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

CHANGES--I think all of us in this area could agree that last Friday, Feb. 17, was just a gorgeous day! It was a "get outside, take a walk, hoorah for the sunshine" kind of day; very nice! Of course, then came Saturday, and the clouds and drippy weather returned, but even that day looked good compared to Sunday, which was a real soaker! I am hearing that we are going to get cold again, which means more snow in the mountains and below freezing temperatures here, so I do hope you didn't plant too many things outside just yet, or they may not enjoy this splash of winter! Here's hoping it doesn't materialize and we really hope our snow days are over! While February is coming to an end already, winter is still with us, so you just can't put those boots, umbrellas and heavy coats away just yet!

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from Feb. 23-March 1 are Mary McLaughlin, Nick Tarabochia, Darrin Dow, Wyatt Parker, Ray Danielsen, Whitney Kuller, Mary Hanigan, Shelley Olsen, Becky Barth, Ursula Jorgensen, Judy Pedersen and 67'ers Truchet (Madden) Miller and Kathy (Bond) Peek. May you each have a very happy birthday celebration!

Belated birthday wishes go out to Kathy Perkins, Alex Vegvary, Debbie Beebe, Vera Oman and Verna Almer-Tidd. Hope you all had terrific birthdays!

Happy Anniversary wishes go out to Mr. and Mrs. Terry Heagy and Mr. and Mrs. Kevin Wirkkala. Here's to your anniversary celebrations! Belated 27th anniversary wishes go out to Brian and Sue O'Connor who celebrated their big day at the end of last week.

Congrats to Victor and Monica Wiedemann Jr. who just got on the list as they recently tied the knot, so here's wishing them many more years of happiness!

COMMUNITY CENTER--This Friday, Feb. 24, there will be another free movie offered at the Cathlamet Comunity Center and it is rated All-PG 13 and is a comedy/drama. All movies start at 7 p.m. As always, children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult and you can order pizza from Sharon's Pizza Mill and have it delivered to the center prior to the movie.

The following day, Feb. 25, the Cathlamet Community Center will hold a "Grand Re-Opening" from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. For those of you who don't know where it is, it's located at 101 Main Street, which is below the City Library and where the former fire station had been located for many years. There will be refreshments provided with the ribbon cutting at 10 a.m.

The CC Coordinator is Kelly Patterson, who can be reached at 795-7870, with hours 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, and 9 a.m. to noon on Thursdays, and on Fridays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

There are numerous activities on different days and times, like a Book Club, or a Brown Bag Lunch, social hour, Bunco card groups, computer classes and more, so if you're interested in getting into one of these groups, stop by for all the information or call Kelly.

NOT LONG NOW/BUSY--The Friends of Skamokawa have had Redmen Hall closed since their Holiday Open House, but next weekend, March 4, it will be opened up once again, so we hope you'll stop by and check things out after this winter closure. Regular hours for the hall are Thursdays through Sundays, noon to 4 p.m.

Don't forget, the following weekend, March 11 and 12, they will hold their annual "Antique and Vintage Fair," to be held at the easily accessible, as well as handicapped accessible, Skamokawa Resort's Conference Room, located behind the General Store.

On March 19, which is a Sunday, all members of the Friends of Skamokawa are invited to attend the annual membership meeting at the hall at 2 p.m.

On March 25, the photography exhibit will begin, so please keep those dates in mind. Contact the hall at 795-3007 for further information.

KAYAKING--It's getting that time of year where you might want to contact Columbia River Kayaking and get your reservation in for one of their many tours which will be happening before you know it. They have all kinds of tours/classes, from beginner to experienced, so there's bound to be one just right for you. The CRK office is located on Steamboat Slough in a space to the left side (east) of the Skamokawa Landing building. You can contact them by calling 360-747-1044, and of course, they have all their information posted on their website, which will pop up if you just type in their name.

SYMPATHIES--Once again, we are sad to say that we have lost another truly great person, as Erval Cooper passed away last week. We want to send our sincerest condolences to his family, as he was really a wonderful person. If you ever went to a Mules sports event, you may not have known who he was, but he was probably there, as he was a faithful fan of the Mules and would be there if he could be. The last time we spoke to his son, Pete, he was doing pretty well, so his death really took us by surprise. In memory of Erval, there will be a gathering on March 11 at the high school at 1 p.m. Again, our sympathies to Erval's entire family during this very sad time.

VALENTINE ROUND-UP--I trust you all had a great Valentine's Day! From what I heard and the posts I saw on Facebook, there seemed to be an abundance of red heart-shaped boxes of candy, red roses and wonderful dinners, so it looked like it was quite a success. We enjoyed a great "drunken rib-eye steak" at the Duck Inn, which was awesome, and the fresh green beans, were super great too! All the ladies were handed carnations at the end of their meal, so that was a nice touch. The "King Brothers" played some great music for us, with new member, Bill Booth at the guitar and as always, they sounded great; and that saxophone player is always a big hit. I spoke with the band at their break, and we found out that we knew a lot of people from "way back when" when "battle of the bands" were common in the bowling alley parking lot and bands were always at George's Broiler or playing at the Smith Center! We even knew the same musicians from "The Impacts" and they knew of "The Chessmen," and beings I had been married to one, well, we had lots of fun stories to share!

I know Valentine's was a double celebration for several people, as Connie Shrum, Blake Hess, John Thompson, Sherry McCormack, Sean Brennan, Roberta Backman and Diane Garrett all had birthdays that day! Also, the David Blacks, the Ray Davises and the Jerry DeBriaes had anniversaries, so hey, they really got to celebrate these double special days!

START NOW--It's amazing how many things we don't know about our loved ones until it's too late to ask. We take things for granted and always figure that there will be more time to tell the stories that we wanted to tell our kids or grandkids, but then life happens, and the time has passed and no one knows those special, funny, one of kind stories that only you would know. So, if you haven't had a chance to tell your kids how you met your wife/husband, how you proposed or were proposed to, what it was like on your wedding day, or even little things like your favorite color, what you used to eat for breakfast, and how you got to school or your favorite teacher, etc., why not sit down and write those down today? If you're not a writer, then maybe this would be a good thing to do on a weekend when the kids or grandkids come over. Just talk, let them take notes, tell your life's story while you can. We are not promised tomorrow and when you're gone, no one will know the real you, unless you've shared it with someone. Leave your family something they can always treasure, the memories of you and your life!

OUT OF THE PAST--This week back in 1947, it was "lovely" all week long, although one morning started off pretty cold. On one of those nice days, it was off for a walk, with dinner being enjoyed at Jim's Cafe and then Grandma Elsie headed to the show, which was called, "The Enchanted Forest." There was a lot of company one day at the Everest house, as both daughter, Carol's family and Grace Pedersen Moore's family came by. Then Carol Hauck and the Jack Lawsons stopped by too. Tragically that week, Tex Rankin, a pilot, was killed in an air crash. Fifteen years previously, it was this same man who was making food and paper drops to this area. Later on that week, daughter Marian and husband Leon stopped by, as he'd gotten a new job at Abernathy and was telling them all about it. On the last day of the month, it was off to the Rebekah Lodge meeting!

Unlike the weather in 1947, 10 years later, in 1957, it was cold, wet and nasty for several days before it finally turned off decent. While Carol, Frank and Kay Pedersen headed to Longview, Grandma Elsie was watching one and a half year old Marshall Pedersen, who was "good as gold" Grandma said. Beings she was able to bake bread and make cinnamon rolls to share with the family while they were gone, he was obviously pretty good. With an oil stove backfire making a mess in their house, it was time for cleaning everything, taking down curtains and washing and ironing them and then repainting some things as well. When Alger Anderson stopped in, he was happy to receive a bunch of smelt that the Everests had extra. When Grandma had to go to a meeting, Mary Lang was able to bring her home, where she stayed for lunch and talked about her upcoming trip to Switzerland with her mother. With Grandma's birthday coming up, a couple of her friends stopped by with early gifts, like Mrs. Johnson with a batch of cupcakes and Mrs. Gill brought a bone china cup to add to her collection. All this according to my Grandma Elsie Everest's diaries.