The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

GREAT START--As this week began last Sunday, it was super nice, as were the couple of days prior to that. It was definitely great weather for heading to the beach and having fun in the sun, but I found doing yard work was just a bit much for me, as once it gets up there in those 80 degree marks, I'm hiding in the basement! The first couple of days this week were super toasty and in many places, records for those days were broken, and we were even warmer than Portland on Sunday evening.

While we basked in the sunshine, other places like Colorado, were buried in feet of snow, with blizzard conditions and tornadoes and other horrible weather appeared from Texas, Oklahoma and straight up north from there, so we were very fortunate to be here on the west coast. We feel for all those who were in places like Japan and Ecuador who were dealing with sizeable earthquakes and after shocks and massive flooding occuring elsewhere.

SPECIAL DAYS--We'll be sending birthday wishes to these folks from April 21-27, and they are: Max Schmitz, Kent Martin, Makenzie Anderson, Marie Allen, Alyssa Braman, Debbie McClain, Tom Blalock, Susan Kuhn, Kelly McClain, Lisa Cothren, Eric Bergseng, Jason Wallin, Rochelle Wallin, Steven M. Doumit, Delaney Doumit, Seth Doumit, Sarah Doumit, Alyanna Brown, Macie Helms-Masterson, Devyn Lindsey, Mary Vik, Sandy Hendrickson, Carol Danker, Shawn Woods, Nathan Kincaid, Nathan Frink, Max Scudder, Gwen Good Ronninghaug, Susan Shane Edminster, Joel Peterson, Glenn Palmer and 67'er, Greg Lloyd.

Belated wishes go out to Gage Horman who celebrated his birthday last weekend, as well as Misty Shook who celebrated a few days before that. Hope you both had great days.

Those celebrating anniversaries this coming week are Kent and Irene Martin, Mr. and Mrs. Mike Paulsen and Robert and Melody Blain. Here's to terrific anniversary celebrations for you.

NEW BIRTHDAY--There's a new one to add to the birthday list this week, as Kalisha Mace and Roger T. Tover welcomed Harper Virginia into the family last Saturday. The little miss came into this world at seven pounds, six ounces and was 19½ inches long, so congratulations to them, as well as to all the grandparents, which include Skamokawa locals, Jay and Gladys Mace.

THIS IS IT--All the loggers and logger lovers, should head down to Appello Archives Center in Naselle this Saturday where the 6th Annual Loggers Reunion will be held. The hours for this event are from 10 to 3. For further information, call 360-484-7103.

THIS SATURDAY NT--Once again the King Brothers will be at the Duck Inn this Saturday night, April 23, from 8 to 12, so we hope you're able to come out and enjoy this great band sound! Not only do these guys play the oldies but goodies, but they are able to add that wonderful saxophone playing to many of their numbers, so it really adds to many of the songs we all know and love.

67'ers MEET/PLAN--Last Saturday was a great day to meet with a few of our classmates from the class of 1967 at the Duck Inn, and we filled up a couple of tables, and had a good gab while we enjoyed some good food for lunch. Meeting that day were: Elaine Munson Rolf, Noni Gilbertsen Meredith, Pam Below Lazor, Keith and Karen Lawrence, David and Kathi West, Dale Jacobson, Ed Bussone and yours truly, Kay Pedersen Chamberlain.

It seems some members have moved, some have joined the gym, some have been remodeling their homes, some have gone on exotic vacations, some get to travel to babysit new grandchildren, while some are more than happy to just stay at home and stay busy with their friends and family.

With busy times ahead, the group is opting to skip the usual monthly luncheon for the next couple of months and just meet on Bald Eagle Day, July 16, at Dale's place on second street down by the marina in Cathlamet. We found out that fellow classmate, Sharon McKie will be in the area from Florida during that time, and beings that just happens to be her birthday, as well as Bald Eagle Day, well, it seems like a perfect time and opportunity to get together. Also celebrating birthdays that month will be our host, Dale, Joanne Tarabochia Longtain and Kay Pedersen Chamberlain, so there's even a few more birthdays to celebrate that day!

Also, sometime in mid-September, we're hoping to have the usual camp-out and fire-side chat and potluck dinner, so watch for those dates to come up, as some of the major campers still have to work out the details.

NEXT FLEA MARKET--The next Flea Market at the Wahkiakum County Fairgrounds will be held May 7, which is the first Saturday of the month, so they invite you to join them with things to sell, or come and check them out and see if you can't find a treasure you can't live without.

LOOKING FOR RELATIVES/OWNERS--For some reason, somebody left a suitcase and bag with a bunch of pictures in them at the fair with a note on them that said to give them to me. I have no idea why! So, I am looking for somebody who knows these people and would want these pictures and things, as I hate to throw away somebody's family photos but they have nothing to do with me, so I'm not interested in keeping them around long. If you know who Rudy Stellflug is, please give me a call, as I have many of his class photos from the Condon Elementary School, which I have no clue as to where that is. It is also obvious that this stuff was in a fire, as many things are scorched, such as the suitcase and individual things are very smoky smelling. Also, there is the name of Buffington on some envelopes, so there may be a conection between the two names. At any rate, if you know these people, or you are one of these peoples' relatives, give me a call and I'll give you back some of your memories. It would be a shame to lose them.

ASKING FOR SOME PRAYERS--Long time truck driver, Robin Robbins, aka PeeWee, is in need of some good thoughts and prayers as he begins chemotherapy and radiation after it was found that he has stage three esophageal cancer. He could use all the support and well wishes you can send, so if you're on Facebook, look him up and send some positive thoughts his way, as we all know how much of a toll cancer, and its treatments, takes on a person. We seem to hear an alarming amount of people who are dealing with this dreaded disease in one form or another and we want to let them know that we are thinking of them and we wish them the best as they fight this miserable disease.

SYMPATHIES--When I saw the obituary for Joseph Starr last week, the name nor the picture, didn't really ring a bell for me, as the only folks I knew with that name had lived on Puget Island years ago, and they were much older and so I had no idea who this person was. Only later on did I find out that I did indeed know this person, but when I moved here in the early 70s, he lived in one of the apartments at the Hotel Cathlamet and at that time, was known to all of us as Joey Miller. He and my son were friends and his sister, Laurie was friends with my daughter, and their Mom, Sandra, became my friend as well. Those two also had two other brothers, Glen and Chris and later on their Mom had a little girl named Kathy. As a matter of fact, I still have a picture of her laying on my bed looking up at my big stuffed, pink donkey when she was about eight months old. She was totally bewildered by the pink beast! Years flew by, and we all lost touch, but over the years, I was saddened to hear of the passing of Sandy and Glen, but was happy to get reacquainted with Laurie once again. I truly enjoyed hearing her sing at the Norse Hall at the big school reunion a few years back and found out she has sung the National Anthem at various events, sings with a band at times, and has even portrayed Dolly in the play, "Hello Dolly." At any rate, we were very sorry to hear that Laurie had lost another member of her family and we send our deepest sympathies to her and the rest of Joe's family. His services are to be held next Saturday, April 30 in North Seattle.

OUT OF THE PAST--On April 1946, the week began pretty decent but later on it got wet and windy, so that towards the end of the week, power lines were coming down in Rosedale and even a power pole came down. As a matter of fact, snow was falling in the hills around town on April 29. Carol and Krist Pedersen were celebrating their 11th annivesary that week, while Susan Shane celebrated her 10th birthday, as her Mother Jean, celebrated her 42nd. Ralph and Elsie Everest, along with Mary Anne Risk, traveled over to Puget Island courtesy of Deb M. where a school program was being held, in which the Everests' grandsons, Ralph and Frank Pedersen took part. It was a real nice time, and there was lots of good food. Grandma Elsie sent a couple of get well cards out as it seems Mrs. Mast wasn't feeling well and neither was son-in-law, Leon Healy.

In 1961, it had been really nice but once again, just like in 1946, it got miserable and there was also snow in the hills. All this week, Ralph Everest was busy painting the inside of the Congregational Church. Don Peterson and Peggy (Pedersen) welcomed a son that week, as Joel Peterson joined sisters, Susan and Donna. The fishermen in town that made the Alaska journey each year were all going great guns, and one of them was Ralph Pedersen. He and wife Peggy left sons, Tim and Mark, at the Everest household, while they traveled with their new boat to Seattle where they were putting it on a ship to go North. He left for Alaska himself a few days later, right after his Dad, Krist Pedersen headed to Cordova. It was off to Achievment Day in Skamokawa for Alice Ott, Kathryn Johnson, Louise Lawrence and Elsie Everest, as they traveled together from Cathlamet to enjoy the event. All this according to Grandma Elsie Everest's diaries.