4A • November 27, 2015 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com
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Life’s a buggy ride for Gearhart’s oldest resident
S EEN FROM S EASIDE
O
f all the things we can
think about to be thank-
ful for at this Thanksgiv-
ing, it is the people in our lives
who gives us love, support and
friendship, especially new friends
young and old.
Probably the oldest new friend
we met may be the oldest resident
in Gearhart.
Most people think so. Bob Mc-
Ewan celebrated his 93rd birthday
this month, making him a living
witness to the Great Depression,
World War II, the Cold War and
everything in between.
He is a lifelong Oregonian and
has lived in Gearhart for more
than half a century. His bug-
gy ride, drawn by trusty donkey
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on Sundays and holidays, is fa-
mous up and down the North
Coast.
We have the privilege of
knowing Bob and Pancho, a de-
lightful friendship if there ever
was one. Pancho is a Bethlehem
donkey — not your common
burro, that’s for sure. Pancho
is blessed with the mark of his
breed, a cross along his back. He
is enormously social, intelligent
and he makes you want to own a
donkey of your own.
Bob, accompanied by his black
Labrador retriever Pearl, is a mas-
ter of the rare art of carriage-driv-
ing.
He came with his mother and
grandmother from Portland to
Seaside, where she managed the
Necanicum Inn, “an old, old hos-
telry in Seaside,” McEwan said
on the occasion of his 93rd birth-
day.
His grandmother dabbled in
real estate a little bit, he said, and
she bought the Gearhart home he
now lives in sight unseen. The
home, built in 1908, was located
on “just a cowpath in the trees,”
he said.
“Up here, between Cottage
and Marion up to the main street,
there was nothing there,” McE-
wan remembered. “It was just
that rolling sand dunes and grass.
Where the golf course is now but
from there to what they call Pa-
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Street — it was horse pasture.
There were cranberry bogs in Del
Mar.”
Gearhart School was located
where the Trail’s End gallery on
Avenue A is now.
As a teenager he got a job
working at the Gearhart Hotel,
B Y
R.J.
MARX
Today, McEwan still
wakes up and goes to
work every morning at
Laurelwood Farm. He
harnesses Pancho to the
cart and drives him around
Gearhart every Sunday, his
dog Pearl riding shotgun.
when it was owned by Portland
department store magnate Myron
Frank. The hotel, now gone and
replaced by condominiums, held
conventions for 300, 400 people
at a time, McEwan said.
“I was the kind of mess boy in
the help’s dining room, they had
a help’s dining room that seated
about 50 people,” he said. “I set it
up every day and cleaned off the
tables and stuff. It was a big deal
then.”
A prankster, teenage Bob
would ride the dumbwaiter — an
elevator with a crank with a rope
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the basement. “It was against the
rules to get into that thing, but I al-
ways got in and rode myself down
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carted all the whiskey bottles and
glassware and took it where it was
supposed to go.”
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for the Gearhart Fuel Company.
“They sold wood, ice and coal on
Gin Ridge and everywhere,” he
said. “I drove one of their wood
trucks around when I was about
12. There were no streets square
like there are now, just tracks.
You could drive around — no
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big houses on what we call Gin
Ridge, they’re just like they used
to be, but there’s a lot more added
in between.”
McEwan drove milk trucks
from the dairy in Seaside, deliv-
ering to Cannon Beach and Gear-
hart.
The shelling of Fort Stevens
took place in April 1942, but
McEwan missed it.
“My grandmother and I were
here that night when that hap-
pened,” he said. “In the morning
she said, did you hear those aw-
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“I said, ‘No, I slept right
through it.’
“She said it sounded like
somebody was blasting. It was
that loud, I guess.”
When he woke up in the ear-
ly morning to make his deliver-
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editions of newspapers on the
stand, telling the Oregon coast
had been shelled by a Japanese
submarine.
That afternoon, he was up to
see the shells, mostly at DeLaura
Beach. “They didn’t come very
close,” he said. “They were on
the wrong side of the the road.”
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because they were afraid they
would give away their position,
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ably couldn’t reach it anyway
because the range wasn’t as good
as the submarine’s was,” he said.
Soon after, he joined the
Merchant Marine, and traveled
around the world delivering
needed supplies until the war
ended in 1945. “I was most of
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“I was in the Persian Gulf and
around the world. The Merchant
Marine was a big operation, and
they covered a lot of ground,”
he said. “Everything that was
hauled overseas, the Merchant
Marines took it, so we went ev-
erywhere.”
McEwan returned home to
Gearhart in 1945.
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“Oh, yeah! I was all over the
world, and I decided this was the
best place anywhere,” he said.
After the war, McEwan went
to work with the county road
department as an engineer for
the bridge crew. Those were the
days of timber-trestle bridges,
before the advent of the concrete
bridges built today. Part of his
work was installing and replac-
ing culverts. The county pur-
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one I’d ever seen or anyone had
ever seen around here.”
In the course of his work, he
was made bridge foreman. The
backhoe became his stock in
trade “I took over that thing and
R.J. MARX PHOTO/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Bob McEwan travels in style with Pearl on the seat and Pancho at the lead.
R.J. MARX PHOTO/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Bob McEwan celebrates his 93rd
birthday in Gearhart.
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nally a friend of mine convinced
me to buy my own and I quit the
county and bought one. I started
in 1956. It’s the oldest company
in the county still going. My son
runs it.”
Today, McEwan still wakes up
and goes to work every morning
at Laurelwood Farm. He harness-
es Pancho to the cart and drives
R.J. MARX PHOTO/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Pancho poses for his close-up.
him around Gearhart every Sun-
day, his dog Pearl riding shotgun.
As Bob McEwan blows out
the candles on “93” (“39,” if
you look at in reverse), a hint
of a tear forms at his eye. It’s a
chocolate cake, his favorite —
although his doctor tells him he
can “only eat so much.”
Between the Covers ESTHER MOBERG
Thankful this holiday for a community of readers
Here in Seaside, we have
a lot to be thankful for. I
say this looking out a win-
dow where the rain hasn’t
stopped for three days
straight, but it’s a gentle
rain even as it makes a lake
out back behind the Seaside
Public Library. But I am
thankful for Seaside. Where
else can you live a mile from
the ocean and walk on the
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Where else do you have
beautiful mountains, rivers,
and great air to breathe in
without hours of commuting
to a job in a cubicle without
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because I’ve done the cubi-
cle job. I’ve driven in snow
and ice to work. I can say
I appreciate Seaside even
more because of it!
But most of all, I am
thankful for our community
of readers. Every day I see
parents bring their 2- and
3-year-olds into the library
to get another stack of pic-
ture books that they will
read to them. I also see kids
come to the library and hop
on the computers and join in
a Lego building program be-
cause they know the library
is a safe and fun place to be.
I am thankful that at a Sea-
side Chamber Of Commerce
meeting, I can discuss Ore-
gon authors who are obsessed
with Moby Dick, or go to a
chamber banquet that has a
“Library Olympics” cham-
pioned by the former library
director who gives her gift
card prize back to the library
to buy more kids books.
ESTHER MOBERG
So, yes, in this month
when most people think
about being thankful for
family and friends and good
food to eat around Thanks-
giving, I am thankful for
books and reading.
By books, I also mean
books you can listen to in
the car, and books you can
read on your tablet. I would
challenge you to think
about all the forms of read-
ing and try each one in the
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one you are the most thank-
ful for. Have you ever tried
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You can check one out at
the Seaside Public Library.
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can check out one of those
as well! Do you already
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free audiobook or eBook
using your library card. Or
check out an audiobook on
CD for that long trip to visit
relatives in the upcoming
holiday season.
Just make sure you pick
out a book without a sur-
prise ending. I checked
out an audiobook once
and found myself sobbing
while driving down the In-
terstate because the book
ended with the main char-
acter dying! (In short, I do
not recommend books like
Old Yeller or Where the
Red Fern Grows for car
trips.) I just mentioned the
newer and trendier formats
for books, but when was
the last time you looked at
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Public Library has a great
selection of manga, graphic
novels, and comic books for
all age levels. If you simply
crave a getaway during all
this rain, try checking out
an adventure magazine
like National Geograph-
ic or National Geographic
Traveler so you can dream
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out leaving the comfort of
your home. So there is the
challenge, how many dif-
ferent book formats can
you do your reading in this
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as they say in video games,
or in other words, make it
more complicated, you can
also try and see how many
different genres you can
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raphy, do-it-yourself, etc.
Ever read about the histo-
ry of salt or learned a new
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start.
Scene and Heard CLAIRE LOVELL
Treat yourself at the friendly new bakery in town
I see there was a multi-
ple book signing at Beach
Books recently. Last year
I was invited to attend but
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and couldn’t make it. This
time, I didn’t know it was
happening. I had one sign-
ing at Taste of Tuscany
that was quite successful,
although my small account
of growing up in early Sea-
side isn’t nearly as uptown
as those written by others.
I think of myself as more
of a scribbler than an au-
thor — perhaps they do as
well. Clatsop County has
many achievers in the arts
that have really made their
marks.
A clever accent for Hal-
loween was in using fairly
large pumpkins as recepta-
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were quite attractive. Why
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On a Friday, besides
having our favorite sand-
wiches at the Seaside Cof-
fee House, Robin and I
went to the 3 Little Birds
Bakery across the street
for choffy — ground cocoa
beans which make a drink
milder than coffee but quite
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caffeine. We also sampled
some big cookies chock full
of cranberries. Michael So-
prano, the proprietor, whose
three little birds are his three
daughters, has made his
version of beach bread. A
staple of Harrisons, “made
only at low tide” and really
popular. He also has quite
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and quick breads, as well
CLAIRE LOVELL
as pies and cakes, though
they were all gone when we
arrived. Coffee and choffy
are both available to enjoy
on the premises. We had a
good time with our person-
able new baker who is hap-
py on his side of the street.
Drop in.
In regard to the old
Times Theater overhang,
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dirty but it looks as though
a loose spot on the west
end could fall and crack
someone on the head.
When you’re checking that
out, how about straighten-
ing the Columbia Street
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dizzy just looking at it. I’d
use my cane but it seems to
be bolted down in that po-
sition. Veterans Day was a
busy one for me. At noon,
I went to our women’s
meeting at the church. Lou
Neubecker, past command-
er at the American Legion
was our speaker. He had
interesting remarks about
our former and present day
service men and women.
It’s always good to hear
him speak. We sang many
of the signature songs of
various branches of the
service along with some
old favorites from bygone
days. When Cmdr. Neu-
becker stood at attention
for the playing of the Ma-
rine hymn, I could hardly
keep my composure. We
ask so much of our people.
Since my marriage in 1942
to a Reg. Army soldier
at Ft. Stevens, I’ve been
deeply concerned over our
defense and our defenders.
G.I.’s have always been
important to me. Later on, I
attended the early bird din-
ner at the Legion. I sat with
Judy Pesonen, daughter of
past Cmdr. John Raniero
and also with past com-
manders Ansell Morehouse
and Bob Cook, all from my
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a nice dinner with many old
friends among the crowd.
My time there has always
been fun. Still is.
Laugh line
A guy was sitting in
his comfortable chair on
a weekend when his wife
hit him over the head with
a frying pan. “What was
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the note in your jacket that
said Mary Lou, she told
him. “Oh, that’s nothing,”
he said. “That’s the name
of the race horse I bet on
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happened as before, only
this time she hit him with a
bigger pan. “What was that
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his head. “Your horse just
called,” she replied!
