The Oregon statesman., March 13, 1955, Page 9, Image 9

Peggy Blocklinger Edits Amity Paper :
And Writes Novel Every Two Months
. By JAMES M. ALLET
Statesman News Serrlce '
AMITY Some 80 published nov
els ago, Peggy Blocklinger edi
tor of-the weekly Amity Standard
began her writing career in the
second grade of Clinton Kelly
School at Portland.
"I was seven years old at the
time," Mrs. Blocklinger recalled
merrily,' "and I ate my meals off
Grandmother Phebe FauseTs man
tel for a week afterward. I had
used by uncle's new, expensive
ledger for my first literary ef
fort r-
After finishing high school at
Portland, Mrs. Blocklinger went
to work as a reporter. She has
worked on all kinds of assignments
on papers in Galveston, Houston,
Ft Worth, San Antonio, Oakland,
Sai' Francisco and the old Port
land Telegram. ' ,
Sold Fiction to AP
In fact, it was while I was
with the old Portland Telegram
that I wrote and sold my first
niece of fiction. -The Associated
Press Syndicate began buying my
material regularly under the name
of Jeanne Bowman. I took that
name from my mother who was
Iva Bowman of the pioneer Lane
county family of the same name,"
she explained.
Mrs. Blocklinger's father was of
an Irish sea-faring family. His
people called her Peggy O'More.
She uses this family pet name "for
her second writer's name. Then,
when she married the late Charles
Blocklinger, sheadded her last
Ln name, that of Betty Block
ger. '
Uses Three Pen Names
Mrs. Blocklinger is such a pro
lific writer he writes six pub
lished novels each year that her
publishers put her books out un
der three names. They can mar
ket more of them this way, as
she oroduces a certain ; type of
novel under each pen name.
The Peggy O'More novels are
!nvariablv humorous stories of
alert, young moderns in a jam.
Her Betty Blocklinger stories are
light mysteries, very tightly plot
ted, with a clever twist at the
end.
Under the name of Jeanne Bow
man, she writes a modern love
story, generally with a definite lo
cale, and a real problem to De
solved. 1 '
Perhaps it is the blood of both
her sea-going forebears iand her
Dioneer Oregon ancestors that
ei-es Peggy Blocklinger such
physical, mental and moral stam
ina.
Prom Pioneer Family
Her great-grandfather Hathaway
crossed the plains with Orin and
Joseph Kellog, and later married and the daughter of a pioneer
the Kellog's sister, who became
Peggy's great-grandmother.
Her great uncle Joseph Kellog,
who became famous as a Willam
ette . river steamboat operator,
brought the first Masonic charter
to Oregon . for Multnomah Lodge
No. 1.
Mrs. Blocklinger has never writ
ten an historical novel, - but she
intends 'to do one on Great Un
cle Joseph some day."
Peggy finds time to edit the
Amity Standard, write her nov
els, crusade for clean literature,
work for better libraries: to en
tertain, attend church I and keep
house for four "ancient" cats.
Has Her Dislikes
Like all writers she has her
likes and dislikes. In novel writ
ing,, she has no use for left-wing
message writers, the economic do-
gooders, and the-world-is-slowly-but-surely-going-to-the-dogs
school
of writing. . ,
However, Peggy likes "working
writers." To her, anyone who
writes and sells anything from a
dollar filler to a best seller de
serves respect.
She said "being a police report
er perhaps gave me --my story
sense. Newspaper work trains one
to think straight."
Three of Mrs. Blocklinger s lat
est novels have Oregon settings.
"Letter to Annette" has a Port
land and Oswego locale. "Hori
zon Home" has the Applegate
country for a background, and
"Gypo Girl" is laid in the "Siski-
yous.
Her newest book, "Two Strings
to My Bow, has an upper Wil
Umette Valley setting. Her pub
lishers, Arcadia House, class it as
a romance, but in reality it is a
problem novel. The novel tells
what poor leadership and smug
ness does to kill small towns,
Crusading Editor
The yarn is built around a cru
sading young newspaper editor
family and their battle to save a
fine old community from self
destruction. The novel has been released in
the East but is not marketed yet
on the Pacific Coast One prom
inent 'Yamhill County industrial
ist read1 an advance copy of the
novel and ordered 20 copies for
his- friends.
Peggy's next novel, now; over
half-done, will be a humorous story
of an opera singer trying to find
rest at a modern dude ranch.
When asked how it felt to be
the author of over 80 published
novels, Mrs. Blocklinger laughed
and said, "You feel pretty proud
of yourself when you are the auth
or of one novel. But after you
have produced a dozen or more,
you are like the woman with a
very large family and another
baby comes along. Yoc just sigh
and say, "What! Another one?"
w
'-.') ri v :
- f
AMITY A new novel every two months is the average for Peggy
Blocklinger (above), who also edits and writes most of the news
in the weekly Amity Standard. A veteran newspaperwoman, she
became editor of the Amity paper six months ago. She and
one. printer comprise entire staff of the paper.
Gardeners
HearTalkE ?
Statesman Newt Servleo
MT ANGEL A' large turnout
of Garden Club members Wed
nesday night heard Miss Juliana
Dehler, last year's sweepstake
winner, give a talk on grooming
primroses for the annual show,
April 24.
The Primrose Show has been
a .major Spring event in ML
Angel since the Garden Club was
organized seven years agov As
customary, the sweepstake prize
or trophy will be donated by the
city council who requested that
the club decided on its selection.
A committee of Mrs. 0. J. Wil
liams, this year's general show
chairman. Miss Dehler, and Airs.
George Schmidt was named to
select the trophy.
Mayor Jacob Berchtold asked
the Garden club to investigate
what type of flower would be
most suitable to plant in a large
shaded bed on the city hall lawn
and Mrs. Paul Sliffe was appoint
ed to get the information and
report at the next meeting.
Salem Heights School
Landscaping Finished
SUt-iman Newi Service '
SALEM HEIGHTS Landscap
ing of the Salem Heights School
grounds was completed this week.
Ernest Iufer, landscape gardener,
was in charge of the; project
which was sponsored by the
Salem Heights Mothers Club.
The Idaka Wiggata Camp Fire
group of Salem Heights School
assisted with the planting by pur
chasing and planting a camellia
bush in the landscape plan.
WHIm "'41 m M-At r t V
f t kt- I - ! rid'- i t .; L!
I'M A :, ' -s-u - ?v fp r
" '" '- . . . ' "
p - Hi ' JW ''M H-i A1
- " . , im i I - f . - '
'Cold' Wave
Halts School
At Mt Ansel
SUteim&a Newt ferric
MT. ANGEL Classes at two
ML Angel schools are expected
to reopen Monday following
brief closures due to colds that
kept over 100 students from
their classes. I
.. . -. - t
SL Mary's Elementary School
was closed .Friday while ML
Angel Academy for girls did not
operate Thursday or Friday, ac
cording to Joseph Berchtold,
schoolboard chairman. j
Berchtold said about 100 of the
460 pupils at SL Mary's School
had colds or other illness. Fig
ures for the academy were not
reported. Berchtold said classes
are tentatively scheduled to re
sume Monday morning at both
schools.
Winner
hi
STAYTON Miss Carol Erase
above) of Lyons, a junior at
Union High School in Stayton,
will represent this area in fi
nals of 100 F United Nations
contest She won contest here
Thursday.
Valley News HBHef s
Statesman, $slem Off.f Svnday March 7, 1955-(Soc )-9
Our Valley
By CHARUS IRELAND
If
SUteimaii Newi Service
ORCHARD HEIGHTS - Pop
Orchard Heights Popcorn
School District residents will vote
on the annual school budget at
8 p.m. Monday at the school
house. The budget has been in
creased, and voters are urged to
be present
Jefferson Farmers in .this
area are busy trucking pepper
mint roots from Sunnyside, Wash.
Driving trucks in the convoy are
Bland Sheffield, Charles Henion,
Dale Eisenmann, Mike Helms,
Marion Towery, Louise Williams
ani Oliver Stephenson.
Lyons A corsage was pre
sented to Mrs. Inez Ring. 81, at
Faith Rebekah Lodge meeting
which was an anniversary of the
lodge. She 6poke on its v history.
IHuber as assistant drill captain.
Victor Point A "white ele
phant" sale will be a special fea
ture of the meeting of the Union
Hills Home Extension Unit, Tues
day. The meeting is scheduled for
10:30 a.m. at the Waldo Hills Com
munity Hall. The lesson topic
"Color, Clothes and You" will be
given by Mrs. Fred: Jarvill and
Mrs. Francis Miller. :
Sheridan Sheridan and Mill
Creek school district voters will
vote Tuesday, March 15, on the
consolidation of the two districts
Sheridan voters will vote at the
high school from 2 to 8 p.m., and
Mill Creek voters will vote at their
schodhouse from 8 to 9 p.m.
. i
Fans City The Methodist
Youth Fellowship Group of the
Falls City Methodist Church will
have a party immediately follow
ing the Sunday evening meeting
Sunnyside Mrs. Ermina Fish
er, Marion County Home Exten-
AMITY Books written by Peggy Blocklinger, one of Oregon's most prolific authors, nearly fill
the above rack and some of her 80-plus novels are missing In the picture. The Amity author
writes under three names. The fries to write 5,000 words every day in addition to her writing
as editor of paper at Amity, 20 miles northwest of Salem.
sion agent, will be guest speaker at
the meeting of Red Hills Agricul
ture Club on Tuesday. She will
talk about "Health Insurance in
the Home."
Jeffera Kenneth R. Beh-
rends, son of Mr. and Mrs. Leo
Behrends of Jefferson, received a
Bachelor of Arts degree in biologi
cal sciences from Washington
State College at mid-year gradua
tion exercises.
Sunnyside Mrs. Wayne Wendt
was honored with a shower by the
Friendly Hour Club Wednesday
at the home of Mrs. Edgar Husted.
Plans were made for the club's
annual family-night dinner which
will be at the home of Mr. and
Mrs. John Neuenschwander at
6:30 p.m. on March 23.
Sheridan Pvt. Gerald F.
Bowen, Pvt. Hugh K. Elliott and
Philip E. Voorhees, all of Sheri
dan, and Pvt. Dan L. Haake of
Willamina, are recent enlistees in
Company A, 162nd Infantry, Mc-
Mmnville National Guard.
Falls City Anyone interested
in canvassing for the Red Cross is
asked to meet with the women's
committee on Monday at 2 p.m. at
Odd Fellows Hall in Falls City.
Sheridan The Sheridan High
School music department, tinder
direction of Gordon Pratt, music
director, will present a musical
program at the March 28 meet
ing of the PTA. The band, choral
group, girls trio, boys quartet and
several, solo numbers will be in
eluded in the program.
With a touch of envy, we scribbled the; by-line of The
Statesman's able Amity correspondent, James M. Alley, on
today's-feature story about Peggy Blocklinger. . . Envy be
cause the Amity author sounds like somebody that any .news
paper person would delight in meeting and writing about, . .
James is quite a free-lance writer himself, in his spare mo
ments, and is quite proud of his middle name which quite
appropriately is Matthew. . . Appropriate because his full
title is the Rev. James Matthew Alley, pastor of the Amity ,
Christian Church. 1 i
Odd twist that Dallas is getting so much publicity in con
nection with current gasoline price war,, because the station
inrolred reportedly was only one in Dallas that cut prices
on gasoline when many Salem stations did.
'
Beachcombing is reported exceptionally, good this month at
Yachats, sooth of Waldport . . Japanese glass floats of several
colors have been drifting ashore. .Most are round bat some are of
the "rolling pin" variety. A few are marked with the hammer it
sickle, while the trademark of American glass companies is fonnd
on others . . . A real find is a float containing water. Such a float
has probably been dragged into very deep water before breaking
away from its net . . . The extreme pressure of the deep sea forces
the water through the pores of the glass, but once landed, the float
never loses its water by evaporation.
Deaths exceeded births at Silverton last month for the first
time in eight years. . . There tcere II deaths and nine births
there in February. . . 1950 census figures showed SiIt?erton
had more people "over 65" than any town in the state on a
per capita basis. . ..
Today Mt. Angel Catholic Parish repeats its annual sausage
and fried chicken dinner, one of the truly huge events of its
kind in the valley. . . The last time we ate some of that won
derful Mt. Angel sausage, we were sitting beside State Rep.
Arthur Ireland, who lives just three miles from the Verboort
Catholic Church. . . Now, it could be argued that Verboort'i
sausage is even more reknowned than Mt Angel's, so we
asked him which was best . "I can't tell any difference," he
replied. "They taste like they were made from the same
recipe." ... (We should have known better than try to pin
down a politician). . . . Anway, you can't even be nominated
as a connoisseur of Oregon food if you haven't eaten sausage
from Verboort or Mt Angel.
What's the hottest mercantile item in Stayton this week?
. . . That's easy mail boxes. . . Afail delivery starts Wednes
day and at last Stayton folks are going to learn whether
James Mt Cain was spoofing when he wrote "The Postmav
Always Rings Twice.'
Of five Grand Finals in Statesman-KSLM Spelling Contest last
5 years, a boy won once (Mack Harris, Parrish Jr. High, 1951) ...
No school has won more than once . . . Winners have been Parrish,
Broadacres, Woodbttrn, Hazel Green, Willard . . . Best school records
are Willard one first one second; Broadacres one first one third;
St Paul, one second, one third. 1
I
As this is written, scalpers are faring well at the NCAA
basketball tourney in Corvallis with $2.50 tickets moving at
$10 a copy and even $15. . . Scalping is dangerous business,
however. . . Besides being illegal and immoral, sometimes
the market collapses and it isn't even "fattening."
PRINCIPALS TO MEET
Secondary School Principals
will meet March 21 at 10 a. m.
in the Public School Administra
tion Building board room, while
elementary principals will meet
lat 2:30 p. m. in the same room.
LOCKER BEEF
Grain-Fed Beef ... . . .
Double AA Young Steer Beef . .
Beef Roast . . , . ... .
Beef Steak . . ... ... .
Big Franks . . . .
SALEM MEAT CO. 1325 South
22c lb.
30c lb.
25c lb.
35c lb.
25c lb.
25lh St.
CARD INDEX
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C01IERCIAL BOOK STORE
141 North Commercial
COUNCILMAN SWORN. IN
SHERIDAN Matthew Krauthoe
fer Sr. was sworn in as a city
councilman this week, and was ap
pointed - chairman of the street
and light committee, and a mem
ber of the water and finance
commitees. Mayor Fred Bozeman
appointed Vincent Russell as a
member of the budget committee
for a three year term, and John
Funk also as a member of the
committee.
Carnival Date
Set at Keizer
' Statesman News Servie
KEIZER The Keizer Carnival,
which will provide more funds for
the Lions Club-Scout Building, is
scheduled for August 5, 6, and 7.
General community-wide partici
pation is anticipated. The carnival
will be an annual event, with pro
ceeds offsetting indebtedness after
completion of the building.
The very active Keizer Lions
Club, headed by President Jim
Morley, has been planning the con
struction of the building for two
years. Original site was on Chem-
awa Road, west of Keizer School,
but a more suitable location on
Cherry Avenue was purchased by
the planning board, which is un
der chairmanshp of John Coomler.
PARENTS MEETING .
Middle Grove School's PaVents'
Club will meet at the I school
March 21 at 7:30 p. m.
Complete
Income Tax Service
LEON A. FISCUS
Phone 3-5285
1509 N. Fourth St.
I
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