SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ SATURDAY, JANUARY 9, 2016
FUUF to host ‘Starlight
Cabaret’ of Wonder
Just recently returning from
her debut West Coast tour,
Wonder offers a collection of
whimsical, autobiographical
songs to listeners.
Each song comes accompa-
nied by the promise of an
experience that is not plastic
and impervious, but real and
human.
Wonder’s hope is to to turn
the tables on the pursuit of
answers to life’s haunting
questions through her per-
formances, inspiring others to
become obsessed with the ask-
3 A
Spruce Point resident turns 106 next week
Stephanie Hruska remembers life as a child in Chicago Heights
ing questions.
With soaring melodies and
poignant lyrics, Wonder is
here to woo audiences back
into uncertainty.
Wonder’s “Starlight Cab-
aret” will take place Friday,
Jan. 15, beginning at 6 p.m.,
at
Florence
Unitarian
Universalist
Fellowship,
Highway 101 at Heceta Beach
Road in Florence.
Cost is a suggested dona-
tion of $10.
There will be tea and coffee,
or B.O.B if you wish.
B Y J ACK D AVIS
Siuslaw News
The Titanic sank on April
15, 1912, three months after
Stephanie Hruska turned 2.
Next Wednesday, Jan. 13, she
will celebrate her 106th birth-
day.
Hruska, a resident of Spruce
Point Memory Care communi-
ty, was born in Illinois in 1910
but returned with her parents to
their native Slovakia when she
was a child. She immigrated
back to the United States when
she turned 18 and spent her
adult life in the Chicago area.
She had been living with
one of her sons in Chicago
until he passed away. Hruska
then moved to Florence in
December 2014, to live with
her other son, Carl, before
moving to Spruce Point on
ninth Street in August 2015.
In addition to her surviving
son, Hruska has three grand-
children and three great-grand-
children.
She has had a lifelong pas-
sion for gardening. Her
COURTESY PHOTO
Spruce Point Memory Care resident Stephanie Hruska
will celebrate her 106th birthday Wednesday, Jan. 13.
favorite flowers are tulips and
cosmos.
Hruska recalled her days
growing up in Chicago.
Concrete sidewalks had not yet
come to her neighborhood of
Chicago Heights. As a child
she would walk barefoot to the
vegetable stands along wooden
boardwalks.
Being the oldest of five sib-
lings, she never attended for-
mal school.
“My mother always needed
my help,” Hruska said. “I was
the oldest. I helped with the
cooking. It was kind of fun.”
Her cooking skills also
endeared her to several young
men.
“Guys were crazy about my
dumplings,” she said. “I had to
show their wives or mothers
how to make them.”
Another Slovakian recipe
she prided herself on making
was kolaczki, a Slovakian jam-
filled pastry cookie.
“They were good. All the
guys went for my kolaczkis,”
Hruska said.
She grew up in the age of
the automobile, but never
learned to drive.
“I didn’t like it,” she said.
Looking back on her life,
Hruska said, “Some things are
gone, but not forgotten. If it is
something you enjoyed, you
never forget.”
Spruce Point is planning a
birthday party for Hruska next
Wednesday, Jan. 13, for imme-
diate family, friends and staff
members.
__________
Follow Jack on Twitter
@SNews_Jack. Email him at
jack@thesiuslawnews.com.
Commissioner Bozievich reflects on 2015 in Lane County
B Y C HANTELLE M EYER
Siuslaw News
Lane County Commissioner
Jay Bozievich delivered a State
of the County address on Jan. 4
at Harris Hall in Eugene. He
focused on the theme of
resiliency in the past year as
well as a positive focus for the
future.
“I began 2015 by announc-
ing that it would be a year
focused
on
resilience,”
Bozievich said. “Resilience is
defined as the capacity or abil-
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He listed Lane County’s
improving
systems
and
strengthened sense of commu-
nity as well as how citizens and
staff have come together to
implement innovative ideas
and work collaboratively.
“It is also about organiza-
tional and financial systems
that have the capacity to with-
stand upheaval and uncertainty.
It is about building a diverse
economy that will weather
downturns in a single sector. It
is about developing a sense of
community, so that folks will
be ready to care for one anoth-
er if times turn difficult,” he
said.
The county’s other strengths
in 2015 included a high level of
funding for senior and veteran
services, increased insurance
coverage, expanded behavioral
health services, the formation
of
the
Poverty
and
Homelessness Board, improve-
ments to Lane County
Correctional Facility and more
transparency with the budget.
“The citizens can trust our
financial records and budget
documents as being both accu-
rate and truthful and represent-
ing an organization built on
sound financial practices,”
Bozievich said.
Moving into 2016, he high-
lighted areas that will need
extra focus this year.
“Looking ahead to 2016, we
know this will be a year of
great financial challenges for
Lane County ... not the least of
which is a projected budget
deficit due to the end of feder-
al timber harvest replacement
funds and a return to actual
harvest receipts,” he said.
The county has had to gen-
erate cost-saving programs in
the budget to take the place of
federal timber funding that
ends this year. Some areas of
the budget, like insurance
plans for county staff, were
reduced or changed. The coun-
ty has also sought grant fund-
ing.
Bozievich said, “Another
way to prepare for hard times
is to diversify and grow our
economy. Our Community and
Economic Development staff
did that very successfully in
2015.”
Among other programs, the
county supported a grant for
Oregon RAIN (Regional
Accelerator and Innovation
Network) to support business-
es in the Florence and
Mackenzie River areas.
“We are also facing the
same unknowns that the
Oregon Legislature will face,”
he said. “I am confident we
can take on another year of
building resilience and then
continue practicing it as we
deal with change together.”
His 2016 goals for Lane
County are to: provide housing
and services to veterans and at-
risk populations, add 41 more
local beds to the jail, integrate
mental health and addiction
treatment into the criminal jus-
tice system, build a vibrant
community by diversifying the
economy and building under-
standing and strengthening
infrastructure against disaster.
“It will take all of us to
achieve these goals. Working
collaboratively. Being open to
different perspectives. Using
our intellect. Even taking
responsibility for our own
homes
and
families,”
Bozievich said. “Yes, Lane
County is resilient. And in
2016, we can make Lane
County the best place to live,
work and play.”
__________
Follow Chantelle on Twitter
@SNews_Chantelle. Email her
at cmeyer@thesiuslawnews.com.
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