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Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, May 5, 2004
SIGNS OF SPRING -
A wide range of arts-
and-crafts items and
other ‘exotic’ and
valley merchandise,
including plants,
was featured during
a Spring Market on
the grounds of Illi-
nois Valley Family
Coalition on Satur-
day, May 1. The
event also included
live music.
...LaVina Fonseca, native CJ resident
What do you do for a living?
Well, I retired in 1990 as secretary, bookkeeper and
payroll for Rough & Ready Lumber Co. I worked for
them about five years. It was wonderful working out
there doing payroll; I remembered all the names and
birthdays of the guys there. People used to ask me,
“When’s my wife’s birthday?” I remember when it’s
important.
What did you do before working there?
I’ve been back and forth to California. I’ve been
working mostly as bookkeeper and secretary. We used
to own where Carlos’ Mexican restaurant is. My ex-
husband and I built a place that was called Old Timers;
it was a restaurant and lounge. We served things like
steak-and-lobster and prime rib. We did that from ’80
to ’85, when we sold it to Bob and Sharon Sole, who
owned Tortilla Junction; where the Blue Marlin was. I
also managed 313 apartments in Lancaster Calif. I lived
there from ‘86 to ‘90 and then came back here.
What brought you back here to CJ?
I just decided I gotta’ come back to Oregon; I’m
just not happy if I’m not in Oregon. So I moved back
up here with my daughter in Medford. On my birthday,
I came over to the Jubilee Celebration, where I met my
husband, Ron. Together, we have 23 grandkids and five
great-grandkids.
Seen much change in the time you’ve been here?
Oh boy, has it changed. It’s not that little sleepy
community any more. When I lived on Holland Loop,
we used to take the bus to Selma for third and fourth
grade. The school was in Kerby; it’s not like it is now.
When I went, first to eighth grade were all in one big
room. It went from the one room, to another building
for 5-7 grades; then they built the high school in Cave
Junction. I used to take a lunch to school, and I took a
lunch for coming home on the bus because it was such
a long ride. We went to school in the dark and came
home in the dark. Those were the days when it was
really a little community; everyone knew everyone.
You couldn’t go anyplace without seeing someone that
you knew. I also remember big trees along the highway
that aren’t here now, even in the middle of town.
This must have been a big contrast to Califor-
nia?
Oh boy, my parents took me down there kicking
and screaming, believe me, I didn’t want to go. I think I
spent my first year in school down there in the bath-
room because I was always afraid. I went from attend-
ing a small-town school with a class of about 25 kids,
to a class with 648 kids, just half of my senior class in
California. When I was in school here, we didn’t care
who was in your class; everybody was in it. We all
played softball together, did track together; nobody
cared what grade you were in, you were just in school
together.
What did you do for fun back then?
My grandpa, Buck Smith, used to have a pool hall
in Cave Junction. He started the Rogue Valley Ball-
room where my sister and I used to go and sing with his
band. We had the first live T.V. show here on channel
five, from ‘54 to ‘57. It was Bobby Champion and the
Melody Wranglers. It was an hour of singing and play-
ing every Saturday night. Then, later at the ballroom,
there was a dance every Saturday night. My grandpa
got involved with all kinds of country western singers
in the valley; he used to bring them all in - Jimmy
Wakely, T. Texas Tyler, Tennessee Ernie, and Betty
Hart; they all came here to visit with grandma and
grandpa. They used to go down to the Chit Chat, where
the Red Garter Saloon is now, and sing for people just
because they enjoyed the people here in this valley.
What do you like best about the valley?
It’s a great place for kids to grow up. I love the
people and the friendliness. I love knowing everybody.
It’s a comfortable, nurturing feeling to get to know eve-
ryone so closely here in our community. I’m kind of a
hugger/kisser type person. That’s the way I was raised
here; you see someone in the store and walk up to them
and hug them and say, “Hi, how ‘ya doing?”
My mother used to say you need one person grow-
ing zucchini in the valley. Because if you get out of
your car and leave it for very long, someone will put a
bunch in the car so you don’t have to grow any your-
self. That’s what’s nice here, people are always giving
and sharing.
I also love the idea that every season is the best
season. I say, oh my gosh, it’s spring now; it’s just so
beautiful, all of the trees just washed their leaves all
off. Then the summer comes, and you can swim; then
that’s the best season. Then fall is my really favorite;
because I love to see all the colors of the leaves. And
then comes winter. I really don’t mind it, especially
since I don’t have to get out in it any more. I just love
to see the snow.
What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
Pralines and cream. I just like that flavor. It’s kind
of carmelly in there and I like those crunchy things …
that must be the pralines.
~Interview and Photo by Shane Welsh
IVHS Activities Calendar
Brought to you by the folks at
592-3556
Cave Jct .
469-7545
Brookings/
Harbor
THURSDAY, MAY 6
*JV golf at Applegate
3:30 p.m.
*JV baseball vs. Rogue
River - here - 4:30 p.m.
FRIDAY, MAY 7
*Track at Rogue River
To be announced
*Barker field trip to SOU
all day
*Movie Night - café
6 p.m./8 p.m.
SATURDAY, MAY 8
*Varsity softball vs. Henley
here
noon (doubleheader)
*Varsity baseball at Henley
noon (doubleheader)
MONDAY, MAY 10
Boys golf at Shield Crest
11 a.m.
*Girls golf at Harbor Links
noon
*Hansford to beach
all day
TUESDAY, MAY 11
*JV baseball & Varsity
softball at Lakeview
4:30 p.m.
*Varsity baseball vs.
Lakeview - here - 4:30 p.m.
*Girls golf at Quail Point
noon
*Boys golf at Eagle Point
noon
WEDNESDAY, MAY 12
*FFA banquet - 6 p.m.
*Hansford to Eugene
Only a fool tests the
depth of the water
with both feet.
- African proverb -
It is perhaps a more fortunate destiny to have a taste for
collecting shells than to be born a millionaire.
- Robert Louis Stevenson -