Tag: Applegate Regional Theater

Sweet Lorane Community News, May 6, 2021

May 6, 2021Newspaper Columns, , , Leave a comment

Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
May 6, 2021
By Pat Edwards

This past week has been a difficult one for those of us who are long-time residents of Lorane. One of our own special people who was raised in Lorane and went to school in the Lorane and Crow schools was admitted to the intensive care unit at McKenzie-Willamette Hospital.
Following graduation and the military, Bud White moved to the East Coast, married, and raised his family there, but always kept in touch with his Oregon roots. He returned to Oregon about 5 or 6 years ago and settled in Eugene.

After being admitted to the hospital, his sister, Jodie Smith, began posting daily updates on his condition on Facebook which I shared on the Lorane page. Bud was diagnosed positive for the Covid-19 virus and was soon put on a ventilator. Love, prayers and special memories were sent to Bud and his family as we followed his progress/regression through the days. We cheered as Jodie reported that he had been taken off of the ventilator and was able to breath with the help of a BiPAP machine, but his lungs were not able to take in enough oxygen, so he was ventilated once again. Sadly, his quiet passing on May 3 was announced with Jodie’s words:

“It is with a broken heart that I must update you all about Buddy’s evening flight to heaven. It went smoothly and as easy as can be. He was blessed to have loving care at McKenzie Willamette Hospital including the beautiful people who comforted his wife Myrtle, daughter, Anne Melien, and grandsons Joey, Zack and Jaylin. They all shared his final moments.”

In the photo that she shared of Bud and Myrtle, Jodie pointed out “the kind eyes and smile that reflect the generous, wonderful, loving, hard-working and devoted person that Bud practiced being in every step of his life. To find a more kind, gentle, loyal, brave and patriotic friend, family man, volunteer fireman, veteran and pure-hearted soul is a feat in and of itself.” Celebration of life plans will be announced as soon as they are known.

Our condolences go out to the White family including his sister, Jodie, of Eugene and his brother, Corky, of Lorane.

The Territorial Highway Project at Stony Point north of Lorane is entering a new phase. This week’s newsletter informed us that, beginning on/or about May 10, the travel route over Stony Point will be a gravel surface. “The traveling public is encouraged to use alternative routes. People driving should drive slower through the area and motorcycles and bicycles should use extreme caution.”

The Lorane Grange has tentatively set its annual Grange Cemetery Clean-up for Thursday, May 13. Those interested in becoming grange members or volunteering to help with the project are encouraged to contact Lil Thompson at 541-942-5701 for more information.

Vendors are being sought for the upcoming Applegate Regional Theater’s Community-Wide Yard Sale to be held from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on the theater grounds (the former Central Elementary School) at 87230 Central Road—the corner of Central and Fleck Roads—between Eugene and Veneta. It’s 2-miles south of Fern Ridge Lake at Perkins Peninsula and sits next to the Central Grange. To reserve a 10′ x 10′ space, email art-inc@hotmail.com. The current COVID-19 protocols at that time will be observed.

It’s good to see some activities beginning to blossom again in our communities.

Sweet Lorane Community News, January 16, 2020

January 16, 2020Newspaper Columns, , , , , , , Leave a comment

Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
January 16, 2020
By Pat Edwards

Life right now is rather mundane following the “busy-ness” of the holidays. For Jim and me, the days are filled with doctors’ appointments, yoga classes, and trips to town to run errands for the store… with one exciting exception…

We have season tickets to the 2020 UO women’s basketball games along with our son, Rob, daughter, Michele, son-in-law, Brian, and the Steve and Renee Grube family. Last night had to be one of the best games I have seen played—anywhere. University of Oregon Duck, Sabrina Ionescu, who is considered by most to the be the best college basketball player in the nation—set records last night for highest UO women’s career scoring and her own single-game scoring at 37 points.

What is so amazing about this team, is not only the supreme player it has in Sabrina, but the standards that each of the team members represent. Regardless of whether kids today are even interested in athletics, the unselfish team play and work ethic on the floor make them ideal role-models for today’s youth—both girls and boys.

I’d much rather our grandchildren’s role models come from the high school and college ranks rather than the professional levels of any activity or career because those who are succeeding are doing it for the pure love of working towards a goal, whether it be athletics, music, science, agriculture, business, education or any other endeavor that has caught their interest. Just doing it for the monetary rewards should be secondary. Good game, Ducks!

As for current activities and news of the Crow Middle/High School, here’s some information passed on to me by Lil Thompson.

The 2020 version of the Ukulele group is once again meeting every Thursday at the school’s music room from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. They have a wonderful time learning to play these instruments and perform at various events around the area. If you’re interested in joining them, just show up at one of the practices.

In addition, the Crow High School welding classes are selling decorative wall-hanging metal hearts made from horseshoes in various colors. They have a hanger welded on them where hats, backpacks, necklaces or other items can be hung on them. To see and/or order them, call the office at 541-935-2227. Proceeds go to help fund the welding class.

The Applegate Regional Theater is also recruiting people for their Reader’s Theater group which reads scripts and acts out skits for area audiences. They perform not only at the ART, but also for senior groups in assisted living centers around the county. Rehearsals are kept to a minimum and there is no memorization involved. They are fun to watch since many of the readers really get into their parts and tend to really “emote” while reading, using different voices and accents. If you’re interested, contact Vicki Sourdry or Marti Byers at the Applegate Regional Theater, 541-935-3636 or art-inc@hotmail.com.

Well, we made it through this past week’s snowstorm warnings with little (if any) “white stuff” on the ground. Here’s hoping we escape the remaining winter and early spring without any extreme weather, as well.

Sweet Lorane Community News, November 7, 2019

November 7, 2019Newspaper Columns, , Leave a comment

Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
November 7, 2019
By Pat Edwards

What a wonderful event we had last Sunday at the Applegate Regional Theater. The Groundwaters LIVE! program was well-attended and much enjoyed, according to the feedback I have been receiving this week. Thanks to all of you who joined us as well as those who entertained our audience by reading their wonderful stories and poetry. In addition, we have received many compliments on the 2019 Groundwaters anthology that we launched at the event. Our hearts are smiling!

I stepped out of my comfort zone this last week. I’ve always loved music and whenever possible, I sing along with it… Jim and I are seasoned “car radio singers.” We know every word to the old country-western songs which Jim has always loved and the 80s and 90s country songs that our daughter played on the radio while at KUGN-FM. We frequently listen to them today as we make our way through town or on vacations.

As a teenager, I loved and appreciated classical and semi-classical music, too. One of my favorite classes in college at Linfield was my Music and Art Appreciation class, and I used to enjoy putting one of my semi-classical records on the record player while doing housework as a young housewife. I had several albums of them along with my beloved Ricky Nelson and Elvis records that kept me on task and made the drudgery of housework seem to fly by.

I can remember, about the time I was in junior high, singing “O Holy Night” over, and over, and over again for my mother, who accompanied me on the piano, while she recorded it into a tape recorder before one Christmas. I loved that song and never tired of singing it, but I never knew what happened to that tape or what she did with it after it was recorded. I think it was lost in one of our many moves. To this day, I love Christmas carols—the old ones especially—as they are so familiar to me.

As much as I loved to sing, however, I was only part of a choir for a short time. I participated in a 9th grade a cappella choir in Eureka, California for a partial year before our family moved to Portland where I finished out the year at Parkrose. I enjoyed being in that choir very much. As a very shy, newbie, freshman girl in Portland, I tried out for the school choir and nervously sang an audition with 2 other girls. I was told I had perfect pitch and was welcomed to the choir, but when we adjourned, the choir director sent us all home with sheet music to study before the choir met again. I did not have any background in reading music except for elementary piano lessons. I panicked and did not show up for the next practice… I quit the choir because I felt I was way out of my comfort zone. I’ve always regretted “chickening out” and have since, I hope, become much more responsible. We moved to Eugene shortly afterwards and I never tried out again for any type of choir.

So, it was with an admitted bit of trepidation that I agreed to join my two neighbors in attending the organizational meeting of the new Community Choir that is forming at the Applegate Regional Theater. My voice is not as strong as it once was and I can’t reach the higher notes as I used to. It also frustrates me that my voice breaks and wobbles a bit more than it did. Of course, I am 77 years of age, so I guess that’s to be expected.

Last Tuesday night, those of us who showed up for the first rehearsal were handed sheet music and were asked to sing “Carol of the Bells” as a group to show the director what we sounded like so we could be assigned our parts. Thankfully, there were no auditions, but I was suddenly back in the 9th grade, trying to figure out how to sing the alto parts that did not follow the melody in any way and were completely foreign to me because I was not able to read the music. I ended up stumbling through the rehearsal, thinking over and over again, “I can’t do this!”

Towards the end of the evening, I began to catch on a bit by listening to my neighbor, standing next to me, and allowing myself—for now—to sing the melody until I could gain a little more confidence and better understanding.

I’m not going to give up this time as I did almost 65 years ago… I’m going to give it my best shot.

For those interested in the choir, rehearsals are going to be every Tuesday evening beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Applegate Regional Theater, 87230 Central Rd., Eugene, OR, north of Crow. Call Vicki Sourdry for more info: 541-935-3636.