COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL April 27, 2016
11A
J OHNSONS
Continued from page 8A
children. Together, they have
counseled hundreds of couples
in both premarital and post-
marital situations.
Renna Hass joined the church
in 1968. Refl ecting on the im-
pact of FBC’s longest serving
pastor, she summarized the
Johnsons’ contributions.
“Pastor Steve has shown the
true love of Jesus to the con-
gregation and how to share that
same love with others. They
have been great in counseling
couples; bringing them closer to
Christ and enriching their mar-
riage.”
To aid many displaced wood
products workers struggling
to make ends meet in the late
1980s, the church offered a free
meal every Saturday to support
the families caught in a major
economic transition. This laid
the foundation for what is now
the annual Community Thanks-
giving Dinner hosted for de-
cades at FBC.
“During the past several years
we’ve appreciated how addition-
al churches now help prepare
and serve the meal – as well
as providing their own weekly
community meals throughout
the year,” Steve said.
Another highlight of their
long tenure is the church’s
strong commitment to missions.
Mercy grew up on the mission
fi eld in southern India before
her father became the pastor
of a large Christian church in
Calcutta. She began her Early
Childhood Master’s degree pro-
gram at California’s University
of Redlands. A seminary stu-
dent there captured her heart for
a lifetime. These circumstances
are the foundation of her strong
faith in Christ. Since childhood
she’s enjoyed being a Sunday
school teacher and Bible study
leader. Embracing Mercy’s pas-
sion for missions, the church
now supports several missionar-
ies each year.
“I’m blessed to be a minis-
try partner with my husband
for more than 30 years,” Mercy
said. “The joy of my life is get-
ting to experience the faithful-
ness of God and His power and
provision for our family and our
church.”
Tom Mathis has been a church
leader for more than a quarter
century and has a deep love and
respect for the Johnsons. “Steve
is all about people. Just like the
young Jesus, Steve is always
“about the Father’s business”,
and building up a person’s re-
lationship with God,” Mathis
said.
The Johnsons say they look
forward to more family time,
more traveling and fi nding new
ministry opportunities. They
plan to stay in Cottage Grove
until the end of the year before
moving to the Eugene/Spring-
fi eld area to live closer to their
children and grandchildren.
“The church and I grew to-
gether and we grew to love one
another deeply,” Steve said. “As
a pastor, the most gratifying ex-
perience has been seeing many
people’s lives transformed by
God’s power and Jesus’ love.
Over these 30 years, I have wit-
nessed lives changed as people
lived out Godly principles and
experienced for themselves the
joy, peace, hope and content-
ment that is available in Jesus
Christ.”
On Saturday, May 28, the
Johnsons will be honored for
their 30 years of ministry from
1-4 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall,
301 S. Sixth St. The community
is invited to attend.
bed time as often as the case
needs.”
If that didn’t work, there was
a more aggressive recipe that
was probably the emigrants’
go-to formula for dealing with
malaria:
“Dry beef gall to thick (mo-
lasses consistency). Thicken
it with eaqul parts May apple,
bloodroot, cayenne pepper, cul-
ver root, ½ part lobelia seed.
Mix, role into pills with fl ower,
common serve doses 2 to 6 a
day as the case requires.”
Would this have cured little
Sally’s dysentery? Probably not,
but it sure would have beaten
bleeding her to “restore her bile
balance” or soaking her feet in
Epsom salts.
Here’s what was offered to
any wagon train participant who
grew desperate enough to ask
for help with a cough or sore
throat:
“Cough Surrup: Boil the lick-
rish root to thick molasses. Take
1 fl uid oz Balm Gilead buds, 1
gil vinigar, 1 gil strong sirrip of
skunk cabbage root, ½ fl uid oz
tincter libelia. Take a tea spoon
full or so as often as the case re-
quires to keep the plegm loos to
rais easy.”
You will have gathered that
spelling and grammar wasn’t
part of Dr. Dains’ medical edu-
cation. This wasn’t uncommon
on the American frontier of the
mid-1800s. Many medical prac-
titioners were, in fact, self-taught
– especially the Thompsonians,
who considered themselves to
be populist “heal thyself” types,
in contrast with the paternalistic
“submit to my orders” tradition
of mainstream medicine.
Possibly the most intriguing
recipe in Dains’ book is some-
thing he calls “Mother’s Relief,”
which is an elaborate concoc-
tion of extracts, including those
of partridge berry vine, unicorn
root, blue cohusk, spikenard,
bayberry bark, birthroot, rasp-
berry leaves, witch hazel leaves
and lady slippers, given to wom-
en to ease the labor of childbirth.
Reading the ingredients list, one
has to wonder if it might have
had any real therapeutic value.
Nonetheless, some frontier
mothers seem to have had little
need for anything of the kind.
Here’s Mary Richardson Walk-
er’s diary entry for the particu-
larly eventful day of March 16,
1842:
“Rose about fi ve. Had early
breakfast. Got my housework
done about 9. Baked six loaves
of breads, made a kettle of mush
and have now a suet pudding and
beef boiling. My girl has ironed
and I have managed to put my
clothes away and set my house
in order. May the Merciful be
with me through the unexpected
scene. Nine o’clock p.m. was
delivered of another son.”
and Fancy,” Oregon Historical
Quarterly, Sept. 1960)
O FFBEAT
Continued from page 5A
the inevitable “You have died
of dysentery” could never be too
many turns away.
But if little Sally had been
on Tetherow’s wagon train, she
would have promptly been of-
fered something called an “Ague
and Liver Costive”:
“Dry beef gall to thick molas-
ses thicking it with May Apple,
equal Colycynth and Bloodroot
¼ of the above,” Dr. Dains in-
structs. “Role it out with fl ower
(fl our) into pils. Dose 2 tsp at
Prior To 1955
School age drownings in local creeks and lakes
Were some of the highest in the U.S.
Kathleen Richards
Warren H. Daugherty
&
h e Community of Cottage Grove
Jump-started one of the
Most Successful Swimming Programs
In our Country
Our Pool Needs Maintenance
Th is advertisement paid for by Bud Taylor.
(Sources: Larsell, O. The
Doctor in Oregon. Portland:
Binfords, 1947; Bromberg,
Erik. “Frontier Humor: Plain
Finn J.D. John teaches at
Oregon State University and
writes about odd tidbits of Or-
egon history. For details, see
http://fi nnjohn.com. To contact
him or suggest a topic: fi nn2@
offbeatoregon.com or 541-357-
2222.
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