March 11, 2016 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 5A
For Cannon Beach’s John Fraser, art was life itself
His pranks were
legend throughout
Cannon Beach
J
ohn Fraser called himself a Dada
artist. But for John, his art was
life itself.
He rebelled against rules and cre-
ated minor moments of chaos in his
community of Cannon Beach. In ef-
fect, he colored outside the lines.
John died at home Feb. 25, fol-
lowing a battle with cancer that
ranged over 15 years. He was 73.
A community gathering in his
honor is planned from 4 to 6 p.m.
April 20 in the Coaster Theatre Play-
house, 108 N. Hemlock St.
John moved to Cannon Beach in
1975, after living in Spain and Lon-
don. He was already well known as a
tavern musician in Portland. Calling
himself the “Juan Man Band,” John
played several instruments at once
— an organ keyboard with one foot,
a high-hat drum with his other foot
and, with his hands, a guitar, along
with a bo[ containing À utes and re-
corders.
“He was a hot act,” said John’s
wife, Lisa. “He was one guy, and he
could sound like an entire band.
“When I was 18, I sneaked into
a bar to hear this amazing musician.
He could do the solo from ‘Peter and
the Wolf’ and go right into a blues
song where everyone would hit the
dance À oor.
“He played 28 different instru-
ments, and he played them well,”
she added.
He often took his act to the streets
of Cannon Beach, where, as a mime,
he entertained children and their par-
IMPRESSIONS
NANCY McCARTHY
ents by playing his music and twist-
ing balloons into animals for them.
He worked at Osburn’s Grocery
and also lived above the store. Like
many Cannon Beach artists in the
1970s, John also held other odd jobs:
a fry cook at a local restaurant, bar-
tender at the Rathskeller and at Bill’s
Tavern. He also was a “beach À yer”
for D.K. Smith, owner of the Once
Upon a Breeze kite shop. It was his
job to À y kites on the beach to entice
customers.
“John liked to say he worked his
way up to owner,” Lisa said. John
bought the shop in 1982.
But John was known in Cannon
Beach as much more than a local
business operator. He was on the
City Council, Planning Commission,
Design Review Board and commu-
nity policing team. He helped to or-
ganize the Cannon Beach Preschool
and Children’s Center; the original
center was housed in the same build-
ing as the kite shop on Spruce Street.
John loved living in Cannon
Beach, Lisa said. “He took it so, so
seriously. He tried to maintain the
community so people could enjoy
it, whether they were living here or
visiting here.”
While he took his civic involve-
ment seriously, John also earnestly
followed his whimsy.
Known for years as the upmost
April Fools’ Day prankster, John
once bought many keys, had them
engraved with words that said,
“Back door, US Bank,” then distrib-
uted them all over town. He wanted
to see how many ¿ nders would re-
turn the keys to the bank and how
many would keep them.
“And the bank didn’t even have a
back door,” Lisa said.
The bank also came into the spot-
light when John put up À iers around
town announcing that the bank had a
“special” event. For every dollar bill
with four or more “ones”in its serial
number, the bank would replace it
with a $100 bill.
“The bank manager at the Astoria
branch called John and asked him to
take down the À iers,” Lisa recalled.
“John refused.”
A crosswalk on Hemlock just
south of Bruce’s Candy Kitchen also
became the focus of another prank
when the police put a pedestal in the
street warning drivers to watch for
pedestrians. On the pedestal’s À at
top, John would place objects, then
sit back and see what people would
do with them. One object included a
landline telephone.
“My favorite was when a cop
came into the (kite) shop with a giant
box fan and asked, ‘Is John here?,’”
Lisa said. “What better place than a
crosswalk in town to study people.”
And then there was the time John
nailed cooked turkey bacon strips to
telephone poles.
“He delighted in watching people
do a double-take when they saw that
bacon,” Lisa said.
Most of the time she was as taken
off guard as anyone else at his antics.
“I was constantly surprised at
every turn. I never knew what was
coming next,” she said.
John threw “surprise” birthday
parties for himself at Bill’s Tav-
SUBMITTED PHOTO/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
John Fraser “smokes” a pickle in front of the “pickle store” he staged
next door to the kite shop he owned. Although the store appeared to be
a real operation with a sign that said, “Back in 5 minutes,” it actually
wasn’t a store at all, and no one ever appeared to open it.
ern with special themes; designed
bumper stickers during the Lewis and
Clark Exposition that said “Dogs:
Pets or Food? Let’s ask Lewis and
Clark”; placed jars of mayonnaise in
a crosswalk on Cinqo de Mayo; and
arranged to have his dedicated credit
card line at his shop (436-BOMB) be-
come a “confessional” for people to
call and record their darkest secrets.
One of his best-known creations
during the late pre-Facebook 1990s
was a website called Cannon Beach
Weather.com, where could people
check out the “weather station” (a
stick that followed the sun) via a
webcam in John’s backyard and
write about the goings-on in Cannon
Beach. As the website administrator
who oversaw the messages, John
called himself “God.”
While adults only laughed and
shook their heads at John’s latest
project, children loved him, espe-
cially when he drove his van through
town and threw out small plastic an-
imals for them to catch.
“He had a huge box of toys,” Lisa
said. “He was like the pied piper. It
took forever for him to get home.”
And when he drove, it was usu-
ally in a car decorated with ¿ gurines
he had glued to the sides and hood
— plastic lizards, iguanas, nuns, doll
heads — and a lawn chair on the
roof. On one of his cars, he glued a
clip on the front and put a $1 bill in
it, with the sign, “Take Me.”
In 2001, John was ¿ rst diagnosed
with prostate cancer, and he success-
fully fought it off. In 2005, howev-
er, the cancer returned. In 2013, the
community held a fundraiser to help
him pay for his medication.
But for several years, his illness
didn’t deter John from playing his
harmonica with other local mu-
sicians during burger night every
Monday at the American Legion.
“He continued to play music un-
til he couldn’t do it anymore,” Lisa
said.
Savor Cannon Beach festival off ers chance to sample wines, cheese
ive hundred ¿ fty wines to taste
over three days? Count me in!
The Savor Northwest Wine
Awards were held in Cannon Beach
recently and I was lucky enough to
be one of the judges. The event is
run by Cannon Beach resident, Gary
Hayes, and his incredible staff of vol-
unteers. The judging in a wine com-
petition isn’t necessarily thrilling to
watch. Each judge swirls, sniffs, sips
and spits, over and over and over.
The three-judge panel then discusses
the wine and works together to reach
an agreement on each entry. Is the
wine deserving of a medal, and if so,
is that medal gold, silver or bronze?
This discussion period is my favorite
portion of the event.
As this is only the third wine com-
petition I’ve judged, I’m a relative
new comer. I offered my thoughts on
the wine, but what I really enjoyed
hearing is what the other judges
F
UNCORKED RAMBLINGS
STEVE SINKLER
thought about the wine. This year, I
had the honor to judge with Gordy
Venneri, the owner of Walla Walla
Vintners and April Reddout, the wine
program manager at Walter Clore
Wine and Culinary Center in Rich-
land, Washington. Because the three
of us were coming from such diverse
backgrounds, we regularly disagreed
on the medal level of the wine. In
those instances, I would tend to de-
fer to my more highly experienced
panel mates. Of course, I took the
opportunity to submit Puf¿ n wines
into this local competition. I don’t
know the ¿ nal outcomes of any of
the wine judging as the results hav-
en’t yet been published, but I can tell
you the Puf¿ n wines did very well in
the competition. We’ll come back to
that in a future column.
Savor Cannon Beach is up next,
taking place day through March 13.
This four-day event has become one
of the best attended multi-day wine
festivals in Oregon. New this year
is the Friday Night Wine, Art and
Cheese walk. I love that this new ac-
tivity includes cheese! Cheese is so
hot right now and the Paci¿ c North-
west has some incredible family
owned creameries. Provisions 124
is going to showcase cheddar and
gouda cheese from Jacobs Cream-
ery, from Chehalis, Washington. Un-
fortunately, the cheesemaker, Lisa
Jacobs, won’t be attending. She’s a
one-woman creamery and the cows
need to be attended to. We have in-
vited Ridge¿ eld, Washington artist
Maureen O’Reilly and her husband
(and photographer) Chris Biedelman
to display their work at our store. If
you have visited Provisions 124 be-
fore, we have a Maureen O’Reillly
watercolor painting next to our front
door. It’s a painting of Maryann and
me walking on the beach with our
two dogs, Ringo and Basia. As our
sweet dog, Basia, is no longer with
us the painting is a beautiful daily re-
minder of how much she loved play-
ing on the beach.
Savor Cannon Beach’s Saturday
Wine Walk is the highlight of the
event. With over 50 wineries in town
showcasing their wines, there is no
excuse for a wine lover not to get
their ¿ ll. The weather during the last
two Wine Walks has been less than
optimal! Rainy and windy weather
may get the tasters soggy, but it de¿ -
nitely doesn’t dampen their spirits. I
am proud to say that for the ¿ rst time
ever, we will be pouring a selection
of Puf¿ n wines this year in Provi-
sions 124. The Wine Shack will be
hosting Sean Driggers and Pudding
River Wine Cellars from Salem.
Local chef Jonathan Hoffman
gets in on the action during Savor
Cannon Beach weekend with his SA-
VORy Cannon Beach experience. On
Friday night, Chef Jonathan hosts a
SAVORy Wine Experience, pairing a
variety of appetizers with wines from
small Oregon wineries. On Saturday
morning, try the SAVORy Bub-
ble Brunch, which includes a build
your own wafÀ e bar and bottomless
bubbly. On Saturday evening, Chef
Jonathan offers his SAVORy Wine
Dinner which includes a six-course
dinner, paired with assorted wines.
With so many wine and food
events coming up in Cannon Beach,
locals and visitors alike are sure to
¿ nd new favorites. Have fun, but re-
member to sample the wines in mod-
eration.
OBITUARIES
Treva Mae Haskell
Nov. 26, 1932 — March 1, 2016
On March 1, 2016, Treva Mae
Haskell of Cannon Beach passed
away peacefully after a long bat-
tle with cancer. Treva is survived
by her daughter and son-in-law,
Sue and Mark Truax of Gearhart;
son and daughter-in-law, David
and Leslie Haskell of Astoria;
granddaughters and grandsons-
in-law, Kelli and Brian Taylor of
Cannon Beach, Toni and Justin
Bennett of Gearhart and Shelby
and Justin Gagnon of Portland;
grandson, Kyle Truax of Sea-
side; granddaughter, Bailey Has-
kell of Astoria; and great-grand-
children, Lilli and Aubrie Taylor
and Derrick, Ellie and Braxton
Bennett. Treva was preceded in
death by her mother and father,
Cecile and Hollis Harp, and her
husband, Bruce Haskell.
Treva Mae Haskell was born
Nov. 26, 1932. in Win¿ eld,
Kansas, to Cecile and Hollis
Harp. She spent her childhood
playing with her cousins on the
family’s oil lease, playing in the
local pond, and learning how to
sew. Treva often reÀ ected back
on growing up in the Great De-
pression, remembering that she
never knew her family was poor
because everyone else was, too.
At an early age, she had a deep
desire to travel, but her parents
were homebodies. She would
joke that she was switched at
birth, and must have been born
to gypsies, because she wanted
to see the world so much.
She loved school and learn-
ing. She graduated from Win-
¿ eld High School in 1950, and
attended one year at a business
school, studying secretarial du-
ties. It was after a year of college
that Treva began her adventures,
when she moved to Seattle,
Washington, with a girlfriend.
She was employed at an insur-
ance of¿ ce, and loved exploring
Treva Mae Haskell
the big city. It was at work one
day when she met the love of her
life, Bruce Haskell, while having
lunch in his family’s restaurant in
the same building as her of¿ ce.
Treva and Bruce married Sept.
14, 1956. They resided in West
Seattle, enjoyed boat racing, and
had a lot of fun together.
In 1960, Treva gave birth to
their ¿ rst child, Susan. Looking
for a change of pace, the fam-
ily of three moved to Cannon
Beach. They began a new ad-
venture in hotel ownership when
they purchased the Surfview
Hotel with Dorothy and Gordon
McRae. During this time, Treva
and Bruce welcomed their sec-
ond child, David. Treva enjoyed
meeting the guests who stayed at
the hotel, but shortly realized that
hotel ownership wasn’t for them.
So, Bruce and she searched for
their next adventure.
At this time in Cannon Beach,
Krutchkies Candy Store and The
Driftwood restaurant were for
sale. Bruce had worked in the
restaurant business for many
years and wanted to do some-
thing new, so they bought the
candy store! The doors to Bruce’s
Candy Kitchen opened April 1,
1963. This is where Treva would
spend the next several decades
creating homemade confections,
thousands of sweet memories,
and building a family business
that would become an institution
in Cannon Beach.
When not working at the fam-
ily business, Treva and Bruce en-
joyed bowling, going to movies,
socializing with friends and visit-
ing their favorite establishments
around town, The Whaler and
Driftwood, for music and good
times. Treva enjoyed working
hard and playing hard, too!
In 1982, Treva lost the love
of her life; her husband Bruce
passed away from cancer. Dev-
astated but not deterred, she kept
the family business going with
the help of her children and ded-
icated employee, Paulette Picard.
Treva worked until her retire-
ment in the early 1990s, when
she slowly stepped out of her role
in the family business and passed
the candy reigns to the next gen-
eration.
On April 1, 2016, Bruce’s
Candy Kitchen will celebrate 53
years in business, the decades
of success are owed to Treva’s
hard work and determination. On
April 1, 2013, she proudly joined
her family and community at the
candy store’s 50th anniversary,
that will go down in history as
one of the best parties in Cannon
Beach!
“I am not the same having
seen the moon shine from the
other side of the world.” — Mary
Ann Rodmacher. As a young
child growing up in Kansas,
Treva dreamed of traveling the
world, seeing new places and
learning new things — this
dream became reality. With her
children, husband and friends,
she traveled to Hawaii, Disne-
yland, Washington and Kansas,
but later in life is when her real
adventures began. In 1984, she
made her ¿ rst voyage out of the
country to China. After this trip
she was of¿ cially “bit by the
travel bug” and in her lifetime
visited over 15 countries on four
continents. Treva had a great
time … Everywhere!
Throughout her life, Treva
was involved in many philan-
thropic groups and activities. In
her children’s youth, she was a
proud member of the Cannon
Beach PTO Rally Girls and SHS
boosters. Later in life, she held
positions on the Cannon Beach
Chamber Board, Cannon Beach
First District Board, and support-
ed a variety of local events.
Treva had a great passion and
talent for sewing, knitting and
cross-stitching. She also enjoyed
reading mystery novels, attend-
ing the local theatre and being a
committed, loyal friend to many
Cannon Beach natives, such as
Sally Steidel, with whom she’d
sip coffee, grab lunch or continue
to build to her passport.
In lieu of À owers, the family
asks that you support one of these
causes deep to Treva’s heart:
SMART reading program and/or
the Clatsop County Animal Shel-
ter. In support of SMART, please
send memorial gifts to SMART,
101 S.W. Market St., Portland
OR 97201, writing “In memory
of Treva Haskell/Clatsop County
SMART” in the memo section of
check; or to the Clatsop County
Animal Shelter, 1315 S.E. 19th
St., Warrenton, OR 97146.
A celebration of her adven-
turous life was held Wednesday,
March 9, with a service at Sea-
side Episcopal Church, 503 N.
Holladay Drive, Seaside, Ore-
gon, followed by a reception at
the Driftwood Restaurant at 179
N. Hemlock St., Cannon Beach,
OR 97110.
Hughes-Ransom Mortuary &
Crematory in Seaside is in charge
of arrangements. Visit www.
hughes-ransom.com to share
memories and sign the guest
book.
Robert Donald Neikes, M.D.
May 20, 1917 — Feb. 28, 2016
Robert was born in
Portland, Oregon, to Her-
man and Martha Neikes.
He married Elizabeth
Judd in 1951, and they
had ¿ ve children. In 1976,
he married Betty Jane
Quinn.
Robert attended Reed
College and Oregon State
College (now OSU). In
1943, he graduated from
the College of Medicine
at Creighton University in
Nebraska.
During World War
II, he served in the U.S.
Army Medical Corps on
the hospital ship USAHS
Charles A. Stafford. Rob-
ert moved to Astoria, Or-
egon, in 1948, where he
practiced medicine at the
Doctor’s Clinic and Asto-
ria Clinic.
As president of the As-
tor Library Construction
Committee, he was instru-
mental in establishing the
Astor Library, dedicated
in October of 1967. His
additional civic designa-
tions included serving as
president of the Clatsop
County Medical Society,
the Civic and Communi-
ty Concert Associations,
and the Library Board of
Trustees. He received the
Astoria Junior Chamber
of Commerce Distin-
guished Service Award in
1968.
He delighted in read-
ing, classical music,
opera, À y ¿ shing, and
the outdoors, especially
spending time at his farm
Robert Neikes, M.D.
in Jewel. In his later years,
Robert volunteered at the
Clatsop County Historical
Society and as a tutor in
Oregon’s SMART Read-
ing Program (Start Mak-
ing a Reader Today).
Robert is survived
by his children, Martha
(Gunther) Romanov, Da-
vid Neikes, Tom (Joom)
Neikes, Jim (Jackie)
Neikes and Carrie Neikes;
stepson, Peter (Anna)
Quinn; six grandchildren;
and one great-grand-
daughter. He is preceded
in death by his wife, Betty
Jane; stepdaughter, Chris
Quinn-Brintnall; siblings,
Elsa Young, Fred Neikes
and Art Neikes; and dear
friend Florence Jacobson.
Please join his family
to celebrate “Dr. Bob’s”
life on Saturday, March
12, at 2 p.m. at the Barbey
Maritime Center.
In lieu of À owers, con-
tributions may be made to
the Astor Library, Clatsop
County Historical Soci-
ety, or SMART Reading
program, on behalf of
Robert Neikes.