A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27, 2018
COMMUNITY
Harmony Club still going after 80 years
By JADE MCDOWELL
STAFF WRITER
Eighty years after the
women living on Loop
Road decided to form an
official social club, the club
is still going.
The Harmony Club,
which had a high of 107
members, has only seven
today, including its first
non-Loop Road member.
But during fall, winter and
spring the ladies meet twice
a month for at least two
hours.
“The object was to get
better acquainted with
neighbors and be of bene-
fit to others,” vice president
Carol Pomeroy said, show-
ing a piece of paper with
official club rules and objec-
tives. “There’s the constitu-
tion, so they did it legit.”
Pat Wagner, club sec-
retary-treasurer, said she
has all the minutes of each
meeting going back to 1938.
According to an account
written for the group’s
scrapbook in 1955, the Har-
mony Club was the brain-
child of Agnes Harrick. She
lived on Loop Road, which
loops from East Highland
Avenue in Hermiston all the
way down to Stanfield, and
wanted to get to know her
neighbors better.
Wagner is the club’s
member who doesn’t live
on Loop Road. She felt like
getting out of the house
more, and club president
Polly Van De Brake asked
the group to take a vote on
letting her in. Van De Brake
said the club may be smaller
than it used to be, but it is
still something that its mem-
bers enjoy.
“We’re keeping it going,”
she said. “So many of the
ladies on Loop Road now
work, and so they’re not
able. That’s what’s different
now than 80 years ago.”
Meetings take place at
10 a.m. every other Mon-
day, with summers off. Club
members take turns hosting.
They have snacks or dessert,
read the minutes of the last
meeting and do a “roll call”
asking everyone to give an
update on what has been
going on in their lives since
they last met.
“Some of us only pull
weeds, that’s our highlight,”
Pomeroy said, laughing.
To get to know each other
better, they have also added
a second question, which
has ranged from “What’s
the worst haircut you’ve
gotten?” to “What are your
pet peeves?”
There is plenty of time
for more informal chat-
ting — which the club’s
officers said frequently
includes recipe-sharing —
but each gathering must
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
James Shelton asks questions about changes to a noise
control ordinance during the Echo City Council meeting
in Thursday in the VFW hall in Echo. The hall has just
reopened to the public after renovations this spring.
City renovates VFW hall
rated in 1904. The city
provides a brochure out-
lining a walking tour of
23 historical sites that date
back to the late 1800s or
early 1900s. The building
that houses city hall and
the community center was
built in 1916.
The city has owned
the VFW building at 210
Bridge Street since Janu-
ary 2016, when the Echo
chapter of Veterans of For-
eign Wars consolidated
with the Pendleton chapter
and the group donated the
building to the city. They
have since used it for coun-
cil meetings and allowed
community groups like
4-H to meet there for free.
The city’s library also
stores the books it sells
through Amazon there and
uses it for children’s story
time and activities.
“It’s kind of a library
annex,” Berry said.
The project to update
the building was paid for
by grants from the Echo
Community Benefit Plan,
Kinsman Foundation and
Wildhorse Foundation.
During
Thursday’s
meeting in the newly-re-
modeled hall, the coun-
cil approved a request
from Echo Ridge Cellars
for three events in July,
including Echo’s annual
school reunion.
By JADE MCDOWELL
STAFF WRITER
The old VFW hall in
Echo is back in commu-
nity use.
The hall was closed
during much of the spring
for extensive renovations,
but was used for a city
council meeting Thursday.
“It’s pretty well done
except for a couple of
minor things,” city admin-
istrator Diane Berry said.
The renovation has
included laminate floor-
ing to replace the worn-
out carpet, an awning to
keep rainwater from pool-
ing outside the front door,
a new sidewalk, interior
and exterior paint and a
remodel of the bathroom.
A wall was also removed
to expand the kitchen area.
No one knows the exact
year it was built, but Berry
said she knows it dates
back to at least 1910.
“This is just another
step in our efforts to reju-
venate and give new life to
historical buildings instead
of tearing them down and
rebuilding
something
lesser in their place,” she
said.
According to a history
compiled on the city of
Echo’s website, the town
was settled in 1860, plat-
ted in 1880 and incorpo-
STAFF PHOTO BY JADE MCDOWELL.
Polly Van De Brake, right, holds a scrapbook detailing the Harmony Club’s history with Pat
Wagner (left) and Carol Pomeroy.
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY THE HARMONY CLUB.
This undated photo from the Harmony Club’s scrapbook show members in the club’s early
days.
include a simple game pre-
sented by the host, usually
along the lines of a current
events quiz, guessing game
or word puzzle. The win-
ner gets a prize, which has
shifted over time from a
box of Jell-O or cake mix to
more permanent household
items.
Van De Brake said she
would be fine with going
back to food for prizes.
“None of us at our
age needs a thing,” she
said. “We’re all trying to
downsize.”
While the Harmony
Club’s current members try
to adhere to tradition and
the club’s bylaws, there
are a few that they have let
slide by the wayside. Meet-
ing minutes from the early
years stated that the women
decided to only wear print
dresses to meetings.
“Well, we don’t do that
anymore,” Wagner said.
The club’s scrapbook,
which includues pictures
and letters between mem-
bers, was lost for a few
years, but Pomeroy finally
managed to track it down
again. Despite dwindling
numbers, they have hope for
a future generation of Har-
mony Club members inter-
ested in the past.
“We just hang on,” Van
De Brake said.
Get that Summer Break
feeling in a new Toyota!
CARS
2018
Gas or Hybrid
2018
60 mo.
0 . 9 % APR
60 mo.
1 . 9 % APR
OR $2,000 Cash Back
No Dogs
Allowed in Park
2018
*Bring your own lawn chairs or blanket. Grass amphitheater.
AWD
Saturday, June 30, 2018
Dinner & Poker Tournament
(plus BINGO)
Legion Hall, Ione
Free Movie in the Park: Ghostbusters Ione City Park
Sunday, July 1, 2018
Volleyball Tournament
SUVS
June 30, 5 pm
June 30, Dusk
Ione City Park
July 1st, 9 am
LEASE A NEW 2018
XLE
mo.
36 mos.
Security $ 3,599
2018
$ 309
Excludes Hybrid
Tuesday, July 3, 2017
Golf Tournament
Willow Creek Country Club, Heppner
IHS “All Alumni” Get Together
Route 74 Restaurant
July 3rd, 9 am
July 3rd, 6–9 pm
Wednesday, July 4, 2017
Fireman’s Breakfast
Ione Fire Hall
7:00 -10:00 am
Creative Care PreSchool 5k Walk/Run
($10 Registration)
Ione City Park
7 am Reg./Walk starts at 7:30 am
Ken Turner Memorial
Horseshoe Tournament
Horseshoe Pits
9:00 am
3-on-3 Basketball
Tournament
2nd Street, In Front of Legion Hall
10:00 am
Vendors & Booths
Ione City Park
11:00 am
Fish Pond, Frog Jump, Bike Raffle
Fire Hall/Park
11:00 am
Altar Society Pie Sale
Ione Fire Hall (or Church Basement)
11:00 am
Parade (G rand M arshal : G reGG & s helly r ietMann ) Main Street
1:00 pm
Money Pile, Much More!
After Parade
Free Swimming
Ione Swimming Pool
1:30-3:30 pm
W ade a ylett
a mphitheater S tage
2:00-3:30 pm
Bingo
Talent Show
Ione Legion Hall
Amphitheatre Stage
2:00-4:00 pm
3:30 pm Reg./Show at 4 pm
C ory p eterSon B and
a mphitheater S tage
4:30-6:00 pm
Game On! Video Game
Trailer & Laser Tag
Featured Entertainment
Ione City Park
Amphitheater Stage
5:00-8:00 pm
6:30 pm
T he J ames m arlin B and (6:30 pm ) B rewer ’ s G rade (8:30 pm )
Boat Trip Auction/Raffle Drawings Amphitheatre Stage
Fireworks Display
Visible throughout Ione
All event, times and locations are subject to change.
www.CityOfIoneOregon.com/FourthOfJuly
Music funded in part by Morrow County Unified Recreation District
8:00 pm
Dusk
60 mo.
0 . 9 % APR
$ 0 Deposit
Due at Signing
OR $2,000 Cash Back
4X4
TRUCKS
2018
TRD
$ 299
$ 0 Security
Deposit
CrewMax
Excludes TRD Pro
LEASE A
NEW 2018
Off-Road
Double Cab
Excludes TRD Pro
mo.
36 mos.
$ 2,349
60 mo.
0 . 9 % APR
OR $1,750
Cash Back
Due at Signing
BuyAToyota.com
Every new Toyota comes with
All financing on approved credit through TFS. All
vehicles subject to prior sale. All prices plus tax
and title. Dealer doc fees vary by dealer. For more
details call 1-888-21-TOYOTA. Offers end 7/9/18.