8A | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2019 | SIUSLAW NEWS
Community Voices
There was something about Harry
By Larry Bacon
Special to Siuslaw News
Harry Albert Tammen
(pictured above with his wife
Anne) — just plain Harry to
most folks — checked out of
this life Oct. 15 —and what a
life it was.
If you didn’t know Harry, you
missed out. He was a brash little
guy with a round face, wry sense of
humor, Jersey accent and a crooked
grin who could talk about his adven-
tures for hours and never become
boring.
Sometime before he died in Eu-
gene, he told a friend his long-held
goal was to live a life filled with
fun and retire early. Well, he did
both. During 88 years of living, he
squeezed every drop of fun he could
out of life and left his own indelible
stamp on it. Not only did he seek
fun and adventure, somehow the
powers that be just seemed to send
it his way.
Good stuff he never would have
expected just kept happening. Kind
of like a guy with a knack for draw-
ing to an inside straight and usually
winning.
Here’s a rundown on Harry’s life.
A kid from Hoboken, N.J. , who
spent some time as a projectionist in
his home-town movie house, joins
the Air Force in 1951, and the Air
Force detailers decide that someone
with that kind of motion picture ex-
perience should be packing a movie
camera rather than a rifle, so they
send him to Hal Roach Studio in
Hollywood for training to become
part of an Air Force film crew.
Ten months of training with an
eight-pound Belle and Howe movie
camera included helping shoot film
for television shows, and it wasn’t
long before Harry was rubbing
shoulders with celebrities. The show
he worked on most was “My Little
Margie,” starring Gale Storm. He re-
membered that he and Gale became
“good buddies,” eating lunch togeth-
er every day in the cafeteria.
Fate smiled on Harry at the Hal
Roach studio, because rather than
going to Korea with the other train-
ees, he was selected to be part of a
six-man crew to make an Air Force
documentary in England in con-
junction with Queen Elizabeth’s
1953 coronation. He didn’t get to go
inside Westminster Abbey, but he
stood outside to film her leave in a
gold horse-drawn coach.
Harry ended up spending three
years in Europe working with a crew
making a variety of films used in
recruiting, training and elsewhere.
He saw places he never thought he
would see and enjoyed experiences
he would never have dreamed of —
like a 15-minute private audience
with English Prime Minister Win-
ston Churchill. Harry and the BBC
were filming an awards ceremony
at which Churchill was to honor
some American airmen who saved
a family in a flood. The BBC crew
forgot some sound gear, and went to
go retrieve it. Rather than shoo Har-
ry out, Churchill chatted with him
while the two waited.
“That was one of the highlights of
my life,” Harry remembered.
His only regret is that Churchill
lit up a cigar, but never offered him
one.
The other highlight of his life
abroad was meeting a curly-head-
ed blonde English girl named Anne
Frances David. She was 19, a knock-
out, and had come with a group of
girls to the base where Harry was
stationed to receive instruction
from American GIs on the game of
softball.
Harry asked her out for a date
the following week, and then on a
second date during which he asked
her to marry him. Nine months later
they tied the knot.
Harry firmly believed he and
Anne were a perfect match. And
what’s more they made each other
laugh — a whole lot. When Har-
ry died, they had been married 65
years. Side by side along their road
through life, they shared all the joy,
sorrows and adventures that came
their way. And the love they found
so long ago in England always en-
dured.
When Harry got out of the Air
Force in 1955, he brought his bride
back to New Jersey, went to col-
lege for a while, and soon decided
to leave the cold and snow of New
Brunswick for California. The cou-
ple headed west in a new Chevy
with $68 in travel money and ended
up in Hollywood, where Harry par-
layed his experience with film work
into a job as a color technician with
Technicolor Inc.
Soon he was running his own
department and rubbing shoulders
with the rich and famous.
Directors like Otto Preminger
and Alfred Hitchcock would come
to Harry’s shop to see “rushes,” the
screening of processed film from
their most recent shooting.
Harry and Anne enjoyed going
to local live theater in which many
stars and stars-to-be would per-
form. Never shy about talking his
way backstage, Harry got to meet
people like Julie Andrews, Marilyn
Monroe and Jimmy Stewart. He
even somehow ended up at a back-
stage gathering at which Debbie
Reynolds hand-fed him pieces of
watermelon.
The Tammens had a home in
Chevy Chase Canyon, a good life,
but no children after 11 years of
marriage. So they adopted a son,
whom they named David Sean. Lat-
er, Harry would say having that little
boy was “the most beautiful” part
of his and Anne’s life together. But
a tragic auto accident took David
from them at age six in the sum-
mer of 1970. After that, their life in
California was not the same, so they
pulled up stakes in 1972 and moved
to Florence.
There they lucked into a job as
caretakers at Heceta House, the for-
mer home for keepers at the historic
Heceta Head Lighthouse north of
Florence. When Harry and Anne ar-
rived, the house was an off-campus
retreat and instructional location
for Lane Community College.
The Tammens lived and worked
at Heceta House for 17 years, en-
joyed residing in one of the most
beautiful spots in the United States
and gained somewhat of a celeb-
rity status themselves for multiple
personal encounters with the ghost
said to haunt the house. They even
learned the ghost’s name, “Rue,”
through a session with a ouija board.
Harry once said Rue was like part
of the family, and rather than scary
it was “kind of exciting” living with
her.
While at Heceta House, Harry
sometimes shot video news clips for
a Portland TV station. He and Anne
also worked part-time for the Siu-
slaw News. And they built a house
in Yachats.
Eventually, wanderlust set in, so
in 1989 they sold the house and
bought a truck and travel trailer
used for a four-year odyssey across
America that ended in 1993 in Kis-
simmee, Fla., where they bought a
small home in a retirement com-
munity. They enjoyed socializing
with other retirees, going on cruis-
es and basking in the sun. But after
four hurricanes in one year they
returned to Oregon in 2006 to settle
in a Eugene apartment complex for
seniors, where Harry spent his last
years dealing with a variety of health
problems.
Always gregarious, Harry once
said the friends he made along his
way through life helped make life
worth living. And one constant in
his life, he said, was a desire “to al-
ways do the right thing.” He was
mostly happy about the way his life
turned out. And one thing certain,
he made sure that Harry Albert
Tammen will be a hard man to for-
get.
No services are planned. Harry’s
ashes are to be scattered in the Pacif-
ic Ocean, just as his son’s were.
Life with MS — Treatments for MS
By Lloyd Little
Special to Siuslaw News
n 1986 I was diagnosed
with Multiple Sclerosis
(MS). When I asked, “What
should I do now?” The doc-
tor replied, “If the pain gets
too great then come down to
my office and I will give you
a steroid shot. ”
In 1986 the diagnosis of
MS was difficult to deter-
I
mine. The symptoms of the
disease varied from person
to person. Magnetic Reso-
nance Imaging (MRI) can
detect soft tissue damage,
but there were few hospitals
in Oregon with an MRI ma-
chine. A spinal tap, drawing
fluid from the spinal cord
to analyze, was another
method. Either of these two
methods could show an MS
diagnosis.
The treatment offered
by my neurologist was un-
acceptable to me. In 1986
there were few options for
the treatment of MS. Grad-
ually the medical research,
through generous dona-
tions, discovered potential
MS treatments. In the early
1990s, the drug Betaseron
was given the green light by
the FDA. There was a list of
the side effects clearly stated
and the ever familiar words
“This drug MAY or MAY
NOT reduce your exacerba-
tions. ” This drug was said to
slow down or reduce the im-
pact of MS exacerbations for
Relapsing Remitting Mul-
tiple Sclerosis (RRMS), my
MS diagnosis.
After an exacerbation
leaving me with less mobili-
ty and greater pain, my wife
and I decided to try Beta-
seron. The every-other-day
injections caused pain in my
body and pocketbook. This
treatment was meant to be
my forever treatment in my
battle against the progres-
sion of my MS. The flu-like
side effects came as warned.
For two years, I or my wife
injected this drug into my
body.
Could I truthfully say the
treatment was working? No I
could not.
It was at that time I decid-
ed the side effects and ex-
pense were too much and I
would carry on without MS
drug treatments.
Through the years, MS
research has discovered a
number of additional drugs
available for all stages of MS.
These drugs are extreme-
ly expensive and, without
monetary assistance from
multiple sources, people
with MS would not be able
to afford these treatments.
Each month our MS sup-
port group meets and we
talk about the growing num-
ber of MS treatments on the
market, some of which are
talked about in Momentum
Magazine, a publication of
National Multiple Sclerosis
Society.
Each person in our group
has symptoms needing re-
lief. If there is a drug helpful
for them, they may ask their
neurologist about its use.
One of the newest poten-
tial breakthrough treatments
for MS is the CBD of mari-
juana. This oil is said to be
effective in reducing several
symptoms of MS with no
side effects.
However, not enough re-
search is yet available for
me to feel safe in trying this
treatment. My current treat-
ment is gabapentin for pain.
My family and friends sup-
port me and help me when
needed. The adage “If it ain’t
broke don’t fix it” keeps me
from altering my approach
to MS.
Each treatment available
today also has a list of poten-
tial side effects from its use.
Each individual MS warrior
will need to make their de-
cision based on their own
reasons. MS research con-
tinues and a breakthrough
treatment or cure may just
be around the corner.
Moral of the Story — Tree Hugger
some leaning trees from our
wooded lot. Watching from
the window reminded me of
another experience with tree
trimmers.
Lining the streets in Hun-
tington Beach grew majestic
palms, sprouting huge green
fronds, each 50 to 60 years
old with trunks three feet in
By Karen D. Nichols
diameter. The one in front of
Special to Siuslaw News
our house was gorgeous. Each
or safety, we a hired morning I awoke admiring its
workman to chop down graceful fronds through our
F
dormer window.
The newspaper mentioned
several of the trees were dis-
eased and for safety they were
being removed. The disease
would eventually take all
the palms. Sadly, I witnessed
large removal equipment on
various streets assisting the
demise of the iconic trees.
When I noticed that our
palm was turning brown and
losing fronds, I felt helpless.
Was there no way to save it?
One day, the tree-murders
stopped in front of our house.
“No! Please don’t!” I begged
the workmen.
“Okay. It’s too late to start.
We’ll come next month,” they
said.
With a month’s reprieve,
I had to do something. I
hugged the tree. “Please don’t
die.”
Maybe it needed water, af-
ter which, I hugged it again.
“I love you. We’ve only got a
Shorewood Senior Living
month. You need to get well,
now!”
Each day I talked to my
tree. I touched it. I patted it. I
hugged it and I prayed.
Ralph said, “Are you nuts?”
A week later, the dead
fronds dropped to the
ground. I touched it. I talked
to it. I patted it. I hugged it
and I prayed.
Each day I spent time with
my tree. Each day, as if by
magic, new fronds appeared.
Somehow the workmen
didn’t chop it down the next
month. A reprieve! I contin-
ued my daily treatments. A
few weeks later my tree exud-
ed wellness and beauty.
We lived there two more
years with our extraordinary
tree. Then we moved. Driving
by several months later, the
tree was gone.
Moral: Never underesti-
mate the power of a hug and
a kind word.
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