So Much to be Grateful For!

Cemetery Clean-Up—While the coronavirus certainly changed how we go about our daily lives, it hasn’t changed our spirit and attitude toward volunteering and helping our community. On Friday, May 22 we held our first-ever “Social Distancing Community Clean-up Day” of the cemetery grounds. We had a group of 24 hard-working volunteers show up, along with two younger gentlemen who joined us with weed trimmers. Thank you to Laura Barlow, Sherry Kramer, Teresa Hopkins, Beverly Smith, Lisa and David Grant, Beverly Helvie, Kathy Waltz, Eric Rogers and Gillian Walton, Steve Casaleggio, Tom Mitchell and Karen Markman, Don and Peggy Jennings, Bradley Harris, Vivienne Grant, Mike and Kandee McClain, Joyce Athanas, Debbie Whisenant, Mary Siedlecki and Michael Sneary for all that you did in preparing the cemetery for Memorial Day.

I want to express my sincere gratitude to Eric Rogers and Gillian Walton who worked almost daily during the month of May, trimming and cleaning-up the grounds. Please know how much your efforts are appreciated. Our volunteers contributed over 160 hours of labor in the month of May.

Flags for Veterans—On Saturday, May 23 three other family groups joined Mary and me placing over 400 flags on the grave sites of all the known Veterans who rest in our cemetery. Thank you to Beverly Smith and her sister, Sue White, Don and Peggy Jennings, Murit and Lorry Davis and daughter, Niko. You made it a special Memorial Day for us, our Veterans and their families.

Special Acknowledgement—Thank you to all our City employees who kept the city running during these difficult days. Special thanks to Public Works employees Richard Shields, Eric Villarreal, Brett Barton and Kent Kleinhans for your efforts in the cemetery and supporting our volunteers.

This month’s selection for viewing previous “Meet the Pioneers” programs is from 2012, The DeRoboams as presented by Steve Casaleggio and Ann Wilton. Jean St. Luc was the brother of Madame Jeanne DeRoboam who along with his wife, Henrietta Schmidling took over the U.S. Hotel upon the death of Madame DeRoboam in 1884. On YouTube.com, in the search box, type Oregon History Tales. Click on the picture of the Covered Wagon and Playlists. Under the picture labeled Oregon History Tales, Click on VIEW FULL PLAYLIST – The DeRoboams is #32.

Featured image: Gillian Walton and Eric Rogers at May 22 cleanup – Photo by Mary Siedlecki