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About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 31, 2005)
Page 3 Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, August 31, 2005 Beard tapped to be parade’s grand marshal By CHRIS HILL Correspondent He moved to Illinois Valley when he was 10; walked two miles to school every day; joined the U.S. Army and fought in World War II. He’s been married for 49 years, and he’s lived in the valley now for 72 years. He’s Don Beard, chosen as grand marshal for the I.V. Lions Club Labor Day Pa- rade in Downtown Cave Junction Monday, Sept. 5 beginning at 11 a.m. Beard will be riding in the first car of the parade. He’ll be busy throwing candy to parade-goers and waving at the crowd. “I’m not sure what all my duties are supposed to be,” said Beard. “But I know I’m supposed to do that,” Beard said. Beard admitted that he was surprised and honored when he received the call from Carl Jacobson, secre- tary of I.V. Lions Club, ask- ing him to be grand marshal. “Don has been in the valley for a long time,” said Jacobson. “We nominate people like him who’ve really been a part of the community. DON BEARD “Don will receive an appreciation plaque for be- ing grand marshal. This is our way of honoring him as a person of the community,” Jacobson added. Beard admitted that this will be the first time in his seven decades in the valley that he’s been in a parade. At his side will be his wife of 49 years, Norma Jean. Together they have four children, 11 grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and a whole lot of memories. “I moved here from California when I was 10,” said Beard. “My dad had a shoe repair shop in Wasco, Calif., and he wanted to get us away from the city life, so he moved us up here and bought a little ranch up Chap- man Creek Road. “My sister and I walked two miles to the White School every day. We were lucky if we ever saw a car go by and could get a ride. I didn’t happen to go to high school, because it wasn’t required back in those days. I went into the service in- stead,” Beard recalled. “During World War II,” he said, “I went to Europe. I was in anti-aircraft. First, we were set up in London, then we went over to France and a lot of our activity was in Belgium. Ninety-millimeter guns is what we were shoot- ing,” said Beard who left the service as a corporal. After the service, Beard held various jobs including working in some of the saw mills around the valley. “I also did some log- ging and built roads,” he said. “I built about 50 miles of road around Galice. After that, my wife and I went to work for Columbia Helicop- ters for about six years. She was a ticket lady. “One year I rented my water truck to them, then they started building their own, so I finally started driving their own truck. I also drove their fuel truck and whatever else they had,” Beard said. Since then, the Beards still haven’t slowed down much. He is busy cutting firewood and delivering it to customers around the valley. Lyons, Gibson named Helen Keller Benefactors By CHRIS HILL “This year we made two Correspondent $1,000 donations in the Members of the Illinois names of a couple of our Lions Club work year-round members to the Oregon conducting fund-raisers to Sight and Hearing Founda- support local causes, espe- tion in Salem. For every cially sight and hearing. $1,000 we donate, we re- One of the ceive a Hel- I.V. Lions Clubs len Keller beneficiaries is Benefactor the Oregon Plaque with Sight and Hear- that mem- ing Foundation. ber’s name It receives dona- on it,” said tions from vari- Jacobson. ous organiza- Earlier this tions including year, the club I.V. Lions. After voted on two enough money members is accumulated, they felt de- a patient in need served to LEW LYONS is selected and then receives receive the plaques. an expensive eye or ear op- “This year it was Lew eration for little or no cost. Lyons and John Gibson,” “The foundation pays said Jacobson. “John is the for specialized type opera- owner and manager of Red- tions like cornea transplants wood Select Market in and stuff like that, which Grants Pass, but he lives can cost anywhere from here in the valley.” $25,000 to $50,000 per sur- Lyons, whose son, gery,” said Carl Jacobson, Steve, has been club presi- club secretary. “It’s a good dent several times and is cause that we donate for. (Continued on page 6) They work hard, play hard; Lions ‘very fun club,’ says Pres. Steve Culver By CHRIS HILL Correspondent Many valley residents have better sight and hearing thanks to the hard work by members of the Illinois Val- ley Lions Club, a service group that has been in the valley 55 years. The newer Cave Junc- tion Lions Club, open to men and women, also con- tributes generously to the need for eye-glasses and hearing aids. “Our main activities are sight and hearing, of course,” said Steve Culver, in his sec- ond year as Illinois Valley Lions Club president. “That’s what we raise money for,” he said. “That’s what Lions International is all about. “We have a big raffle for the Harley motorcycle that’s held during the Labor Day Festival at Jubilee Park. We try to make it a pretty nice function for everybody in the community. There are talent shows and entertain- ment the whole weekend. “The I.V. Lions built the ‘amphitheater’ at the park about five years ago. That’s where all the enter- tainment for the festival is being held,” Culver said. “We’ll have a beer gar- den and all kinds of vendors that sell their items in booths. We also put on the Labor Day parade that goes through town. “And, this year we have Country singer Jessi Colter coming to be part of the en- tertainment on Monday. She was married to Waylon Jennings,” Culver added. The I.V. Lions start set- ting up for the festival the Tuesday before, and work all week setting up just for the three days of entertain- ment beginning Saturday, Sept. 3 and ending Monday, Sept. 5, Labor Day. “There are some mis- conceptions that we put on the Labor Day Festival to pay for our dues, but that’s not true,” said Culver. “Every member pays for their own dues, and we Schedule of Events (All in Jubilee Park unless noted) Saturday, Sept. 3 10 a.m. Grand Opening - Dawna Crocker Noon Watermelon Seed-Spitting Contest (12 & younger) 1-2 p.m. Karaoke Hour 2-3 p.m. Talent Show (19 & younger) 4:30-8 p.m. Music by “Broadway Phil & The Shouters” Sunday, Sept. 4 9:30-11 a.m. Music by “The Hoskins Girls” (Gospel) Noon Watermelon Seed-Spitting Contest (12 & younger) 2-3 p.m. Talent Show (Adults) 4:30-8 p.m. Music by “The Shadowz” don’t use any of the money to buy members eye-glasses or hearing aids. Every mem- ber who has glasses or hear- ing aids buys them them- selves,” Culver said. And, that's not all that the members pay for out of their pockets. “We’re al- ways on a mem- bership drive,” Culver said. “We have a lot of work to do in our club. We always have members going to a fair or festival to sell raffle tickets. Most of the peo- ple who go pay for their own gas and lodging. “We even go as far as Redding to sell motorcycle tickets and as far north as Rose- burg,” Culver said. He estimated that he puts in an average of 20 to 30 hours a month volunteer- ing for the club. Some mem- bers put in even more time, he said. However, 20 or 30 hours a month is a big chunk of time for Culver, considering that he puts in a full day as head cook and owner of McGrew’s steak house and lounge in O'Brien. And, for the first time this year, Culver used STEVE CULVER his expertise to cook a feast of crab for the public at the Lions’ headquarters at I.V Airport. “We had 1,000 pounds of crab and started at 1 o’clock, and by 3 o’clock we were completely out of crab,” he recalled. “We ran out of 1,000 pounds of crab. That was incredible. We’ll probably do the crab feed every year,” Culver said. When they aren’t busy selling raffle tickets, cook- ing crab and organizing fund-raising events, the Li- ons can be found every Tuesday night at 7 having their weekly meetings at the old bunkhouse for the for- mer smokejumper base at the airport. “On the second and fourth Tuesdays are din- ners,” Culver said. “The first and third we have business meetings where we talk fi- nances and go over applica- tions for sight and hearing. “In the whole time I’ve been with the I.V. Lions Club,” he noted, “we’ve only turned down two appli- cants out of hundreds of applicants, and it was be- cause they were clearly well off and had more than enough money to buy their own glasses,” Culver said. Culver, who has been with the club for eight years, said he joined because he (Continued on page 6) Monday, Sept. 5 11 a.m. Parade in Downtown Cave Junction 1-2 p.m. Talent Spotlight Hour featuring Wayne Whitfield, Dawna Crocker, Sean Chorpenning & Nicole Navarro 2:15 p.m. “Flora Bell the Clown” 4-5 p.m. Jessi Colter, accompanied by local band, “Valley All-Stars” 6 p.m. Drawing for Harley Davidson Daily Events Scheduled During the Festival 7 a.m. Breakfast by Kerby Belt Lodge Masons 8 a.m. Softball (all day) 10 a.m. I.V. Lions Club Train 11 a.m. Dunk Tank, Beer Garden, Lion Burger & Vendor Booths open Noon Bingo by American Legion Post 70 5 p.m. Drawing for 50/50 Winners. (Must be present to win). 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