MUSEUM PIECE JUMP
From page 6
area was hom esteaded by
Bergersons and Bergersons
still live there.
Kist School is still there,
to o , rem o de le d beyond
recognition. Across the road
from the school was an old
barn that fell down a couple
of years ago and was recent
ly rem oved. The barn had
been b u ilt of hand-hew n
wood, then, in the 1930s had
an addition build of railroad
ties from a railroad line follow
ing the Nehalem River, that
had been b u ilt by B e ave r
Logging.
More on this subject next
month.
S enior C itizen mem bers
Lyle and Elsie Taylor ce le
brated their 50th wedding an
niversa ry at the cen ter on
June 10th, sharing a pot luck
dinner with family members
and about 60 friends.
The T aylo rs w ere wed
June 4, 1945, in Baker City,
where they spent the first 17
years of th e ir m arriage. In
1962 they m oved to S h er
wood; then to Jewell in 1979.
They finally settled on a hay
and cattle spread on Timber
Road in Vernonia in 1985.
They are both involved in
the activities of the center;
Lyle serves on the board of
directors and they both spend
many hours working on cen
ter projects. Elsie will repre
sent the center as a princess
on the My Fair Lady Court at
the C olum bia C ounty Fair.
One of the five princesses will
be selected as Queen, reign
ing over activities of the fair.
The T aylors have tw o
sons, three grandchildren and
one great-granddaughter.
Levi V inson, long tim e
leader at the center, suffered
a broken hip in a fall at his
home. He is recovering, ac
cording to spokesperson Nel
lie Tipton, but is still hospital
ized at St. Vincent Medical
Center. .
Trips scheduled for July in
clude a visit to Wild Life Sa
fari on July 8 and to Mt. Hood
and Multnomah Falls on the
22nd.
Birthdays in July are: 1,
Margret Berndt; 6, Isabel Cul
bertson; 12, Marge Trahan;
14, Lyle Taylor; 20, John
Steele; 22, Hazel Shipman
and Ruth Tandy; 29, Ethel
Bartles; 30, Scotty Weimer.
Godspell will open in St. Helens
Vernonia lifeguard Stewart
Johnson is a senior at
Eastern Oregon State Col
lege.
The Shoestring Communi
ty Players present six perfor
mances of Godspell: A Musi
cal Based Upon The Gospel
A cc o rd in g to St. M atthew ,
with music and new lyrics by
Stephen S chw artz. P e rfo r
mances will be July 7, 8, 13,
14, 15 at 7:30 p.m. and July 9
at 2:30 p.m ., in O lm scheid
Auditorium, St. Helens High
School.
C hurch of J esus C hrist
of L atter D ay S aints
G race R eformed B aptist
C hurch
F irst C hristian C hurch
Bob E. Holbrook, Branch President
1350 E. Knott Street
Vemonia, 429-7151
D.J.Dickey, Pastor
Grant & North Streets
Vemonia, 429-1919 or 429-8720
Sacrament Meeting, Sunday 10 a.m.
Sunday School & Primary 11:20 a.m.
Sunday School, All Ages 9:45 a.m.
Morning Worship 11:00 a.m.
Evening Worship 6:00 p.m.
Relief Society, Priesthood and
Young Women, Sunday 12:10 p.m.
Wed. Prayer Meeting, 7:00 p.m.
A ssembly of G oo
F irst B aptist C hurch
Michael Jackson, Pastor
662 Jefferson
Vemonia, 429-6353
John Cahill, Pastor
952 Washington Avenue
Vemonia, 429-1161
Sunday School 9:45 a.m.
Morning Worship 11:00 a.m.
Evening Service 6:00 p.m.
Sunday School 9:45 a.m.
Morning Worship 11:00 a.m.
Bible Study 6:00 p.m.
Women’s Bible Study,
1st & 3rd Mon. 7:00 p.m.
Women’s Ministry, alt. Wed. 7:00 p.m.
Visitation, Monday 7:00 p.m.
Bible Study, Wednesday 7:00 p.m.
S t . A ugustine
(C anterbury )
E piscopal C hurch
The Rev. Robert Grafe, Vicar
700 Adams Ave.
Vemonia 429-1860
Sunday Services, 10:00 a.m.
F oursquare C hurch
Dick Halaas, Pastor
410 North Street
Vemonia, 429-6522
Sunday School 9:40 a.m.
Morning Worship 11:00 a.m.
Children's and Junior Church
Evening Service 6:00 p.m.
Ladies' Bible Study, Mon. 7:30 p.m.
Women's Fellowship, 2nd & 4th
Wednesdays, 1:30 p.m.
Every Wednesday:
Lades' Bible Study, 9:15 a.m.
Evening Bible Study, 6:30 p.m.
Choir Practice, 7:30 p.m.
Pastoral Administrator Joan Dotter
Ass't. Administrator Lani Vandehey
960 Missouri Avenue
Vemonia, 429-8841
St. Vincent dePaul Society
Irish Bruers, 429-7201
Grant Williams, Pastor
957 State Avenue
Vemonia, 429-6790
Mass Schedule
2nd & 4th Sundays
4
Sunday School 9:45 a.m.
Morning Worship 11:00 a.m.
Children's Church w/Nursery
Evening Fellowship 6:00 p.m.
Nursery Care
AWANA, Wed. 7:00 p.m.
Prayer Meeting, Wed. 7:00 p.m.
Adult Bible Studies, Mon. 7:00 p.m.
The Churches
of Vernonia
Welcome You
By Charles Comstock
A teacher once instructed students to write about the senses
of sight and sound so the reader could share the same feeling
and awareness of those senses. Not so easy sometimes.
In the early to mid 1930s, Vemonia was a rather quiet town
with the bare essentials of business activity struggling for exis
tence. The McDonald, Vernonia and Nehalem Hotels, though
open for business, were often unoccupied. Cash purchases of
gasoline at Treharne’s ‘filling station” were infrequent and then
usually for two or three gallons. The door to the bank building
had not been unlocked for several years yet, through the win
dow, deposit and withdrawal slips could be seen on the counters
as though it was business as usual — it certainly wasn’t. The
WPA and CCC had a couple projects underway out of town
where a few men were working, but that did little to reduce the
number of occupants spending their idle days in the town’s pool
halls wishing they could be elsewhere. By comparison, a kid for
tunate enough to have a nickel to spend could buy a whole bag
of candy. When that eerie siren sounded one blast for the nine
o’clock curfew, the streets were already empty except for a few
folks interrupting the monotony of the times by watching a sec
ond-rate Western at the Joy Theater. That’s the way things were
in our town during the depth of the depression.
In 1936, there was a change toward better times. While the
country as a whole was just beginning to see a bit of light at the
end of the long tunnel, Vernonia had its modern sawmill and
available timber to provide lumber to the world. The re-opening
of Oregon American’s mill brought economic life back to our
community. Thus, the sounds of opportunity once again became
familiar and joyful to our ears.
The morning whistle at the mill meant that men were working
again and the wages earned could buy food at the local grocery
store, pay the past due rent and even order new overalls or a
pair of shoes from Montgomery Ward’s “wish book” . All through
the day, we heard the pulse and heartbeat of the mill across
town with the whine of the saws and the purr of those octopus
like lumber carriers as they moved forward and back with equal
ease to store lumber in the sheds. Indelible, also, was the
“choosh” sound of the shredder that prepared the scrap for the
giant burner. We soon became accustomed to these noises, not
as an annoyance or distraction but as the sounds of opportunity.
If they had stopped anytime during the day except for the noon
time lunch break, the townsfolk would surely have reacted with
concern.
All those look-alike houses on OA Hill were occupied once
again. The headquarters building for Oregon American at the
point on the hill (now the Columbia County Historical Society
Museum) had special significance and respect in the community.
That is where the payroll for the workers was processed and
where many decisions affecting the mill were made. Symbolical
ly perhaps, it was the most important building in town!
For about twenty-one years, the mill continued to produce
some of the finest lumber ever made and, meanwhile, those
sounds of opportunity continued to be music to our ears in Ver
nonia.
Register to vote today
S t . M ary ' s C atholic C hurch
V ernonia E vangelical
B ible C hurch
Chris Brush, Pastor
850 Madison Avenue
Vemonia, 429-1103
Sunday Services
Morning Worship 10:30 a.m.
Bible Study, Wed., 6:45 p.m.
G o d s p e ll fe a tu re s 16
songs including “Prepare Ye”
and "Day by Day” .
T ic k e ts fo r a d u lts are
$8.00; for seniors and stu
dents, $6.00. Tickets may be
p u rch a se d in ad van ce at
Tony’s Shoes in St. Helens
and A lls ta te Insu ran ce in
Scappoose. They may also
be purchased at the door on
the days of the performances.
The Sounds of Opportunity
Word & Communion Services
1st & 3rd Sundays at 10:00 a.m.
Holy Day Services 7:00 p.m.
Sacrament of Penance
Schedule by Appointment
Before or After Mass
S eventh D ay A dventist
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52555 N. Col. River Hwy
(down from Longfellows)
Scappoose
Roger Kruger, Pastor, 397-6883
2nd Ave. and Nehalem St.
Vemonia, 429-1941
Sabbath School 9:15 a.m.
Morning Worship, 11:00 a.m.
Tuesday Prayer, 7:00 p.m.
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543-7101
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