Sweet Lorane Community News, June 18, 2020

June 18, 2020Newspaper ColumnsCoyote Ridge Dressage, Lorane Centennial, Randy Joseph, Tracey and Greg Weisspaedwards Leave a comment

Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
June 18, 2020
By Pat Edwards

This past week, a friend, Jane Hart, sent me a copy of an obituary out of Baker County, Oregon’s Hells Canyon Journal. It told of the passing of Randy Joseph, a former resident of Lorane who is remembered by many in the area for the beautiful woodwork and buildings he crafted around the area. He lived on Ham Road on a portion of the former 7-R Ranch which he later sold to Greg and Tracey Weiss where they raised and trained their wonderful Lippizan horses of the Coyote Ridge Dressage for many years. When Tracey and Greg built their dressage arena, replicating the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, Austria, Randy was one of the three Lorane craftsman who contributed their special touches to the building.

Randy was an active participant in many Lorane projects and events while he lived here, including the 1987 Lorane Centennial where he organized a draft horse-pulling contest. He also brought his beautiful team and wagon to other events where he offered horse-drawn wagon rides. Others in the area remember him as a coach of many of the Lorane and Crow students.

Randy Joseph with his team of draft horses.

According to his obit, after leaving Lorane to live on his ranch in Baker County, he built one of the only locally-owned wind farms in the nation. He left a legacy of woodworking not only in Lane and Baker counties, but all over the U.S., as well.

An interesting note included in his obit that I personally did not know about Randy was that when he passed on May 27 this year at the age of 69, he had more than exceeded his own estimated life expectancy. Both his father and grandfather died at the age of 58, so when Randy’s 57th birthday rolled around in 2008, he celebrated what he called his “Last Birthday Party” with friends and family. We are all so glad that he beat the odds by a lot.
Our condolences go out to Randy’s wife Linda and their three adult children, Jenny, Loran (the current mayor of Baker City) and Wade.

I want to take the opportunity to share the sentiments of Lil Thompson, my good friend and the Lorane correspondent for the Cottage Grove Sentinel. She provides me with much of the school and community news that I use in my columns…

We’ve both noticed that the community of Lorane seems to be fairing well during these troubled times. The Lorane Deli has provided take-out breakfasts, lunches and dinners for those who have depended on them for meals even before the pandemic; the Lorane Christian Church has found ways of having drive-up services on Sundays and, under Phase 2, is now allowing parishioners to attend services either inside the church or remain in their cars to listen to the service on their car radios.

Thanks to the wonderful staff we have at the Lorane Family Store, we have been able to stay open and provide needed food items for those who don’t want to make unnecessary trips into town.

Even though we no longer have a school in Lorane, the administrators, teachers, and certified staff of the Crow-Applegate-Lorane School District #66 have made sure that students, from kindergarten to high school throughout the district, feel remembered and very special. They have organized parades, promotions, graduations and I was even told that the kindergarten teachers visited the homes of their students and had them literally jump out of kindergarten and into first grade.

Our local organizations—the Lorane Fire Department, the Lorane Grange, the Lorane Community Association, the Lorane Rebekahs and Lorane Eta Theta Rho Girls’ Club—are always on hand, too, to provide whatever is needed for all of us.

I know that I speak for the whole community when I say, “Thank you” to each of them for putting a positive spin on a difficult situation.

Sweet Lorane Community News, June 11, 2020

June 10, 2020Newspaper ColumnsDonny Stewart, Gopher snake, James Bolin Smith Jr., McCulloch Cemetery, Memorial Day, Ruth Wardpaedwards Leave a comment

Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
June 11, 2020
By Pat Edwards

Life has been so serious lately and my columns have reflected that, but I’ve been saving a fun little story to tell you when the time is right. I’m thinkin’ that now is a good time.

For several years now, on Memorial Day, Jim and I have followed the lead of our son, Rob, who makes the rounds of six cemeteries to decorate the graves of our family members around Lane County—several of whom are veterans. One, Jim’s nephew, Donny Stewart, died while on a training mission with the U.S. Army in Europe in 1986. He lies at the foot of the flag in the military memorial area of the Springfield Memorial Gardens.

This year, Jim and I headed out a day early to clean up the graves of my mother and my great-grandfather, James Bolin Smith Jr., and the memorial plaque commemorating my father that are in place in McCulloch’s Cemetery on Briggs Hill Road. It’s a beautiful little rural cemetery sitting on a hill, overlooking beautiful vineyards on all sides. Mama chose it as her final resting place when she lived with us during her last year—her 96th year—of life.

2020 Memorial Day 6

The cemetery is kept mowed, but we try to dig out the weeds around her headstone, sweep it off and leave flowers that are blooming in our yard on special occasions. This year, we picked some of the pink rhododendrons that were in bloom to put on their headstones.

A lot of mown weeds had grown up right next to the cement headstone holding her bronze memorial plaque, so while Jim watched, I began digging them out, leaving a clean border. I hadn’t even gotten one side done, however, when all of a sudden, Jim said, “Look!”

There, on the portion of the headstone opposite of where I was working, curled up and hissing, was a very angry baby gopher snake. Now, let me explain… I am no fan of snakes. I don’t kill them, because our local varieties are beneficial in helping to keep voles and gopher populations down and I have never been one to indiscriminately kill anything. But they have always scared me when they appear suddenly. This little guy, though, was only about as big around as a pencil, but I didn’t want him coming any closer to me. Jim used the tip of his cane to try to get him to move along, but he was not about to move. I watched him as he sat curled on top of Mama’s headstone—and he watched me closely, as I continued to work on my side of it while he apparently guarded it.

2020 Memorial Day snake 3

2020 Memorial Day snake 2

2020 Memorial Day snake 1

Eventually, my little friend slowly crawled off the side of the stone and disappeared into the lawn. I took a break to get my cell phone out of the car to take a picture of the headstone when I had finished while Jim found a bench in the shade to sit on. I then continued digging out weeds, finishing up the side I had been doing and working my way around the bottom until I reached the opposite side from where I had started. As I inserted my trowel, suddenly there was a quick movement and our little friend emerged from under the headstone and repositioned himself once again on top of it, glaring at me for all he was worth. I could tell he was not going anywhere at the moment, so I took a few pictures of him as he continued to “pose,” and then moved to the other side to work across the last edge—the top edge of the cement. He stayed there watching me for several minutes before he slowly uncurled and began to make his way off of the plaque. I gingerly finished, expecting to see my little friend reappear, but he never did.

Jim and I both felt a kinship to the little guy. It was as though he had set himself up as Mama’s guardian angel and he was there to protect her grave.

I had a good laugh as we headed home, wondering what Mama would have thought if she knew her guardian angel would be a snake. She didn’t like snakes any more than I do, but in this case, I think that she’d have gotten a good laugh about it, too.

I just hope that our little friend has gone on to protect someone else’s grave as he grows to adulthood, though. I’m not sure I would think it was so funny if, the next time I go, I’m greeted by a full grown version of him.

Sweet Lorane Community News, June 4, 2020

June 4, 2020Newspaper ColumnsGeorge Floyd, racial prejudicepaedwards Leave a comment

Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
June 4, 2020
By Pat Edwards

Words escape me. For days now, I have been trying to figure out a way to express my thoughts about the current historical events we are living through right now since George Floyd died at the hands of rogue police officers in Minneapolis. These were men who went against not only their training in law enforcement, but against all decent humanity, as well. George Floyd and others who preceded him from this time forward will symbolically represent the reasons that we, as a nation and as individuals, must evaluate our own blindness to racial prejudice and bias.

Sadly, many of my generation in Oregon and elsewhere were raised in households where one or both parents were what I refer to as “racially naive.” We went to all-white schools and never even met or interacted with anyone who was from a different race or culture. The only connection we had with Blacks, Asians, Hispanics and other non-whites was through television, movies, sports and music entertainment.

But in my childhood home, my father was a racial bigot… No, he did not spew hate or join the KKK, but as my sister and I matured, he occasionally cautioned us about not dating any non-white men. I even remember a few times when he used the “N” word when referring to blacks. I could not understand his reasoning and was confused by a father who, otherwise, was a kind, loving man who adored his daughters.

Soon, the 1960s were upon us—the book, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee; the race riots; Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement… and then, later, the “Roots” miniseries. This young, naive white woman was suddenly learning so much more about the world of the racial inequality that had only been hinted at during her youth.

I’ve long believed that I have since been enlightened—able to put aside those long-ago teachings of my father. I’ve educated myself on the atrocious evils of slavery and how one group of humankind has long held prejudices against others. I honestly thought things were getting better and that we had begun to accept all colors, cultures and races as “equal,” but I realize that it will take more effort and awareness than what has been expended so far.

I’ve taken pride in my friendships regardless of color or race, but now I feel the need to dig down deeper and see if there are any remaining pieces of my upbringing that might need to be flushed out and addressed. It’s something that I think each of us must do.

All of my life, I’ve also been a strong supporter of those individuals who have put their life on the line as police officers, paramedics, firemen and women and others who serve, in order to protect us—all of us—from harm. To see that some of my long-held heroes are blemished and abuse their positions is tragic, but they are the minorities, more so than those who have always been referred to as “minorities.” These are the people who need to be weeded out and dismissed from the responsibilities associated with being our heroes.

I am warmed by the stories and photographs showing police officers around the country taking part in the peaceful protests being held. Some have quietly knelt beside the protestors to show their abhorrence of the tragedy caused by four of their brothers in blue. The protests signify a united movement by a diverse group of people to ensure that changes will be made to protect black, brown and blue lives as well as white.

We all matter equally and we must all dig out those hidden and buried bits and pieces remaining from the teachings of past generations and get rid of them, once and for all.