Originally ran in the Dec. 30, 1971 edition of the Illinois Valley News
Osmond and Margaret Henry of Rockydale Road had visitors from Somerlin, Arizona. Mr. and Mrs. Lee Jones, their sons Lawrence and Brazil, and Lee’s brother, Fred. Lawrence and Brazil are grandsons of the Henry’s. This is the first time they had seen their grandsons since they were little. Lawrence plans to go into the service in February.
Mr. and Mrs. Homer Friend have moved from Caves Highway to their trailer home in Takilma.
Christmas is the time when families especially like to be together. Ernie and Marie Weber had 24 of their family members home for Christmas dinner. There were their daughter and her husband, Howard and Marie Woods, son Terry, and daughter Becky, all of Cave Junction, and Becky’s friend, George Sattit of Kerby. Grandchildren and families attending the reunion were; Dave Woods and wife, and their three children from Rogue River. Robert and Nancy Kolhoff, and two daughters from Portland. Kathy and Richard Krull, and baby Joe from Merlin. John and Sue Erwin and little daughter from Grants Pass. Mr. and Mrs. Cliff Erwin, parents of John Erwin from Altadena, California. Another granddaughter, Sandy Moody, her husband, and twin daughters were unable to come because he was in a motorcycle accident.
The son of Mr. and Mrs. George Johnson, Daniel Gene, is home on Christmas leave from Fort Carson, Colorado. Daniel is in the Armored Division of the service ranks. He will return January 2nd.
Mrs. Agnes Oliver and her father Frank Jackson drove to Grants Pass and had dinner with her daughter Esther and son-in-law Leo Blacklidge and the grandchildren. Sunday, Agnes had dinner with her brother Earle and his wife Ireta of Selma. Sunday, Dorothy Enringer and her daughter Lisa visited her sister Esther and her family in Grants Pass, then came to Kerby on Monday to visit her mother Agnes Oliver and her grandfather Jackson. They returned to their home in Calahan, California on Tuesday.
A life time dream of Joanne Howland, Costa Mesa, California, has come true. She is the daughter of Kjeld (Kelly) and Evelyn Grimsgaard, Cave Junction. All of her life she has heard her father tell of his relatives and his native land, Norway. Last fall, Joanne boarded a jet and landed first in London where she visited for a week. From London, she she went to the far north where Kelly spent most of his childhood. She also toured other countries of Europe, but went back to Norway for the Christmas holidays. She spent Christmas eve with her oldest cousinm and on Christmas day she was with Kelly’s oldest sister and her family in Oslo. One of the days Joanne especially enjoyed while visiting her aunt was the St. Lucia Day festival the aunt and her grandchildren put on for a group of elderly people. The Christmas tree was in the center of a large room. The children and the elderly people all danced in a circle around the tree while singing. Joanne joined them. The custom is that when there are too many people for one circle, two or more circles are formed, one circle dancing in one direction, and the other dancing in the opposite direction.
John and Pearl Rossiter and son Billy drove to Crescent City on Christmas day to have dinner and a few hours visit with her mother, Jessie White.
Richard Rodrigues, Jr. and his wife, Susann their two children, Laurie and Ricky, came from Livermore, California to be with them. They were here with his parents for 8 days for the Christmas holiday. Richard Jr. is an electrical engineer with the Atomic Energy Commission. Richard and Alice also had as their Christmas dinner guests Kelly and Evelyn Grimsgaard. The Rodrigues’ had telephone conversations with their youngest son, who lives in McLean, Virginia, and their daughter in Gilroy, California.
Ward and Ione Wilson, Holland Loop Road, returned Monday froma two week’s visit with their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Ione said it was one of the nicest Christmases they had ever had.It was wonderful to be with all of the grandchildren and a great joy just to get to hold the great grand babies and rock them to sleep. The babies are 8 weeks, 4 months, and 8 months. December 19, they went to the Assembly of God church with their daughter, Lorna Sailor, and on the 26th, they went to the Christian church with their son, Claud. Christmas Eve they had dinner with Lorna and her husband John, who live on the campus of the Monte Vista Christian School. Christmas day dinner was served and prepared by their grandson Phillip Wilson. Before returning home, the Wilsons attended a family gathering at Concord.
Jennie Palmer reported that she Randall had a wonderful Christmas also. They waited up Thursday evening until 1a.m. for their youngest daughter Jeannie and her husband John Schaefer to arrive for the holidays. They came at 1:30, so all stayed up talking until 2:30. They live in Sacramento, but came up the coast highway because I-5 was closed. They were late arriving in Cave Junction because they stopped to visit friends in Eureka. The friend had just brought in a large number of fresh crabs and insisted that the Schaefers wait until he could boil 8 big ones to bring to the Palmers. The Schaefer’s two children accompanied their parents on the trip so they could spend Christmas with their grandparents.
At midnight on Christmas Eve, the Palmer’s telephone rang, It was their grandson Randy Schwartz calling from La Mesa, California. They also talked with their daughter Carole and her husband Douglas Schwartz. Early Christmas morning, another call came. This time, it was their son Randall Jr., his wife, and children wishing them a Merry Christmas. They live in Arleta, California.
We have all heard that the Althouse district was a rich mining are. Here is an account dated 1885, which I have copied exactly as written;
“Althouse. On the claim of Chas. Felt and George Gleason, known as “The Old Sling Claim,” a nugget of gold was recently picked up which weighed 17 ounces. On the same claim in the year 1854 one weighing nearly $3,200 worth was found. A few weeks ago a Chinaman on the claim immediately above found a nugget weighing 14 ounces. The ground in this vicinity is noted for its great richness, and is quite extensive, and also for the large nuggets found. There is scarcely any fine gold in this vicinity.”
I wonder if this is really true, or if the miners might have been inclined to exaggerate just a little. But then, on the other hand, none of us were there, so we cannot say that that which was written so long ago is not true.