A6
Seniors
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
G RANT C OUNTY S ENIORS
John Day
Seniors
Nicky Essex
Betty Holznagle and Fran-
cis Kocis began their volunteer
service day by delivering many
meals to folks in John Day and
Canyon City, while David Gill
and Rodney Brunson from Step
Forward took the Mt. Vernon
route. Altogether, they deliv-
ered 31 regular meals and 24
frozen meals. Way to go.
Everett King and I had
“greeter’s desk” duty, which
is one of my favorite parts of
the day. We have met so many
people since we started com-
ing here. There is no reason for
feeling lonely. This is a great
place to make friends.
Our service volunteers
were from Redeemer Luther-
an Church. Jeanette Kile, Buzz
Gilmore, Betty Holznagel and
Francis Kocis did the table ser-
vice. Buzz opened our time by
leading us in the Pledge of Al-
legiance. Our drawing winners
were Jeanette Kile, who won
the Len’s Drug certificate, and
Carol Roe, who won the free
meal. Francis gave the blessing
on our time and meal.
We had 26 friends enjoying
bacon and eggs, hash browns
and English muffins. It was so
quiet in the hall. Everyone ate
their fill and went away satis-
fied.
We have had so many in the
hospital with flu and pneumo-
nia, also many sick kids. We
have lost several dear friends,
including Alma Joslin, who
used to write this column. And
Greg Bremner, who was ex-
pected to be back home after the
weekend, died unexpectedly.
On Thursday, Olivia manned
the greeter’s desk, while Sherry
Feiger and her crew from Ye
Old Thriftshop and the Meth-
odist Church, Jeanne Madesh,
Louise “Sweetie” Nelson, Isa
Larkin and Delores Belden,
took in stride the need to start
later to allow some of us to
stand on Main Street to hon-
or our beloved friend, Greg
Bremner, as he was given a
processional escort by local fire
departments, police, sheriff’s
office and Grant County Road
Department back home. What a
wonderful tribute. Thank you to
all of our 54 diners, our servers
and our bingo group for your
willingness to extend your time
for us to realize this privilege.
Isa Larkin led the group in
the Pledge of Allegiance. Then
the drawing for the Chester’s
Thriftway’s certificate went to
Merry Henry, and the free meal
at Valley View went to Delores
Belden. Sherry Feiger gave
the blessing on our meal. We
enjoyed pepper steak with rice
and veggies, dinner rolls and
banana pudding for dessert.
Check out “Walk with the
Doc” every Saturday (inside)
from 9-10 a.m. at the Grant
Union gym. And there are
prizes.
The John Day Fossil Beds
is looking for senior input about
services, programs, barriers,
etc. Please call Sandra Gladish
at 541-987-2333 ext. 1214 if
you are willing to help.
If you have borrowed a
shower chair, and you are no
longer needing it, please return
it to the senior center. We have
had more requests than usual
and would appreciate any clean,
usable returns and donations of
those that you may have.
Lamentations 3:22-23 “Be-
cause of the LORD’s great love
we are not consumed, for his
compassions never fail. They
are new every morning; great
is your faithfulness.”
Monument
Seniors
Soo Yukawa
We’ve got snow on the
ground, yay. The weather
had been quite mild. I almost
thought we weren’t going to
have a winter.
It is actually downright
cold. Supposedly, we will be in
the single digits this week. We
shall see. One can only antici-
pate and be prepared.
Our cooks Carrie Jewell and
Teawna Conklin prepared for
us a delicious meatloaf, mashed
potatoes and gravy, green
beans, dinner rolls, peaches and
snickerdoodle cookies for des-
sert. My tummy was sure hap-
py. We thank our cooks for their
dedication and hard work.
Our greeters were Bodean
Andersen, Jimmy Cole, Deb-
bie Reid and Linda Blakeslee.
Bodean led us in the flag salute,
made the announcements and
prayed the blessing over our
meal. Jimmy and Debbie col-
lected the money. Jimmy and
Linda counted the money.
Jim Davenport was the
winner of the Len’s Drug gift
card. Lonnie Lawrence won the
Chester’s Thriftway gift card.
Bob Yukawa was the winner of
the free meal.
We thank all our generous
supporters. We had 61 guests
on the books and 12 takeouts.
Quite a crowd, right? We also
celebrated Max Breeding’s
birthday by singing him the
birthday song. We hope he has
many more.
As a thank you to our gen-
erous supporters with their do-
nations and participation, Judy
Harris had a Valentine’s basket
prepared by the Monument Se-
nior Center.
Everyone who came to
lunch received a free ticket for
a chance to win this basket. The
lucky winner was Sharon Falls.
The date for the rummage
sale has been set and an-
nounced. It will be held on April
21. Any gently used items and
clothes will be appreciated and
may be brought and dropped
off on Tuesdays. Thank you to
all who have graciously given.
Jimmy Cole, the chairman
of the senior center board,
made a small announcement.
If there are any concerns or
suggestions that anyone would
like to address, please come to
a board meeting or submit your
suggestions in the suggestion
box located in the lobby on the
board.
There will be sewing this
Saturday, Feb. 24. We go from
9 a.m. to 3 p.m. We share a
potluck lunch around noon.
All are welcome. You may just
come and hang out and visit.
You may bring your crochet or
knitting project. We just have a
good ol’ time laughing, visiting,
eating and, of course, sewing
together.
I love that everyone just
fits right in, and we just enjoy
each other’s company and our
passion for sewing. Hope to see
you there.
Well, I’m glad I didn’t try
planting something. I was en-
tertaining that thought because
we had those nice, warm days
that gave us temps in the 60s.
Well, that would have been di-
sastrous. The snow is definite-
ly here, and the cold is too. I
hope that we will get a bit more
snow. We sure need it, and then
in a month or two, I hope we
get lots of rain even though I
hate the mud, blech.
Psalm 37: 23 “The steps of
a good man are ordered by the
LORD: And he delighteth in his
way.”
Prairie City
Seniors
Rose Coombs
Well, we made it to Bend
by 9 a.m. Wednesday morning,
Feb. 14, through the snow storm
and slippery roads. Pulled into
the parking lot at the Heart and
Lung Center with 10 minutes
to spare. The Lord provided a
parking spot very close to the
front door. Got in to the exam-
ination room right on time and
got the go-ahead for the shoul-
der surgery.
So we went and had brunch
so we could have enough ener-
gy to go through the Goodwill
store. That was our Valentine’s
Day gift to each other. So got
back home in time to watch
Jeopardy. Whew. We’re getting
too old for these kind of trips.
Meanwhile, back at the
ranch: Juan Rubio led the flag
salute, and Beverly Curtis
asked the blessing on the spe-
cial meal of apricot pork loin,
rice risotto, green beans, rolls
and red velvet cupcakes.
The gift certificate donated
by Valley View went to Lou-
ise LaBaugh. And I’m here to
tell you that I used the certifi-
cate that I won, and it was well
worth it. Got to visit with Nor-
ma Rynearson. Thank you ever
so much, Valley View.
Our delivery boys were
Larry, Carlos, Ken and Scott.
Other volunteers in the kitch-
en included Fran Bunch and
Sharon Thissell. Ken shoveled
snow. Veeann announced that
the John Day Fossil Beds peo-
ple are looking for input from
the public on ways to improve
their abode.
Lorna and Krystin brought
Bud Salisbury and Marilyn
Randall from the Blue Moun-
tain Care Center. We were sad
to learn of the death of Alma
Joslin. Her smiling face and
cheerful attitude were a bless-
ing.
New faces in the crowd
included Sandra Burns and
Pastor Dave and wife, Jannet
Hoeffner. That made 50 names
on the registration book.
And I wanted to thank Car-
la and Ginger for the great job
of substituting they did in my
and Pam’s absence. It makes
being gone easier to do when
you know that capable and able
people are filling in.
We will have our monthly
business meeting on Feb. 21
after the meal. All of you who
said you would be “members-
at-large” are encouraged to at-
tend.
Did you see the opening
ceremony of the Olympics?
Especially the representative
from Tonga. Been wonder-
ing just what event he would
compete in, and my curiosity
was satisfied when I happened
to see him beginning a cross
country ski race. He had more
clothes on. The commentators
said that he had been skiing for
three months. And all the racers
waited for him at the finish line.
Wasn’t that special?
Wildlife report of the trip to
Bend: antelope, deer, elk, one
coyote, but no turkeys in Mitch-
ell. Saw several eagles there,
however. Then discovered that
the turkeys migrated to outside
of Mt. Vernon. Uh huh.
Isaiah 40:3-5 “A voice
of one calling: ‘In the desert
prepare the way for the Lord;
make straight in the wilderness
a highway for our God. Every
valley shall be raised up, every
mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become
level, the rugged places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord will
be revealed. …’”
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