September 7, 1972
Welcome guests at the home of Ralph and Dottie Chastin were Ralph’s sister and brother-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. H.E. Thurman from Willows, Calif. and their daughter Cindy. Don operates the ferry that crosses the Sacramento River at Butte City. The family was on vacation and had been visiting Portland, Salem, and other Oregon cities, and were here for two days.
Another one of Ralph’s sisters and her husband recently came for a two-day visit. They were Mr. and Mrs. Lou Briggs of Salem.
Agnes Oliver, Kerby, was delighted to have her son from Singapore visit her and her family for two days. Captain E.F. Oliver from the American Embassy in Singapore was asked to speak at the American Bar Association at their convention which was held in San Fransisco recently. Agnes took him to San Fransisco Saturday and on Sunday visited her sister-in-law Iris Johnston in Walnut Creek. Monday, she drove as far as Grants Pass, stayed all night with her daughter Esther Blacklidge and family, and Tuesday morning arrived in time to attend the coffee hour given by the IV Women’s Republican Club for Mrs. Mark Hatfield.
Herbert and Beulah Higgins had overnight company last week, Walt and Dolly Parks from Palm Desert, California.
Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Sollinger from Sams Valley spent the Labor Day weekend with Herbert and Twyla Salvage.
Sam and Betty Thomason of Banning, Cal., vacationing in Oregon, spent a week with Gilbert and Isol Clayton, Caves Highway. While here, Betty remembered friends who used to live in Banning and who said they were moving to Oregon. She picked up the Medford phone book and looked for the name George Davis, not finding it, she thumbed through the Grants pass directory, then idly picked up the Cave Junction telephone book and there was a George Davis listed. They couldn’t believe it would be their friends, but called anyway and were happy to get in touch with their friends of other years. The Davises went to the Clayton home to see the Thomasons and enjoyed talking over past events.
Other visitors of the Claytons were Isol’s great niece and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Ray, who were guests for five days. During the time they were here Ralph and his wife packed in to Babyfoot Lake for two days while Isol kept their three-year-old Wendy. The family is now in Hawaii where Ralph is studying nutrition and preparing for his doctorate.
Richard Simmonds, nephew of Isol Clayton, and his wife Cindy were Labor Day weekend guests of the Claytons. They live at Lake Oswego. Other visitors were long time friends, the Rev. Floyd Duncan and Mrs. Thomason accompanied Mrs. Clayton to the Bridgeview Church Sunday morning.
Mr. and Mrs. George Davis of Rockydale Road had company from Whittier, Cal., Jim and Betty Dron and daughter Dianna and son Steven. Before coming to Cave Junction, they fished for two days at Gold Beach. They stopped here to see the Davises before going on to Caldwell, Idaho where Dianna will attend college.
Phayo and I went on a few days’ vacation and had a marvelous time. We left home August 23rd, drove to Redmond where we stayed overnight. The next morning, we had free, so we went to Mitchell where we lived for 7 years before coming back to Illinois Valley. We saw a few friends, but the town looks small and rather deserted. We enjoyed the drive between Prineville and Mitchell which we had made so many times in all kinds of weather and circumstances.
We arrived back in Redmond and at the airport at 1 p.m., waited a few minutes, saw a blue and white Cessna circle and land. It was my brother, David Flaherty, who had flown down from Palouse, Wash., and had come half way to save us long hours of driving. To those who own and fly a small plane, the flight from Redmond to Palouse would only be another few hours of flying, but to Phayo and I it was a new experience. It was good flying weather, although there were many cumulus clouds and just a little bumpy when near one. First, we were under them, then flying between them, and finally two miles high and could look down on them. We took a straight course from Redmond to Pullman and watched the changing scenery. First the rugged Central Oregon country, then the rolling wheat fields which reminded me of great-grandmother’s crazy quilt. There were patches of every shape and size, but many with precise patterns, zig-zag, stripes and circles. Some patches were yellow, just harvested wheat, fallow ground and some green. The crazy quilt landscape seemed almost flattened out at that height. In two hours and 20 minutes we were landing in a green strip which seemed to me to be too short. There were rolling fields all around. We were two miles from David’s home, and Kathleen came in the car to meet us. It was late afternoon when we left for the return flight. We watched the red sun as it was setting and the reflection on the Columbia River was beautiful, as were the row of mountain peaks. Soon the lights from the small towns and scattered farm homes winked at us as darkness fell, then the lights of Redmond and the airport runway, and we were landing. Someone asked me later if I didn’t wish my feet were on the ground, instead of being so high in the sky. My answer was, “No, my brother was the pilot.”
The purpose of going to Palouse was to attend our niece’s wedding. Kathleen is my brother David’s oldest daughter and both have come in the plane a number of times to visit us. Kathleen Flaherty and Paul Lenssen were married in a beautiful church wedding Saturday, August 26, 1972. The bride and groom held hands and faced each other while they gave their vows, the promises they wished to give each other, to be kept for the rest of their lives. The minister then pronounced them husband and wife.
We left for Redmond soon after the wedding, accompanied by Kelly, David’s youngest daughter. They attended the Pfefferle annual reunion with us. This reunion has been held in Pioneer Park in Bend every year for 10 years. None of the family live in Bend, but it is a central location and the family members and their relatives come from all parts of the state. The ones who meet there are the sons of Paul, Phayo, and daughter Josephine McLeish, their children, grandchildren, and the children and grandchildren of son Allen, who passed away some years ago. All are the descendants of Henry and Myrtle Pfefferle, pioneers of Illinois Valley. There were 25 present at the reunion this year.
Jim and Viola Higgins had unexpected company on Monday, Joe and Peggy Scycora and their two children Vickie and John. They could not stay long, but their visit was appreciated.
Several friends got together and had a Labor Day picnic.
They were Osmond and Margaret Henry, their son Howard Henry and wife Becky and son Kelly, Jim and Viola Higgins, their son Ray Friend and wife Rachel and three children, and Rachel’s father Rue Taylor.
Homer and Muriel Friend and two boys went to Eureka to visit her mother who was in the hospital. They also went to Fort Bragg where they visited Joe and Myrtle Sylva.
The first attempt at exploration of the Oregon Caves; An account by William W. Fiddler, written July 26, 1877 and published in the Oregon Historical Society Quarterly, September, 1922.
“Two years ago, Elijah J. Davidson, one of the most adventuresome and successful hunters of this region, while pursuit of a deer he had wounded, and was following with his dog, accidentally stumbled upon the discovery of which he took to be the mouth of a cave. The discovery was made on the spur of the mountain familiarly known out here as “Old Greyback” on the side that is drained off toward Sucker Creek or Illinois River.