve enjoyed taking part in quite a few author fairs, holiday markets and other author events over the years, but as a writer of local history, mainly, the most fun has been in interviewing and recording the many stories and memories of the people and families I and my co-authors have written about.

Sitting at an unfamiliar dining room table, getting a conversation started with our subjects and allowing them to relax and begin to share their stories with us was what it is all about. These interactions kept me seeking ways to keep alive their own early years and those of their parents and grandparents for future generations to enjoy and, hopefully, learn from.

So many times, we’d sit down at that table and be told by those we were interviewing that they didn’t see how anything they could tell us would be of interest. But, I cannot remember even one interview where we didn’t come away with a rich tapestry of memories and stories. Frequently, only a couple of questions from us would open and allow the conversation to flow, and the threads of that tapestry, as each story was woven, would lead us in many directions; all interesting and some, unexpected.

While working at the Oregon Authors Table this past week, two of those whose stories are included in Jo-Brew’s and my OREGON’S MAIN STREET: U.S. Highway 99 books stopped by the table to visit. One, Carolyn Bozanich of Dexter, is the sister of a former teacher at Crow Middle School, Opal Powell, that Jo-Brew interviewed for both of our books. Carolyn shared her memories of the devastating flood in Vanport, a large shipyard built on wetlands on the south bank of the Columbia River, that occurred in 1948. I was not able to attend the interview, so it was wonderful to meet this woman who provided us with such rich material for both of our books.

Then, a big highlight of my day was when a middle-aged gentleman with a twinkle in his eye, stopped by the table and introduced himself as one of the January twins mentioned in a newspaper clipping we included in the Creswell section of one of our books. He said that because of us, he and his twin are now “historical figures.” Here’s the text of that newspaper clipping:

“Mrs. Elmer L. January, wife of a state highway department employe (sp), had an important appointment with a local physician Monday—made two months ago. The Januarys had been traveling for the last two months and Sunday they started to Eugene—a day too late. One son arrived en route in Creswell; the other at Goshen. They were not anticipating twins, but Mrs. January is happy and well. So are the boys.”

Oh, how I love the perks from writing.