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Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Meet Bill Woodbury, Grand Marshal for
I.V. Lions 36th Annual Labor Day Parade
From logging with horse teams and hand saws, to using helicopters and power
saws, O’Brien resident Bill Woodbury has seen it all.
And if you ask the 79-year-old how long he’s called O’Brien home, he’ll say “79
years.”
Illinois Valley Lions Club has selected Woodbury for the honor of riding as
grand marshal on Monday, Sept. 3 in the annual Labor Day Parade in Down-
town Cave Junction. Besides being a club member for two years, he volunteers
at Kerbyville Museum, and is one of the members at I.V. Senior Center who
takes advantage of the exercise room thrice weekly.
Labor Day Festival Schedule
Daily Events - Jubilee Park
7:00
8:00
10:00
11:00
Noon
Breakfast by Kerby Belt Masonic Lodge
Softball
I.V. Lions Train
Dunk Tank Beer Garden, Lion Burger,
& Vendor & Food Booths open
Bingo by American Legion Post 70
& Auxiliary
50/50 Drawing winners announced
He’s seen major changes in Illinois Valley during his nearly eight decades. Al-
though he spent time away from the valley during his logging days, he always
came home.
5:00
“I was born in Grants Pass,” said the grand marshal, who lives on a spread that
was purchased by his paternal grandfather in 1910. Woodbury and his second
wife, Shirley, enjoy their location, which includes a huge oak tree that once
stood along the road from O’Brien to the coast.
Saturday,
Woodbury can point out where a large tavern and store once stood on his
property. “Wagons would come in here with tired horses,” he said, “and they’d
trade their tired horses for fresh so they could keep moving.”
He has become more interested in studying history since taking a volunteer
job at Kerbyville Museum. He recalls attending O’Brien School where the cur-
rent I.V. Fire Station 3 is located at Hwy. 199 and Lone Mountain Road. He
notes that the old former station, built in 1950 originally served as a school,
and replaced one that was torn down. Woodbury went through the first eight
grades at O’Brien School, and graduated in 1946 from the former Kerby Union
High School.
Although “retired near 15 years,” his memories still are sharp about his past. “I
began logging with my dad,” he said. “We used a cross-cut saw and a team of
horses. Fifty years later I was working with helicopters. I fell timber first; then
was with cutting crews; and eventually was running logging operations.” He
remembers putting 150,000 to 160,000 miles on his Ford pickup trucks every
three years.
In retirement he enjoys a bit of travel, having gone to Alaska. But mostly he
takes pleasure in visiting his children and stepchildren; a total of two boys and
four girls. They include his daughter, Debbie Malone, who lives next door. All
the rest live in Medford, he said, except for a son who lives in Santee in San
Diego County.
Besides visiting them, he has done “a bit of gardening” while admitting that
it’s “gone by the board.” Mostly he likes being at the senior center and “having
lunch with the fellows there” besides exercising.
Regarding Cave Junction, Woodbury feels that, “It’s kinda’ my town, as it
started the year I was born. So I like to think that I grew up with it.” The grand
marshal recalls that in the mid-1930s, there were approximately a half-dozen
buildings and “a lot of log cabins and
houses” in the town.
(must be present to win)
10:00
11:00
11:45
Noon
2:00
5-8:00
Sunday,
9-11:00
11:00
September 1
Grand Opening - Dawna Crocker
Watermelon Seed Spitting Contest - Kids
Ventriloquist - Misty Rhodes
Talent Show - Junior (12 & younger)
Tough Truck Races
Music by “Broadway Phil & The Shouters”
September 2
Music by “All Church Gospel”
Watermelon Seed Spitting Contest
(12 & younger)
Noon
2:00
5-8:00
Talent Show - Intermediates (13-18)
Tough Truck Races
Music by “Valley All Stars”
Monday,
September 3
11:00
Parade - Downtown Cave Junction
1-2:00
Music by “Dale Hopper”
3-4:00
Talent Show - Adults
5:15-5:45 Talent Spotlight (right after 50/50 drawing)
6:00
Drawing for Harley-Davidson
“One morning,” he said, “I came to town,
and the whole west side was in ashes. Fire
had burned a grocery store, a hardware
store, a hotel, and a small restaurant. It
was all basically where Taylor’s Country
Store is now. The whole block was burnt.”
I.V. Lions Club
2007-08 Officers
Another recollection involves Otis Hussey,
son of Elwood Hussey, one of the town fa-
thers. “Otis and I were good friends,” said
Woodbury. “His dad told us we could have
some lumber to put up a building. So we
went and got to it; used a team of horses
going right up the main street to Lister
Street.
President
1st Vice President
2nd Vice President
3rd Vice President
Secretary
Treasurer
Lion Tamer
Tail Twister
“The main street then was two lanes wide,
and had in-curb parking. Well, we made
five or six trips with the support poles, and
got the job done.” The structure still stands
at the southwest corner of Lister and Caves
Avenue.
Board members: Sam Michel, Vale Hatch,
Lew Lyons, Shawn Hardy, Jerry “Zorro”
Sommers, and Tom Lindewahl
During his logging days, he often lived in a
30-foot trailer. “I’d just get settled, and
we’d have to move to the next logging
site,” he said.
But he always came home to O’Brien and
Illinois Valley.
David Anderson
Steve Culver
Sam Michel
Dennis Reviea
Steve Lyons
Lewie Spencer
Blake Peterson
Vale Hatch
Helen Keller Benefactors: Blake Peterson
and Tom Lindewahl
Grand Marshal
Bill Woodbury
(The I.V. Lions Club each year donates
$1,000 each on behalf of two of its out-
standing members in connection with its
Sight & Hearing Fund.)