THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2016
COMMUNITY
1B
A CUTE LITTLE ‘PUP’
TITANIC REDUX
‘EVERYTHING IS RUINED’
N
otoriety ensued when a write-up in the Daily Mail online
(http://tinyurl.com/prankpup) appeared about Seaside resident
Kayla Eby’s decision to have a little fun and prank her husband,
Justin Bogh. She is pictured, inset, in a photo from her Facebook
page.
“I found this cute little dog outside … he doesn’t have tags or
anything,” she texted him. “What should I do? I’m going to bring
him inside. He seems cold. Poor pup.” Next she posted a photo of
her son, Oliver, on the sofa, happily sitting next to the new “pup,”
a coyote, writing, “Look how cute.” Her photo of the pair is also
shown.
Then she made several other remarks to goad him on, saying
that she and their son named the “pup” Spot, and that she tried pet-
ting him, “but that seemed to kinda make him more mad. What do
I do?”
Needless to say, her husband was flabbergasted. And alarmed.
He replied in several outraged posts, concluding: “I am going to
come home to my family eaten by a wild coyote my wife brought
into the house. This is the craziest thing you’ve ever done.”
It took Kayla a while to convince him that she hadn’t really
let a coyote into the house — and of course, that infuriated him
even more, the poor fellow. Their loopy and hilarious conversation
and photo are an Internet hit; the Daily Mail reported they’ve been
shared over a quarter of a million times.
DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER
J
erry and Evelyn (Swerdlik) Leshgold of Portland and
Gearhart recently celebrated their diamond (75th) wedding
anniversary.
When Jerry finished his undergraduate degree at the Univer-
sity of Washington in 1939, he moved to Portland to attend optom-
etry school. “Evelyn was still in high school, but they dated on
weekends and, as they were both struggling financially, went dutch
treat,” one of their daughters, Carol Rosenthal, wrote. “Evelyn
agreed to marry Jerry after they saved $200, but finally agreed that
the $50 saved (about $800 now) was enough. They were married
Nov. 20, 1941.”
So few couples make it to their 75th anniversary that there
aren’t even any statistics. What’s their secret? “We have gotten
along so well in recent years because we are both so hard of hear-
ing!” Evelyn noted.
“When we got married we made a deal,” Jerry said. “Evelyn
would make all the minor decisions and I, the major decisions.” He
added that there have not yet been any major decisions.
Y
esterday, Dec. 8, was the 94th anniversary of the dev-
astating 1922 Astoria fire that destroyed 24 blocks
of the downtown business district, causing $12 million
in damage (about $171 million now) and leaving at least
2,000 homeless.
According to several stories in the Morning Oregonian
on Saturday, Dec. 9, 1922, the fire destroyed “every depart-
ment store, hotel, bank and countless small business estab-
lishments.” As one headline said, “Everything is ruined.”
Remarkably only two deaths were left in its wake.
Norris Staples, president of the Commercial Savings
bank, died of heart failure at 4 a.m. from his exertions
during the fire. Coroner Hughes concluded that laborer
John G. Smith, 50, who was found hanging by the neck
from a pier at the foot of Eighth Street at daybreak, com-
mitted suicide from fright.
The fire was discovered around 2 a.m. in a wooden
building housing Thiel’s Café on Commercial Street
between 11th and 12th streets, and was out of control
within half an hour. The fire’s rapid spread was attributed
to the flames eating their way below the paved streets, then
being fed by the creosote on the pilings holding up the
pavement. Dynamite was used to stop the fire’s progress,
but even so, Astorians as far as 10 blocks away were mov-
ing furniture and valuables uphill to safety. When flames
threatened city hall, the prisoners were released; coinci-
dentally, the court docket mysteriously disappeared.
Firefighters, apparatus and 6,000 feet of hose arrived
from Portland the next morning, and the fire was under
control by noon. Portland hotel owners donated $5,000
to the relief fund, Portland wholesale grocers and baker-
ies sent food to the stricken city, and the American Red
Cross and Salvation Army showed up to help. The local
YMCA served food, and soldiers and special policemen
stood guard downtown to prevent looting.
Pictured, in the aftermath, Astoria Bank and Wein-
hard Hotel. Despite streets, gas and water pipes and elec-
trical and phone systems being destroyed, Astoria was
promptly rebuilt — this time on dredge sands, not wooden
pilings — with a new layout and wider streets, much as it
looks today.
PRIZED POSSESSION
BEST BUDDIES?
rden Lindsley of Surfside in Ocean Park, Washing-
ton, is heartbroken, and rightly so. Someone came up
onto her deck and stole a set of elk antlers that are pre-
cious to her. They belonged to her son, Kurtis Cox, who
was killed in April 2014. Arden and her son are pictured.
Kurtis was an avid outdoorsman and hunter. “These
antlers were his prized possession because they were so
perfectly balanced,” Arden said, an important feature to
those who collect antlers. “He just thought they were the
cat’s — or elk’s — meow.” The antlers are pictured at Kur-
tis’ memorial service.
The set, which is very heavy and attached to a piece
of 2-by-4, was stolen sometime about a week ago. If
you know of the antlers’ whereabouts, please contact the
Pacific County Sheriff’s Office, or contact the Ear at 503-
325-3211, ext. 257, or ewilson@dailyastorian.com. Or,
please, just return them — no questions asked.
“I am just grief-stricken,” Arden said.
T
he keel of a full-scale accurate replica of the RMS Titanic,
expected to cost 1 billion yuan (about $145 million), was laid
recently near the Daying Qi River, in Southwest China, according
to DailyMail online (http://tinyurl.com/chinatitan1).
“After the RMS Titanic sank, nobody saw its complete set of
blueprints,” investment company chairman Su Shaojun told Chi-
naDaily (http://tinyurl.com/chinatitan). “Many blueprint fragments
found their way into the hands of collectors or remained missing.
We spent many years collecting the blueprints from many parts of
the world and managed to obtain most of them.” A diagram of the
replica is shown, courtesy of ChinaDaily.
The menu will be the same as on the original voyage, Daily-
Mail reported, and even the door handles and light switches will
be accurate. A tad more unnerving is the “high-tech simulator” that
will recreate the moment Titanic hit the iceberg.
The theme park/hotel attraction is expected to be able to open in
October, but a visit won’t come cheap. On the good side, however,
the Daily Mail says the money raised will go to a charity set up to
provide aid during maritime disasters.
If your history is a little rusty, the great-grandson of Astoria’s
namesake, John Jacob Astor IV, died in the Titanic disaster. His
pregnant wife, Madeline, survived and gave birth to John Jacob
“Jakey” Astor VI four months later in New York ( http://tinyurl.
com/jjastorVI).
‘IT LET ME GO ACROSS’
A
storian Peter Marsh (http://sea-to-summit.net) recalled when
he met 46-year-old Frenchman Gerard d’Aboville, who
made the news when he arrived in Ilwaco, Washington, on Nov. 21,
1991, after spending 134 days rowing across the Pacific Ocean
from Choshi, Japan, in his narrow 26-foot rowboat, the Sector.
However, his arrival didn’t go without a hitch: In the bad weather
and high seas off the coast, Gerard disappeared. His cousin, Oliv-
ier de Kersauson, flew in and took charge of the search. “He char-
tered a 45-foot shrimp boat in Ilwaco,” Peter wrote, “and they
finally found the Sector, upside down for the 38th time, 20 miles
offshore.” Gerard was pulled aboard the shrimp boat, and the Sec-
tor was towed to safety.
“Gerard was lowered back into the river once they were across
the bar, and he took up the oars for the final time to slowly row
past Cape Disappointment and into Ilwaco,” Peter added. “… The
scene was recorded by dozens of cameramen crowding the dock,
and local residents on shore. He stepped onto land … on shaky
legs, looking very frail, and had to be supported as he made his
way up the ramp … (he) had lost 37 pounds in weight.”
Of note: According to OceanRowing.com (http://tinyurl.com/
rowrecord), after this feat, Gerard d’Aboville was the first person
to row solo across two oceans (he crossed the Atlantic in 1980).
A few technical details: The boat’s watertight living compart-
ment was 31 inches high, and contained a bunk, a one-burner
stove, and a solar-powered ham radio and telex, Peter reported.
Two desalination pumps provided fresh water. A pumping system
used seawater as ballast, so “in a capsize, this required the rower to
be in the cabin with the hatch shut tight, then he could transfer the
water to one side to right the boat.”
Peter took the photos shown at a press conference Gerard gave
at the Columbia River Maritime Museum soon after his arrival.
The Frenchman told the crowd he was constantly wet, and had to
row 10 to 14 hours a day. “There are no good moments in such
a trip — I thought more than once that I would die,” he said in
accented English.
“I did not conquer the Pacific,” he concluded, “it let me go
across.”
A
‘H
ank, meet Henry. Henry, meet Hank!” The Seaside
Aquarium’s Facebook post says, describing the aquari-
um’s photo, which is shown. “These two are so funny, they have
become the most unusual pair. Every morning before the aquar-
ium opens, Henry goes inside and sits on the octopus’ tank. The
octopus is just as interested in Henry as Henry is with him. #BFF”
More pictures accompany the posting of the cat gingerly
reaching out and patting one of the octopus’ tentacles.
No word yet if either one has invited the other for dinner.
LIGHT ’EM UP
U
p for a Christmas light show
with music? Head on over
to the Daniel Knight Warren
House, 107 N.E. Skipanon Drive
in Warrenton. Mike and Teale
Adelmann have put on quite the
display — there are six songs syn-
chronized to 12,000-plus lights. To
hear the music, tune your car radio
to 95.7 FM. The show runs from
4:30 to 10 p.m. nightly until Jan. 1,
so hustle on over and get a healthy
dose of some Christmas spirit.
COMMUNITY NOTES
SATURDAY
Lower Columbia R/C Society
— 8:30 a.m., back room at Uptown
Cafe, 1639 S.E. Ensign Lane, War-
renton. Local Academy of Model
Aeronautics (AMA) chartered radio
control model aircraft club meets for
breakfast and business. All model
aircraft enthusiasts are welcome.
For information, call 503-458-5196
or 503-325-0608.
Chinook Indian Nation — 11
a.m., Chinook Tribal Office, at 3
Park St., Bay Center, Washington.
Meeting is open to all tribal mem-
bers; attendees are reminded to
bring a potluck item.
Sit and Stitch Group — 11
a.m. to 1 p.m., Custom Threads,
1282 Commercial St. Knitting, cro-
cheting and needle work. For infor-
mation, call 503-325-7780.
Columbia Northwestern Mod-
el Railroading Club — 1 p.m., in
Hammond. Group runs trains on
HO-scale layout. For information,
call Don Carter at 503-325-0757.
Spinning Circle — 1 to 3 p.m.,
Astoria Fiber Arts Academy, 1296
Duane St. Bring a spinning wheel.
For information, call 503-325-5598
or go to http://astoriafiberarts.com
SUNDAY
National Alliance on Mental
Illness (NAMI) Support Group
— 2 to 3:30 p.m., Seaside Public
Library, 1131 Broadway. Family to
Family Support Group, for anyone
with friend or loved one suffer-
ing from a serious brain (mental)
illness. For information, contact
Myra Kero at 503-738-6165, or
k7erowood@q.com, or go to www.
nami.org
Standing Rock Fundraiser
— 5 p.m., Waters Edge Spa, 3930
Abbey Lane, Unit A102. Features
musical acts Barney Perrine and
Sir and the Realists and works of
art by local artists for a silent auc-
tion.
Line Dancing — 5:30 to 8 p.m.,
Seaside American Legion, 1315
Broadway. For information, call
503-738-5111. No cost; suggested
$5 tip to the instructor.
and quilting. All are welcome. For
information, call 503-325-1364 or
503-325-7960.
Mothers of Preschoolers —
10 to 11:30 a.m., Crossroads Com-
munity Church, 40618 Old Highway
30, Svensen. MOPS group is a time
for moms to relax and enjoy each
others’ company. For information,
call 503-502-3118.
Chair Exercises for Seniors
— 9 to 9:45 a.m., Astoria Senior
Center, 1111 Exchange St. For in-
formation, call 503-325-3231.
Senior Lunch — 11:30 a.m.,
Bob Chisholm Senior Center, 1225
Avenue A, Seaside. Suggested do-
nation $3 for those older than 60;
$6.75 for those younger than 60.
For information, call Michelle Lew-
is at 503-861-4200.
Scandinavian Workshop —
10 a.m., First Lutheran Church, 725
33rd St. Needlework, hardanger,
knitting, crocheting, embroidery
Columbia Senior Diners —
11:30 a.m., 1111 Exchange St. Cost
is $6. For information, or to have a
meal delivered, call 503-325-9693.
MONDAY
Warrenton Senior Lunch Pro-
gram — noon, Warrenton Commu-
nity Center, 170 S.W. Third St. Sug-
gested donation of $5 for seniors
and $7 for those younger than 60.
For information, or to volunteer, call
503-861-3502 Monday or Thursday.
Astoria Rotary Club — noon,
second floor of the Astoria Elks
Lodge, 453 11th St. Guests always
welcome. For information, go to
www.AstoriaRotary.org
Parkinson’s Support Group
— 1 p.m., Peace Lutheran Church
library, 565 12th St. For information,
call 503-440-1970 or 503-440-1985.
Peninsula Quilt Guild — 1
p.m., Peninsula Church Center,
5000 N Place, Seaview, Wash.
Newcomers welcome. Bring non-
perishable food donation. For infor-
mation, call Janet King at 360-665-
3005.
Knochlers Pinochle Group —
1 p.m., Bob Chisholm Community
Center, 1225 Avenue A, Seaside.
Cost is $1 per regular session per
person. Players with highest and
second highest scores split the prize.
Game is designed for players 55 and
older, but all ages are welcome.
Mahjong for Experienced
Players — 1 p.m., Astoria Senior
Center, 1111 Exchange St. For in-
formation, call 503-325-3231.
Line Dancing for Seniors — 3
to 4:30 p.m., Astoria Senior Center,
1111 Exchange St. Not for begin-
ners. For information, call 503-325-
3231.
See NOTES, Page 2B