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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 27, 2017)
B2 History Blue Mountain Eagle Helen Elizabeth Ricco Sept. 25, 1918 - April 6, 2017 H elen Elizabeth Ricco was born in Metzenseif- en, Czechoslovakia, on Sept. 25, 1918. Leaving this politically contentious area, her father sought a better life for his fam- ily in Cleveland. He worked seven years to earn enough money to bring his family to the United States in 1929. The United States, even in the throes of the depression, was a better choice than stay- ing in Czechoslovakia, which was about to be torn apart by World War II in just a few short years. It seems Grandma main- tained the careful thriftiness learned during this time. For many decades she would wash plastic sacks that her produce had been purchased in, to be reused for storing various items and worn-out clothes were never just discarded, but found a second life to be used as rags or patches for other clothes. Helen was the second of four daughters and spoke only German when she moved to Ohio with her mother, sisters, one large suitcase and a will- ingness to work. Somehow, she and her family made do. Her mother cleaned the bakery owners’ house for unsold bakery items. Her father worked in a steel factory making nuts, bolts and shovels. He became very knowledgeable about various tensile strengths of steel bolts and could tell exactly how much force it required to break them. The challenge of these ear- ly years formed strong family bonds. In 1993, as Helen com- forted a granddaughter at the loss of her mother, she encour- aged her with the knowledge that she herself still missed her parents. In her room, you would find a picture of her parents. Coming to Grant County In 1943, Helen managed Jan. 29, 1937 Blue Mountain Eagle W ord was received here yesterday af- ternoon of the death that morning of Dan Morrow of Long Creek, following an Ing ‘Doc’ Hay 1863 - 1952 Life in Prairie City Once again, Helen brought her German roots and East- ern European background to fruitfulness as she moved — our family has benefit- ed from German strudels, German goulash, German chocolate cake, German flat pancakes (I have read somewhere how Germans love their pancakes, and it is true!) and chocolate mousse, to name a few! No one cooked or baked like Helen! Her culinary skill was invaluable as she and Gene ran the Blue Mountain Guest Ranch and Hot Springs, beginning in 1967. She was never one to be idle. If she wasn’t cooking, then she was cleaning, sew- ing, doing books, yard work, gardening or crocheting. Yet somehow, she still seemed to find time for her family. Her grandchildren recall many times that she read them books, played card games, put together puzzles or pulled out board games. She had a special set of small pans, so that her grandchildren could make small pies if she was making a pie or bake their own little loaf of bread on bread-mak- ing day. Helen kept old beach size towels so her grandkids could make little tent houses and a couple of apple box- es filled with toys neatly set in her library room, which was the special spot for her grandkids to play. When the weather permitted, she played croquet, baseball, kickball or took the grand- children for a swim. At bedtime, her grand- children begged her for sto- ry after story of the real life bear encounters she had ex- perienced at the Blue Moun- tain Hot Springs. Eugene and Helen were married until Eugene’s death in 1978. They had four girls and one boy. She sadly passed away on Thursday, April 6, 2017, at the age of 98 at the Blue Mountain Care Center in Prairie City. Dan Morrow 1841 - 1937 illness of several days. Uncle Dan had been reported a day or two before as on the road to recovery, and his death came as a shock to his many ac- quaintances here. Mr. Morrow was the last surviving Civil War veteran in the county, and his death wipes out the last G.A.R. member in the county. He was 95 years of age and still retained a remarkably clear and active mind. No information was received up to the time of going to press regarding funer- al arrangements. Helen Ricco to take a trip with her friend, Ruth, to Canyon City. They arrived in time for the ’62 Days dance, where she met a confirmed 33-year-old bache- lor who only wanted to dance with her. Needless to say, at the age of 25, Helen’s parents heard from their friends about how Helen had “over-picked” and would most certainly be an old maid for the rest of her life. As Helen and the “old bachelor” were dancing, one of his acquaintances remarked to them, “Oh, Eugene Ricco, you have just bought your own ranch and so now it’s time for finding a wife, I see!” Helen started to will the floor to open up so she could just disappear. It would be two years before Eugene finally proposed and married Helen, and this only after a letter from Helen wanting to know his in- tentions. If there were bumps and hard times for Helen in tran- sitioning from Cleveland to Prairie City, I could not tell you, for she rarely mentioned it other than to say how she had missed her parents. Wednesday, September 27, 2017 Jan. 25, 1952 Blue Mountain Eagle I ng “Doc” Hay is dead. With his death in Port- land last Saturday, a symbol of a past and colorful era in Grant County history passed on. Funeral services were held Thursday from Driskill’s with the Rev. Mrs. Bach in charge. Interment was in the John Day cemetery. Doc Hay’s life in Grant County is so interwoven with the old mining history and the history of the Chinese colony in Eastern Oregon that there are hundreds of stories and anecdotes brought to light by his passing. Because he al- ways avoided publicity and talked little of the past even to relatives much of the lore of his life has been lost. There is enough, however, to make interesting reading for new- comers and to bring nostalgic reminiscence to old timers. His age was not exactly known. Relatives believe he was at least 89 and, for the offi- cial record, give his birthplace as Walla Walla in 1863. When the Chinese exclusion act was about to be enacted and Doc had to prove residence to es- tablish citizenship, he went to Walla Walla and obtained an elector’s certificate to establish his status. This certificate bears the date of July 31, 1897, and attested that he had voted in election there prior to that date. His ability as a Chinese herb doctor became legendary in Eastern Oregon. Stories are recounted of the early days when he would travel as far as Prineville by horse and buggy to treat patients. A remarkable, almost phe- nomenal, memory was listed among the Doc attributes. Rel- atives tell of a huge volume of Chinese medicine he pos- sessed. He practically had the contents memorized and, at the mention of any reference, would give the page number and paragraph in which to find the information. His eyesight began failing in the late ’20s, and for the past few years he has been totally blind. In his old historic quarters, among the medicines, personal me- mentos and relics he kept sev- eral radios and kept abreast of world and national news. Ropes were strung for him to use as guides when moving out of the house. Sometime in his youth We make sure your loved ones will be taking care of. Quality Life - Beautiful Location Giving excellent care 24 hrs a day BLUE MOUNTAIN CARE CENTER 112 E. 5th St., Prairie City 541-820-3341 YOUR MONEY - YOUR COMMUNITY - YOUR CREDIT UNION Where People Are More Important Than Money Since 1957 Proud to be part of Grant County history for the last 59 years. The only locally owned financial institution in Grant County. 650 W. Main St., John Day, Oregon • (541) 575-0264 162 W. Front, Prairie City, Oregon • (541) 820-4601 • (541) 820-4725 he went to China to learn the age-old precepts of herb medicines. The time when he started living regularly in John Day is hard to establish. His father, Orr Hogg, established the Kam Wah Chung store and herb center here in 1871. His father had arrived in the valley in the early ’60s with the first rush of miners into the Canyon City diggings. He returned to China to spend his last year be- fore the turn of the century and nothing further was known of him. Doc Hay, according to the best information available, set- tled here permanently in the early ’80s. He was not known to have visited China during this century, but on one of his trips to China, he married and was the father of a son he nev- er saw and of whom no present trace is known. In the heyday of the Kam Wah Chung business opera- tion, it had a greatly diversified stock of all kinds of merchan- dise. Gold dust was brought over the counter. A frontier bank was operated, and at one time or another, much of the land of Grant County had loans from this bank against it. Most of the debts were paid, but many were quietly written off. Among the contents of the old store where the Doc spent his last years are pa- pers, letters and un-canceled checks, all of which provided a rich storehouse of research material in studying the early days of the county. Among this material are un-cancelled checks, many of them dat- ing back to the early 1900’s, mostly in small amounts, and written by many pioneers of the county now gone. The amount of the un-cashed checks is estimated to total close to $20,000. Although the Doc was not- ed for always offering a help- ing hand to worthy needy and making modest charges for his service, he managed to ac- cumulate a substantial estate. When his eyesight grew poor, he gradually discontinued his practice, and the bulk of the work has been carried on by his nephew, Dr. Bob Wah. Oc- casionally he would treat an old-timer but gradually made his retirement complete. Doc Hay was a devout Buddhist but with the decreas- ing number of original Chi- nese immigrants too few were left to hold regular services. He maintained, however, a Buddhist temple in his quar- ters where he worshipped reg- ularly. Although the Chinese colony here, which at one time numbered above 600, did not have any designated leader, Ing Hay was regarded as a se- nior statesman to whom many went regularly for advice. His business partner, Lung On, re- portedly about the same age as Ing Hay, died in 1940. Mining camp gamblers at one time tried to use Ing Hay as an instrument in filching money from the miners. Part of his stock of merchandise consisted of playing cards. At one time he had approximate- ly 1,000 decks on hand from which the frontier places of amusement regularly made purchases for their games. The gamblers offered Ing Hay a substantial amount of money for the cards: They would only keep them for several days and return them to him intact. He refused the offer, which obviously was intended as a way to steam off seals, mark the cards and then return them to Doc Hay to be sold for use in the games. The cards, as a product of Doc Hay’s place would have been regarded as reliable, and the miners would have been tak- en to the cleaners more rapid- ly than usual. Members of the Chinese colony of good repute could always get credit backing from Ing. Mrs. Margaret Her- burger O’Brien, a native of Grant County, knew Doc Hay in the earlier days. Before her death late in June she had writ- ten several columns on the old doctor in the Ukiah, California Press which she owned. In a column appearing in the issue of March 24, 1942, she remi- nisced: “It is a long time since I saw him last. His name is Doc Hay and he is a Chinese doc- tor. He lives on a famous plac- er mining creek in Eastern Or- egon and he had done a lot of good. When you visited ‘Doc’ Hay he would not ask you what ailed you. He would take your hand and forearm and place them on a small pillow. Carefully feeling about the wrist he would find out him- self what the matter was. He would then fuss around in a pot of herbs, leaves and roots – it looked like a woodrat’s nest – and he would fix you up some medicine that would ‘Catchem’. The Celestial was a smart old coot, too. I recall a cowboy who had a violent toothache, went in to try and fool him and told ‘Doc’ Hay he was plenty sick, ‘Doc’ Hay put his forearm on the pillow and quickly jabbed his thumb in the cheek of the patient beneath the tooth which was throbbing. ‘Pull him out’ was the diagnosis.” Hardware Paint Cookware Garden Supplies Home Decor and much more!