in other words
november16
2017
7
The Good Ol ’ Days
By Tobie Finzel
Local Poets
A few years ago, Robb Wilson
held a “Logger Poetry” event at the
Grange during Jamboree featuring Gary
Everett and other logger-poets from
around the Pacific Northwest. He is still
hoping to make it an annual event simi-
lar to the cowboy poetry festivals held in
other parts of the country. Poetry that re-
flects everyday life of a particular town
or region is approachable and popular.
The Upper Nehalem has enjoyed such
works by its poets over the years.
Walter Mathews was born in
1911 in the area known as “The Burn,”
a few miles north of Mist. Giving up on
farming on that poor soil, in 1920 his
father started a sawmill; Walter and his
four brothers all worked there for many
years. Walter sold his share in 1948, and
he and his wife, Grace, bought the Mist
Store which he ran for five years. Grace
was a teacher whose first job was at the
one room school in Natal. She was re-
cruited away from that job by the Ver-
nonia principal and taught in Vernonia
for eighteen years and at Mist School
for seventeen. After they sold the store,
Walter took a job with J and H Lumber
where he sharpened saws, chipper knives
and trim saws for the next eighteen years
until retirement. His hobby, however,
was composing narrative poems. He
could recite from memory many poems
and especially his own.
Over the years, he wrote poems
about his childhood, farming, logging,
and people he knew. He was often asked
to write poems to commemorate events,
birthdays and golden and silver anniver-
saries in the Natal, Mist and Birkenfeld
communities where he lived and worked.
Among these was one he recited for the
dedication of the new Mist-Birkenfeld
Fire Hall in 1981.
In 1988, Walter self-published a
paperback book of his poetry, “Collected
Poems of Walter C. Mathews,” that can
still be found in online bookstores such
as AbeBooks. Quite recently, one of his
daughters was cleaning out her attic and
found the single hard bound copy which
they had made as a gift for him. They
decided that it should reside at the Ver-
nonia Pioneer Museum for which we are
grateful. His poetry also appeared in
“Logger’s World,” “American Timber-
man and Trucker” and various Nehalem
Valley newspapers.
John Brown grew up on a farm
eight miles out Keasey Road in the 1930s
and attended Vernonia High School from
which he graduated in 1950 and where
he met his wife, Bobbie. Inspired by the
cowboy poets, in his later years he com-
posed poems about his boyhood, farm
life, the Oregon-American Mill and oth-
er places where he worked, his Vernonia
schooldays, dances, and downtown busi-
nesses like the Pal Shop, a diner popular
as a teenage hangout complete with juke-
box, burgers, and Cokes. He and fellow
classmates of his era met for many years
for the “John Brown Lunches” that con-
tinued after his death in 2004.
John’s poems, like Walter’s,
were self-published in spiral binding.
The museum has one of the copies, but a
few years ago, his grandson, Eric Kotila,
republished them in a paperback form
entitled “Vernonia Memoirs” complete
with photographs of the people and plac-
es his poems reflected. Eric collaborated
with some fellow musicians to form the
John Brown Band that set several of
the poems to music. They produced a
number of copies of the book and the
accompanying CD which are both out
of print. The band performed at Jambo-
ree and other local venues for a couple
of years. Unfortunately, to our knowl-
edge the band is no longer together, and
we have been unable to contact Eric for
more copies of the book and CD. We do
have museum copies of both.
Our most recent unofficial “Poet
Laureate of Vernonia” is Kala Cota. She
has a special gift for poems inspired
by events of the day: a birthday, anni-
versary, the seasonal changes, wildlife,
her grandchildren, and most recently,
the long illness and passing of her be-
loved mother, Faye Millis Sword. Her
mother’s slow decline from Alzheimer’s
Disease inspired many touching poems,
one of which was published in “Chicken
Soup for the Alzheimer’s Soul,” one of
the titles in the “Chicken Soup” series.
Her poems have also appeared in other
Alzheimer-related publications.
Lo-
cal Facebook users enjoy her works on
a regular basis, and many Vernonians
are delighted to receive poems commis-
sioned for special occasions. As she has
stated, “...the poems seem to just come
together and flow from my keyboard.”
We hope to see the “Collected Works of
Kala Cota” in print one day soon.
From Virgil Powell’s Diary
Virgil Powell (1887-1963) was a long-
time resident whose family had a farm in
the Upper Nehalem Valley between Na-
tal and Pittsburg. Each year from 1906
until 1955, he kept a regular diary of his
activities.
Sunday, November 10, 1907:
Started down to the shooting
match at 10 A.M. and got
there about 12. Stayed until
the shooting was over about
4:30. Got home dark about
5:30. Also church day at Natal
Grange Hall. Saw Alice &
Minnie and had a little talk.
Very frosty the morning but
bright all day.
Monday, November 11: Went
up and put my wood for the
school down along the road
in the forenoon. Dave K. came
up and I helped him pick some
apples in the afternoon. Also
fixed barn some. Bright and
fine all day.
Thursday, November 14:
Finished hauling the wood
for the school in the morning.
Went pheasant hunting in the
afternoon. Pretty fair day.
Emil Messing came up and
stayed over night. Received a
postal from Minnie.
Friday, November 15: Emil
and I went up to Pittsburg in
the morning and took several
pictures of the school. Cold
but good day. (Note: surely wish
we had those photos at the museum!)
Saturday, November 16:
Started down for Grange
at 8:30. Went down on
horseback. Pretty good crowd.
Grange was not out till 4:30.
Had a big showing. Got home
about 6 P.M. Heard that
there will be a basket social
at Grange Hall Thanksgiving
Nov. 28. Cloudy all day. Sent
a postal to Allie.
Sunday, November 17: Started
down to Petersons at 11:30
and got down there about
1 P.M. The girls were over to
Burris when I got there; they
got home about 5 and then
we certainly had a dandy
time. Talked stale candy (Note:
presume this is slang for idle chat)
till about 9:30 P.M. Got home
about 10:15. Rained quite
hard in the afternoon.
Monday, November 18: Fixed a
place up at Pittsburg to catch
in the afternoon. Worked
around home balance of the
day. Pretty fair day. Mailed
some postals at Pittsburg in the
evening to Alice & Minnie.
The Vernonia Pioneer Museum is located
at 511 E. Bridge Street and is open from
1 to 4 pm on Saturdays and Sundays
(excluding holidays) all year. From June
through mid-September, the museum is
also open on Fridays from 1 - 4 pm. There
is no charge for admission but donations
are always welcome. Become a member
of the museum for an annual $5 fee to
receive the periodic newsletter. We now
have a page on the Vernonia Hands on
Art website, www.vernoniahandsonart.
org If you are a Facebook user, check
out the Vernonia Pioneer Museum page.
The museum volunteers are always
pleased to enlist additional volunteers to
help hold the museum open and assist in
other ways. Please stop by and let one
of the volunteers know of your interest in
helping out.
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