Thursday, May 4, 1972
Loren (Pete) and Hazel George of Klamath Falls were visitors last week for four days in the home of Jim and Lena Payne. Pete came over to attend a special meeting of the Odd Fellows meeting. The Georges were long time residents of Illinois Valley and both attended school here. Hazel and Lena were students of Effie Smith.
Maynard Murdock, who formerly lived on the Row Wells place when he and his wife Lilian were residents of the Illinois Valley, is scheduled for heart surgery May 5. Mrs. Murdock, nee Lillian Wells, is a cousin of Hazel George and was born in the Valley. The Murdocks have lived in Klamath Falls for several years, where they owned and operated a store. They have recently retired.
Hubert and Beulah Higgins had company for dinner Tuesday evening. They were Mr. and Mrs. Randy Weidman of Camas, Wash. They were childhood friends of Beulah. The Weidmans were staying for a week with his sister and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. A.K. Jones, who live on the Williams Hwy in Grants Pass. They hope to do some salmon fishing during their stay in Grants Pass.
Stephen Potwin, grandson of Harry and Effie smith, was one of the students who attended the Forest Service ecology class last weekend. Stephen is a junior in the College Forest Service Ecology at OSU. Although the Ecology Class (reported in another account) had a busy schedule, Stephen found time to spend with his grandparents and have dinner with them.
Mr. and Mrs. J. Ed McLellan of Burlingame, Calif. Were guests of Harry and Ethyl Smith April 26. McLellan is a retired attorney and now has time to travel in the interest of the preservation of wildflowers. Both he and his wife are botanists and excellent photographers. They climb mountains, wade streams, and stand in bogs, to capture the beauty of rare wildflowers on colored slides. They take pictures in the heat of the desert and in the rain and cold weather in the high mountains. McClellan is a member of the Academy of Sciences at Golden Gate Park.
They showed many slides at the Garden Club April 28. His lecture of the slides and of the many different wildflowers in the lily family which grow in Oregon and California.
Mr. and Mrs. Claud Mills visited Harry and Ethyl Smith April 27. Mills teaches horticulture at Clackamas Community College and is the representative of the Oregon Nurserymen. He will be remembered for the first program he gave at the night meeting of the Illinois Valley Garden Club, last Fall. Friends will be glad to know that Mrs. Mills no longer has to use crutches now. She was here in the Fall when she was recovering from a broken leg. Mills gave a program on landscaping at the Rogue Valley Rose Society in Grants Pass April 27. John and Gladys England and Phayo and I attended this informative meeting.
June Kerslake and Beatrice Barnett of Seaside, daughters of Osmond and Margaret Henry, Rockydale Road, came for a short visit Monday night.
Names of towns, mountains, and other places often have an interesting story or event concerning the origin of the name. Such a place is the steep hill and narrow canyon located between Selma and Kerby called “Sis’s Gap.” According to old-timers, this is a tribute to a brave young pioneer woman, affectionately known as Sis Hays. During the Indian attack in March, 1854, on Fort Hays, the settlers needed reinforcements to prevent their death. Young Sis Hays volunteered to got to Kerbyville to spread the alarm. Riding her horse through dense forest, during darkness of night, she was able elude the warriors and obtain the much-needed help. This was truly a courageous act, and the narrow canyon that she rode through that has long been known as Sis’s Gap.