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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 2015)
6A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL January 21, 2015 Chatterbox Prospectors and Golddiggers Club awards announced The Something to share at every age BY BETTY KAISER For the Sentinel L ast week I celebrated another birthday. I use the term “cele- brate” loosely. In this seventh decade of life, I am struggling with enjoying aging and the losses that accompany it. Yes, it’s true. I just exposed the el- ephant in the room. The truth is that aging gracefully is an art that many of us have yet to master. Some things don’t bother me at all. I enjoy having young people open heavy doors for me at shopping cen- ters and saying, “After you, ma’am.” A senior discount at restaurants is nice. It’s great that I no longer have to pop out of bed at the crack of dawn to be at work by 7 a.m. And I’m hap- py if I’m not invited to every party in town. I started turning gray at 40, so I don’t even miss my beautiful black hair with red highlights. At this age our hair all looks alike anyway—ex- cept for the ‘natural’ blonds among us. In fact, I joke that when my friends together we look like Q-tips! And while I’m not happy about my wrinkles, I’m not contemplating plastic surgery. I am, however, being pulled kick- ing and screaming into an era of less energy and forgetfulness. Or, as I believe Erma Bombeck (my all time favorite columnist) said, “Of all the things I’ve lost in life, I miss my mind the most!” Isn’t that the truth? Once we reach the age of 70, most of us look back fondly on our golden years. The years in which we remembered ev- eryone’s names and wondered what the heck was wrong with our parents, who struggled to remember names of people and places. “Oh, that was Virginia, don’t you remember?” we would piously spout. Now we are the ones struggling with memory lapses. My husband and I often have a conversation that goes like this: Me: “Yesterday I saw the girl with six kids that we went to church with in Ventura.” Hubby: “ Who was that?” Me: “Oh, you know, she had long red hair and lived near us.” Hub- by: “I have no idea who you’re talk- ing about.” Me: “Of course you do. Kathy used to babysit for them. Her husband was a pharmacist.” Hubby: “Oh, yeah, his name was…I forget.” Three days later we remember that her name is Jan and his name was Bob. Frustrating. I suppose that turning 100 years old is something to get excited about. As a reporter, I covered many a centenar- ian’s birthday. Most of them seemed quite content to just “be.” They are happy to look at where they’ve been and reminisce about the good old days with anyone who cares to listen. Their contribution is wisdom. Fortunately, I’m not there yet. I of- ten say that I am in the middle age of old age. Mentally I’m pretty active. I’m always planning our next trip, keeping up with what’s going on in the family, volunteering, teaching and writing. Physically, I’ve really slowed down. Exercise no longer consists of a three times weekly aerobics class and seven-mile hikes or bike rides. Now I have a stretching routine, walk the dogs over to Wilson Creek Park and hop on my stationary bike. I’m not alone in my aging frustra- tion. Many others wonder if there is life after 70 or 90. Surely there is something more for us to do than watch TV. It can’t be too late for us to make a contribution to the greater good of mankind. So when are we “too old”? At what age do we sit back and say, “I give up. Let someone else do the work?” Tucked away in a book on my desk, I found this list of famous people who didn’t know it was time to stop being creative or sharing what they do best when they turned the corner into old age: At 81, Founding Father Benjamin Franklin engineered the diplomacy that led to the adoption of the U.S. Constitution. At 82, Winston Churchill wrote the four-volume work, “A History of the English Speaking Peoples.” At 82, Leo Tolstoy completed “I Cannot Be Silent.” At 83, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe completed “Faust.” At 88, Cellist Pablo Casals was still performing cello concerts. At 89, Pianist Arthur Rubinstein gave one of his greatest recitals in New York’s Carnegie Hall. At 90, Cubist and collage artist Pablo Picasso still drew and sculpt- ed. At 91, Samon de Valera served as president of Ireland. At 93, George Bernard Shaw wrote “Farfetched Fables.” At 98, Renaissance master Titian painted “Battle Lepants.” At 100, Grandma Moses was still painting. She began at age 76! Looking at the above list kind of makes me feel like a whiner. Sure I’m older and I can’t do the things that I used to do. But am I old enough to do nothing? Obviously not. Looking at the above list tells me that we have something to share at every age. When we were young, we waited for life to begin. We were always looking forward to next week, next month and next year. Now that we’re older and have less time, our fountain of youth has changed. It is today. Our joys must be found in the moments of life. The struggle against aging is fu- tile, but we can still live a full life. As my husband likes to say, “Old age is putting on new wheels and going in a different direction.” I say that we just keep doing what we love…but at a slower pace. My morning mantra comes from the Psalms: “This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.” Can I get an Amen? A t its annual Sourdough Banquet on Saturday Jan. 10, the Cottage Grove Prospectors and Golddiggers Club celebrated a successful year that included its 50th anniversary of serving the Miners Breakfast on the Mountain on the Sunday of Bohemia Mining Days last July. Club President Bruce McDon- ald served as the emcee of the event. He shared some of the club’s early history and presented the awards. Club members vote on two of the awards that recognize a Prospector and a Golddigger who performed above and beyond the normal call of duty in the previous year. The George Award hon- ors a man and the Order of the Purple Garter honors a woman who has dem- onstrated a high degree of personal dedication and service to the club. This year’s winners were Joe Haskins and Sara Smith. The Civic Pride Award is given to a local business or organization that made a signifi cant contribution to the better- ment of Cottage Grove or South Lane County. This year’s award went to Paul Tocco, owner of Buster’s Main Street Café. Last July, to celebrate the Golden Anniversary of the Club’s legendary Miners Breakfast on the Mountain, Tocco provided $25 gift certifi cates, which the club offered to its 1008 din- ers for half price and kept the proceeds. The award also honored Tocco for pro- viding a free meal for all veterans on the eleventh day of each month and for giving away $25 gift certifi cates to each member of the 2014 senior class at Cot- tage Grove High School and Kennedy Alternative High School. The fi nal award given at the annual banquet was the President’s Award. President McDonald honored two of the younger members of the 55-year-old or- ganization: Jeff Cook and Tracy Fetter. At the banquet, McDonald’s shared some of the club’s early history. The Prospectors and Golddiggers Club was founded in 1959, as part of Cottage Grove’s local centennial celebration of Oregon becoming America’s 33rd state on Valentine’s Day in 1859. The pur- pose of the club is “Prospecting better things for Cottage Grove.” Following the successful Centennial Celebration, the club established the annual Bohemia Mining Days Festival, which it organized on the third week- end in July until it became its own or- ganization. From its inception, the club membership has been by invitation only and designed to make community service fun. In its early years the club was for men only and operated in secret with members using nicknames, such as “Stinky Pete.” Later, members of the Golddiggers auxiliary group became full members in the club. Ray Nelson, one of the original Pros- pectors, was a miner in the Bohemia Mining District and a visionary who had a passion for local history. In the mid-1960s, Nelson spearheaded the effort to save the historic Dr. Snapp House from a burn-to-learn exercise, so Lane County could build the Riverview Terrace Apartments on Main and River Road. The county sold the Victorian Queen Anne-style home, built by one of the town’s fi rst doctors, for $1 and it was moved a few blocks away to its present site at 360 S. River Road. Nelson’s dream was to capitalize on the newly constructed I-5 Freeway and boost tourism by developing Prospec- tor Park into a replica of early Cottage Grove that would include a general store, hotel, blacksmith shop, livery, etc. His dream could not be realized after zoning changes in the 1970’s des- ignated the property’s location, at the confl uence of Silk Creek and the Coast Fork of the Willamette River, as a fl ood- way and prevented the building of ad- ditional structures. Today, club fundraisers continue Nelson’s dream by maintaining the community’s only Victorian-era house open to the public and Prospector Park next door. The fundraisers also provide annual scholarships to Cottage Grove High School graduates seeking to fur- ther their education. Betty Kaiser’s Chatterbox is about people, places, family, and other matters of the heart. Contact her at 942-1317 or via e-mail — bchatty@bettykaiser.com 2015 Cottage Theatre presents A comic “triángulo de amore” set in 1950s Havana Directed by Tony Rust spo nso red by: January 30, 31, February 1* February 5, 6, 7, 8* • 12, 13, 14, 15* *matinee Tickets available online, by phone, or at the door one hour before performance Thursday−Saturday 8:00 pm; Sunday 2:30 pm. $19 Adult, $16 Youth (age 6−18) www.cottagetheatre.org • 541-942-8001 • 700 Village Drive • Cottage Grove
