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Just my cup of tea

Originally ran in the Jan. 27, 1972 edition of the Illinois Valley News

It is always heartwarming to know that friends and neighbors are willing to help in times of need. Agnes Oliver and her father were having a pleasant time with Leonard and Thelma Jackson visiting from Eureka, Earl and Ireta from Selma, and two grandsons Scotty and Tommy Blacklidge of Grants Pass, when they heard on the radio that anyone who had trouble with water coming near their house during high water last year, to evacuate by noon.
Last year water came all around Agnes’ house 18 inches deep into her garage and storeroom, and during the 1964 flood the water came nearly to the ceiling. Agnes called some of her friends in the Grange to come help her. Those who came were Bill Bosanko, Kenneth Skurk, Henry Burhoop, Alice and Joe Eckery, Betty DeGray, and Kelly and Evelyn Grimsgard.
The small household effects were put up in the attic, the furniture high off the floor, and the piano put on blocks. Agnes’ 2 brothers and their wives also helped, until Leonard and Thelma were to leave if they were to get back to Eureka. Earl and his wife took his father Frank Jackson, 91, to their place in Selma. Maud Akers opened her home to Agnes, Scotty, and Tommy. They were prepared for floodwaters, but thankful that this year it did not come near the house. When reports came that the waters of the Illinois River were receding, her father and grandsons returned to the Kerby home and friends came to help Agnes set her house in order again. Agnes appreciates her friends concern and help.
Donald and Peggy Fulk had a birthday celebration January 22 for his mother, Mrs. Ashby (Mary) Fulk. Attending the party were the honoree’s husband Ashby, and Mr. and Mrs. L.W. Monroe, parents of Peggy. There were four generations present: Mary Fulk, great-grandmother: Donald Fulk, grandfather: Mary Fulk Ewing, mother: and the little great-granddaughter, Laura. Tom Ewing was also present, as were granddaughters Mary and Sarah Fulk, and grandson Jack Fulk who wished their grandmother a happy birthday.
Lucille Floyd has returned from an exciting cruise on an ocean liner, which is something she has wanted to do for many years. She gave a short resume of where the ship landed and a few highlights of the trip. She took many pictures and if they are good, she promised to return to Cave Junction and give a travelogue for her friends and all interested persons. Time and place to be announced later.
I will quote part of what Lucille jotted down for me: “The first stop was Tahiti. It was very foggy, but there had been a heavy rain and many of the houses were surrounded by water. When we landed at Auckland, New Zealand, the weather was warm enough to swim and sunbathe. Auckland is a beautiful city surrounded by lovely countryside. The highlight of the tour there was the Glow Worm Caves.
Christmas was on board just before arriving at Sydney, Australia. I took a tour of the city, did some walking and shopping. Seemed strange that all of the driving was on the wrong side of the street.
Suva, in the Fiji Islands, was a surprise to me, quite large and clean, as most cities are down under. We had a trip in a glass-bottom boat, crossing over much beautiful coral. On a small island we were entertained by natives. Tin can was sent out to the island by a small outrigger canoe, to be picked up maybe months later by some passing ship.
Pago Pago, pronounced Pango Pango, Samoa was most interesting, quite a primitive village. I made a phone call to Don Williams, Attorney general, and formerly of Grants Pass. Met his wife and did a bit of shopping. While there we had a tropical rain, a taste of the real thing we read about. (Lucille did not tell in her resume that she shopped too long and almost missed the boat. The captain was ready to leave without her, when everyone shouted, “Here she comes!” She said of all the places to be stranded-not Page Pago!) Honolulu was just as she expected, high-rise motels and sandy beaches and a new Del Webb City being built. The weather was rough and colder all the way back to San Francisco, then home via Grants Pass and the Valley.”
The many years that Lucille and Harry Floyd had the store at Holland there was no time to travel. I am sure that Lucille’s many friends are happy that she had the vacation of her dreams. Lucille was born in the Valley and lived here most of her life. A few months ago, she moved to McMinnville to be near her family.
Bob and Nova Cheney left their home on Hummingbird Lane in October for and extended tour of the states and have recently returned. One of the highlights of their trip was quite close, a visit to the Collier State Park Logging Museum near Klamath Falls. There they saw logging equipment, some of it used in the 1800’s, from sleds to railroad engines. In Idaho they were interested in seeing the latest in farming and irrigation. They revisited Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where Bob played when he was with The Sons of the Pioneers. They went to Yellowstone National Park. The Cheney’s said that Wyoming and South Dakota were beautiful in the fall. In Minnesota they went to the head of the Mississippi where it is only 10 feet wide. In Oklahoma they visited friends and Nova’s sisters and their families, Bea Denton, and Lois Hixon who live in Shawnee. In Arkansas they visited another sister Emma Jorden, Little Rock, and in London a niece Sybil Nordin and her family. In Arkansas they saw great cotton fields, the Rockefeller cattle fields, and the Arkansas River with its dams and locks for water travel. In New Orleans there are many things to do and see. Bob and Nova enjoyed a real river ride on a three-decker paddle wheel boat at the end of the Mississippi. There were also friends at New Orleans to visit. In Florida they went to the Ringling Museum and Edison’s home and gardens and couldn’t resist going to Disneyland in Orlando. On the way to Tucson, Arizona they went through the Carlsbad Caverns. While in Tucson, besides visiting friends and their daughter Jean Bradley and family, they went to Old Tucson where movies are made and the site of High Chaperal. In California they also visited friends and three of their children and their families-Thayer McCowan, Carmichael: Marilyn Scalze, Fulsom; and Will Cheney, Colusa. After all of their travels and the beautiful scenery they enjoyed. Illinois Valley looked great and there is no place like “Home, Sweet Home.”
A strange legend of the Sailors’ Diggins camp, later called Waldo, as the sailors, who it is said, jumped ship at Crescent Bay, dug for gold in the gravel they uncovered white man’s tools-especially a shovel-left many years before. The strikes at Sailors’ Diggins and the strike near Jacksonville in 1851 brought the first real gold rush to Oregon. The richer grounds in California had either been taken up or worked out. These first miners were intent only on working the richest ground by crude hand methods. Only looking for the richest rewards, they moved from place to place. Soon mining towns had sprung up over Southern Oregon; Jacksonville, Phoenix, Allentown, Browntown, Waldo, and Kerbyville. Others listed were Buncom and Willow Springs, but do not ask me where they were, because I have never heard of them. Have you? If you have, please drop me a line as I would like the information.