10A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL December 23, 2015
O FFBEAT
Students,
fi refi ghters
team up for
food drive
Continued from page 4A
Students in Ms. Casey's
fi fth-grade class at Bohe-
mia Elementary and South
Lane Fire personnel load
up about 1152 pounds of
food for their annual Food
Drive. Schools in Cot-
tage Grove and Creswell
brought in 15,042 pounds
of food for local food
pantries. Ms. Clearwater's
kindergarten class at Cre-
slane led donations with
2401 pounds. Dorena, Lon-
don, Harrison and Latham
elementaries brought in
238, 238, 2387 and 826
pounds, respectively.
photo by Duane Taddei
T&T
Continued from page 7A
stepfather, Jim, with both fami-
lies migrating to Winnipeg,
Canada. Both Dick and Jim were
the second of four children, with
the same combination of broth-
ers and sisters in the same birth
order, and all of the siblings re-
maining childless after marriage.
Faith and my mother had at-
tended the same high school. An
amazing list of coincidences, as
if the two women were reading
from identical books of life, re-
iterating one similar experience
after another.
How was it possible to dial a
long distance number on Christ-
mas morning, but end up con-
necting with a “local” person
who needed us as much as we
needed her?! Unbelievably mys-
terious--God obviously works
overtime on Christmas; how else
could I have possibly connected
to a “stranger” who is actually
“family” with a last name of
Holden?! It is a Christmas and
a miracle we will never forget!
And the clincher: Faith revealed
that her phone number is UN-
LISTED! So, even if we had
wanted to locate her, we could
not have, adding evening more
mystery to this Christmas Morn-
ing Miracle!
May your holidays be magi-
cal, fi lled with miracles, family
and friends. And if the holidays
look dull create some magic and
memories for others.
PS
Now you know the “secret” be-
hind naming my second miracle
book, “A Christmas Filled With
Miracles”. We can all “Expect
Miracles” which is the title of my
fi rst book. For autographed cop-
ies email me at AngelScribe@
msn.com or http://angelscribe.
com/miraclebooks and fi nd them
at the Bookmine.
Follow Pet Tips and Tales on
Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/
PetTipsandTales
Adopt a pet for your present!
www.PetFinder.com
Share your pet’s miracle story.
angelscribe@msn.com
but shares only a name with
the short-lived organization
that was founded at that time.
Its true founding date was
1922.)
When the OHS was
launched in 1900, it was clear
that it would be carrying for-
ward in the same style as the
OPA, only with more profes-
sionalism. Professor Young
was named editor of a new
professional
peer-reviewed
journal, the Oregon Histori-
cal Quarterly. Scott became
the president. And Himes,
gregarious and enthusiastic as
always, became the curator of
the new organization’s collec-
tions — almost all of which
had been collected by Himes
himself.
The early years of the Or-
egon Historical Society have
been criticized by modern
historians such as E. Kimbark
MacColl for being too boost-
erish, too interested in present-
ing a glorious Oregon story of
bravery, nobility and regional
exceptionalism, and insuf-
fi ciently willing to own up to
tales of darkness and mean-
ness. Certainly the Historical
Society was not the place to
go to learn about shanghaiiers,
bootleggers, bordellos, opium
dens and political corruption.
Those stories would be sup-
plied later, by jaded newspa-
per raconteurs such as Stewart
Holbrook and Herbert Lundy.
But although Himes prob-
ably approved of this sort of
silent whitewashing of the
state’s history, that wasn’t his
department. His specialty —
at fi rst just a hobby, but after
1902 his full-time occupation
— was building that massive
collection of artifacts, unvar-
nished pieces of a fast-fading
past: Old books, manuscripts,
photos, transcripts of more
than 7,000 interviews he’d
conducted with pioneers, and
plenty of articles carrying his
own by-line.
It’s entirely possible that,
if transported to the modern
day, George Himes would be
labeled a hoarder. Especially
when he was fi rst embarking
on his lifelong collecting habit,
when the artifacts he was sav-
ing — newspaper clippings,
old letters, memoranda with
important people’s signatures
on them, that kind of thing
— were not yet old enough to
be rare or cherished. But by
saving all those things, and
adding to them over a lifetime
of travels and interviews and
searchings-out, Himes prob-
ably contributed more to the
study of Oregon history than
any other single individual
— and his collections are still
contributing to it today.
(Sources: Laugesen, Aman-
da. “George Himes, F.G.
Young, and the Early Years of
the OHS,” Oregon Historical
Quarterly, spring 2000; Wex-
ler, Geoffrey. “George Himes
(1844-1940),” The Oregon
Encyclopedia, oregonencyclo-
pedia.org)
Finn J.D. John teaches at
Oregon State University and
writes about odd tidbits of
Oregon history. For details,
see http://fi nnjohn.com. To
contact him or suggest a topic:
fi nn2@offbeatoregon.com or
541-357-2222.
Happy
Holidays &
Thanks to
Our Troops
Whether you are home
for the holidays or here
in spirit, you are in our
hearts. Folks like you
make us especially
proud to be Americans.
As we refl ect on the blessings for which
we are most grateful at Christmastime,
our freedom and those who protect it are
at the top of our list. To the brave men and
women of our military, go our sincere thanks,
respect and best wishes for a great holiday.
We salute your service and your sacrifi ce.
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