14
Wednesday, March 8, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Commentary...
Of a certain age…
By Sue Stafford
Columnist
Pioneers, writers, adven-
turers, farmers, intellectu-
als, business people, public
servants – the roots of my
family tree. They originally
emigrated from England,
Ireland and Scotland when
America was in its infancy.
They came first to Canada,
Vermont and North Carolina,
from where they eventu-
ally joined the advance
wave of western migration,
first to the western slopes
of the Appalachian moun-
tains, then to Indiana and
Illinois. When the Far West
became the land of prom-
ise, they left comfortable
familiarity behind to pursue
the dream of expansion and
opportunity.
Growing up in Portland, I
was surrounded by the leg-
acy, history, and stories of
my ancestors who had made
the long trek on the Oregon
Trail to secure the promise
of new lands and a new life.
Several years ago when I
drove across the country in a
comfortable air-conditioned
car, I marveled at the tough-
ness and courage it must
have taken for my pioneer
forbearers to strike out into
the wilderness with no guar-
antee of what they would
find, no creature comforts
along the way, and unbear-
able hardships.
My maternal great-great-
grandfather, John Tucker
Scott, his wife Anne, and
nine children left the com-
fort of a prosperous Illinois
farm in 1852 to seek the
opportunities of the west.
Anne made it only as far
as Fort Laramie, Wyoming,
where she is buried along
the trail — one of the many
victims of cholera. Weeks
later, the youngest child,
Willy, also succumbed to
the disease. With no time to
grieve their losses, the fam-
ily pushed on.
John, now a single father
of eight children, remar-
ried soon after arriving in
the Oregon Territory and
settled down to farm once
again. His son Harvey went
on to become the first grad-
uate of Pacific University
and the first editor of The
Oregonian newspaper in
Portland. John’s daughter
Abigail became the leader of
the women’s suffrage move-
ment in Oregon, the editor
of her own newspaper (when
Harvey wouldn’t editorially
support the vote for women),
an author, a mother, and a
businesswoman.
My paternal great-great-
grandparents made their way
from Vermont to Shelby,
Indiana, and then across the
Oregon Trail in the same
year as the Scotts, but in a
different wagon train. Their
destination, also Portland,
was where my great grand-
father Charles Holman
ran steamboats on the
Willamette and Columbia
rivers. His wife, Mary,
raised 11 children and was
instrumental in establishing
the Episcopal Diocese of
Oregon. Their youngest son
went on to become a United
States Senator from Oregon.
Civic responsibility and a
fervent passion for the land
that is Oregon are quali-
ties that have filtered down
through the generations and
reside strongly in me. As I
have researched our family’s
history, I have gained a keen
appreciation for my ances-
tors’ strength of character
and record of public service.
Such was not always
the case. As a child I was
steeped in family history
and surrounded by dozens of
relatives to the point where
I was delighted to move to
Seattle in 1971 and get away
from it all. I remember while
growing up, every Memorial
Day we would troop out
to Riverview Cemetery
and place flowers on what
seemed an inordinate num-
ber of graves and I would
again hear the fabled family
stories. Now at 72, I wish I
had asked more questions
and been more engaged,
because the family history
fascinates me and has so
much more meaning.
I have always felt a spe-
cial affinity for the Sisters-
Camp Sherman area and,
when I moved here 13 years
ago, there was a comfort-
able sense of coming home.
Many childhood summer
days were spent in Camp
Sherman playing in Lake
Creek and frequenting the
Camp Sherman Store to pur-
chase penny candy and wax
Tacola sticks filled with sug-
ary fruit-flavored juice.
It was only after finding
a journal in my father’s desk
that I discovered a wonder-
ful connection between an
ancestor and my living in
Sisters.
My paternal grandfather,
Benjamin Holman, kept a
carefully written record of
his 1894 autumn, when he
came by horseback across
the Willamette Valley into
the Cascade mountains
above what is now Sisters.
He spent several months
of his 20th year as part of
a hunting and fishing party
organized by Judge John
Waldo, for whom Waldo
Lake is named. He reported
seeing smoke from Indian
campfires across the lake. An
extraordinarily early snow-
fall on their way out of the
mountains almost trapped
the party near Breitenbush,
where one of their pack-
horses fell to its death at
the bottom of a cliff. After
climbing down to retrieve
badly needed supplies, they
did make it safely back to
the valley. The beauty and
ruggedness of the mountain
wilderness made a lasting
impression on my grandfa-
ther, who was also one of
the founding members of
the Mazamas mountaineer-
ing organization in Portland
in that same year.
Often when I gaze up at
those glorious Three Sisters,
I imagine the spirit of my
grandfather up there watch-
ing over me. Here in Sisters,
like no place else in Oregon,
I feel a closeness and kinship
with those rugged individu-
alists — my ancestors —
who, in fulfilling their des-
tinies by coming west, gave
me the gift of living in this
special corner of the world.
I feel linked to them in their
love of the land and their
desire to work for the wel-
fare of Oregon and its peo-
ple. I am grateful for their
courage, tenacity, sense of
adventure, and belief in ser-
vice. Their strength of char-
acter inspires me to live, as
well as I can, a life of integ-
rity, fueled by compassion,
curiosity and optimism.
I believe I know who I
am partly because I know
from where I came.
Wed-Sun Breakfast and Lunch 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Dinner 6 p.m., by reservation
OR YOUR
E
C
N
A
R
U
S
N
FREE I
!
N
O
S
I
R
A
P
COM
COM
541-588-6245
257 S. Pine St., #101 | farmersagent.com/jrybka
AUTO • HOME • LIFE • BUSINESS
Pickleball
Ongoing through April 30
Elementary Gym
Sundays | 2 to 4 p.m. | $6
Get Golf-Ready
May 16 – June 20
Aspen Lakes | Tuesdays
5 to 6:30 p.m. | $49
Gateway to Golf
Friday, March 17,
at 6 p.m.
Call 541.516.3030 | lakecreeklodge.com
The contestants and
escorts of the Mr. Sisters High
School pageant fundraiser
are hosting the annual pasta
feed on Sunday, March 12.
The pasta feed will be held
at Sisters Community Church
at 6 p.m.
Tickets are being sold
by contestants before the
event, and can be bought
at the door for $5. The pro-
ceeds from every fundraiser
involved in Mr. SHS ben-
efit Family Access Network,
which helps families in the
community through the
local food bank, and help
provide school supplies for
kids.
There will be baskets being
auctioned off to raise addi-
tional funds. The couples will
also be auctioned off to do
any sort of work buyers ask
for. The pasta will be made by
contestants’ parents and there
will also be dessert and drinks
provided.
F
LL TODAY
E IN OR CA
Gourmet
St. Patrick’s
Feast
Pretzel bites with
Guinness beer cheese dip,
corned beef, boiled red
butt ered potatoes,
sauteed broccoli,
Irish soda rolls
and shamrock
mint chocolate
mousse.
Mr. SHS
pasta feed
benefits
FAN
May 15 – September 11
Aspen Lakes | Thursdays
5 to 6:30 p.m. $59
View activities & classes, and re
register online!
www.SistersRecreation.com
1750 W. Mckinney Butte Rd. | 541-549-2091
SNO CAP
MINI STORAGE
Sisters Industrial Park
157 Sisters Park Dr. • 541-549-3575
www.SistersStorage.com
• State-of-the-art
Security Technology
• Sizes from 5x5 to 12x40
• Individual Gate Codes
• Long-term Discounts
• On-site Manager