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SIX The Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon, Thursday, December 22, 1977
Katherine Farrar :very special grandma
By ElaneBlanchet
"You always find nice people if you just reach out your
hand," says Katherine Farrar, the 82-year-old poet whose
verses periodically liven up the Gazette-Times editorial
page.
This philosophy appears to have permeated Katherine's
life up to her newest chapter, life in Heppner. She came to
Morrow County in January, 1976, soon after her husband's
death in Junction City.
"People here have never made me feel like a stranger;
everyone calls me by my first name," Katherine
commented. She likes the way everyone talks to everyone
else in the street in Heppner, comparing Eastern Oregon
friendliness with that she knew in the Midwest before moving
to Junction City from Nebraska with her husband Lester,
"an old Packard, a trailer, three girls and a dog", 41 years
ago.
Katherine, raised by her grandparents in Nebraska, was
a school teacher for 12 years before her marriage, starting in
a rural one-room school.
"I still love to have children around me," she
commented. "That's why I taughi school, because I love
children and they seemed to come to me."
Katherine remembers "good, happy times" as a first
grade teacher in Fairmont, Neb., and says she still receives
Christmas cards from students she taught 60 years ago.
Katherine married Lester Farrar, a farmer, in 1925,
ending her teaching career. Drought conditions drove the
family to Oregon in 1936, where they settled outside Junction
City.
The Farrar's oldest daughter, Mary married Dave
McLeod and the couDle settled in Heppner, paving
Katherine's future move to Morrow County. "I told Lester
that if he left me first, "I know where I'll go, I'll go to
Heppner," Katherine said.
Though physically slowed down by arthritis, Katherine's
lively mind and sharp memory might be envied by a much
younger person. "My grandmother lived to be 99 years and 4
months and my great-grandmother lived to 99 years, 11
months," she commented.
Katherine still loves children and feels blessed with 10
grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. "Lester and I
were married 51 years", she said. "With four generations in
our family, we never saw the generation gap."
When the McLeod family moved recently to Portland
after Dave was promoted to the state ASCS office, Katherine
said, "I'd made up my mind to stay right here as long as my
health holds out. I like small towns, I like it here."
The
Toy Box
The lonely toy box,
Sits in the corner
Sometimes gathers dust
The tin soldiers creak with
rust.
The big red drum has a broken
stick.
Can't go, "Boom! Boom
Boom!"
To lead the soldiers in gay
Parade,
Around the room.
The big big humming top
Wants to spin round and
"roun"
Wishes for tiny hands to push
up and down
The once proud train is broken
apart
Engine can't "Toot!"
Can't even start.
The dump truck
That hauled so many loads of
sand
Longs for the touch of a small
boy's grubby hand.
The girl toys are lonely too.
All feel so alone and blue.
The pretty tea set with pink
roses painted on.
Is asking "Where have the tea
parties gone?"
The dollies are there, and
stare!
Tears in their eyes and tousled
hair.
No one to comb that tousled
head.
No one to tie a pony tail
With ribbon red.
The ABC blocks so carefully
placed
Wait hour by hour
For busy hands
To build a tall, tall tower
Add to these
A worn story book or two.
Read many times by Grand
mother through and
through,
Ah yes
A lonely toy box!
What precious memories it
brings,
Of tiny tots and cluttered
playthings.
by Katherine R. Farrar
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WHEN A HEARING
AID WILL HELP
JOE SINGLETON
414 S.E.Dorian St.
Pendleton, OR 97801
Phone (503)276-3266
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DEPBRTHEHT STORE
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Katherine spends her time reading, doing housework,
tending her plants, visiting friends, writing 15-20 letters a
week, watching television in the evening and, of course,
writing poetry.
She remembered that she "messed around with poetry
as a kid", but the first poem she kept was written by
inspiration on a kleenex during a train ride getween
Arlington and Portland after a visit with the McLeods in 1947.
The first one ever published was submitted as a surprise by
friends to the paper in Wheatland, Wyoming when she was 79.
Her first poem appearing in the Gazette-Times was
boxed on the front page in the Sept. 2, 1976 issue, entitled
"School Very First Day." It had been submitted as an 81st
birthday surprise by Mary McLeod. Katherine's poems have
since been an irregular feature in the Times.
Katherine insists that she is "just an ordinary person"
but a card she recently received from a small
great-granddaughter in California may describe her more
accurately. It was addressed to "A Speshl Grandma".
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Christopher Rea
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Heppner
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fit
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fit
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During the week between
Tuesday, Dec. 13 and Tues
day, Dec. 20, eight patients
were admitted to Pioneer
Memorial Hospital.
Heppnerites Brian Siminoe,
Mike Saling, Tom Kinney,
Heather Nelson and Elvira
Irby were admitted and dis
missed during the week, as
was William Hoffman of Port
Hill, Idaho.
Herman Havekost of lone
was still a patient on Tuesday.
After taking an extended
vacation, the Morrow County
stork dropped off two blue
baby bundles at Pioneer
Memorial Hospital in recent
days as early Christmas
presents.
Mr. and Mrs, Gordon Lewis
Cecil of Heppner are the proud
W LIVE
IF PLAINS
ij 9 p.m. to 2
.NEW
I WAGON
tl CAH
&
( Hospital Notes j
parents of a son, Raymond
Lewis, born on Wednesday,
Dec. 14, at 5:48 a.m. He
weighed in at 9 pounds 4Vi
ounces and joins brother Craig
in the Cecil home.
Grandparents are Mr. and
Mrs. Vernon Cecil of Pendle
ton. Great grandparents include
Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Welch,
Salt Lake City, Utah; William
Jones, Pendleton; and Ruby
Hastings, Milton-Freewater.
A son named Brandon Jason
joined the family of Mr. and
Mrs Carl Wavne Staley of
i
Heppner on Friday, Dec. 16,
a 90 n m. weiehine in at
i
pounds, Vk ounces. A big
sister welcomed little Bran
don home.
Grandparents of the new
MUSIC
AND THE
MEM
a.m.
YEARS EVE
MMl
LOUNGl
Directory
Staiev addition include Char-
lene oinun, nxiei, new Mexi
co; William E. McDonald,
Durango, Colorado; and Mr.
and Mrs. Carroll Staley, Los
Angeles, Calif.
Great-grandparents are Mr.
and Mrs. Tracy Bushnell, San
Diego, Calif.; Mr. and Mrs.
Ralston Ray, Hesperus, Colo.;
and Mr. and Mrs. John H.
Smith, Farmington, N M.,
Brandon has one great-great-grandmother,
Mrs.
Granny Ward, San Diego,
Calif.
c : . u A ... X '. If :
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