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About Nyssa gate city journal. (Nyssa, Or.) 1937-199? | View Entire Issue (June 19, 1975)
Thursday, June 19, 1975 Nyssa Gote City Journal. Nyssa. Oregon ELECTED TO SERVE AS THE FIRST SLATE OF sa u".'" 1955 were‘ lcf' ,o n«ht Nielsen, president; Martha Langley, treasurer; Axella Stephen. v!ce president Joanne Holcomb who now lives in Culver. Oregon was the secretary when the Owyhee Garden Club organized. organized THESE NINE LADIES AM-: CHARTER member» of the Owyhee Garden Club, which was organized February II. 1955. Hack row, left to right Maude Cooper. Betty Nielsen, Martha Langley. Jean Price and Atelia Stephen. Front row, left to right: Maudrean Evant, Billee Tailman, Clara Price and Wilma Strickland. PRESIDING OVER THE TEA TABLE at members were, left to right Bertha Atagi, the Owyhee Garden Club Tea for its' charter Eve Stubstad. Polly Holub and Dons Chapin Owyhee Garden ('tub Marku 20 Years of Undaunted ¡f ork by Pal Savage "I give my pledge as an American to save and faith fully defend from waste the natural resource* of my country—It’s soil, and mi nerals. it’s forests, waters and wildlife." This Con servation Pledge was taken by a group of serious minded women, interested in preser ving the bountiful riches of our land on April 2. 1955. They called themselves "The Owyhee Garden Club." These ladies organized this garden club on February 11. 1955 with 15 members at the home of the late Mrs. George Schweizer, who was the district director of the Mai heur garden club district. The club set its membership at 24, with Mrs. Schweizer being an honorary member making 25. With this amount there would always be a hostess and a co-host ess. The club was then Fede rated as another club in the Federation of Garden Clubs of America on April 2. 1955. This new addition brought the number of garden clubs in the area to four, including ANK, Ontario and Vale dubs. The mem tiers at the time of organization were: Mmes Gabriel Astoreca. Donald Brewer. Homer Brewer. Glo ver Cooper. Howard Evans, Howard Finger. Delbert Gar ner, Vem Garner, Stanley Hill, E. J. Hobson. Duane Holcomb, Wilbur Holcomb. Morris Huffman, J. A lang ley. Frank Mitchell. Fiver Nielsen. Frank Perko, Ken neth Price, Ira Price, Eugene Stephen. Lee Stoker, John Strickland, Keith Tallman, Robert Morfitl and Mrs George Schweizer. The first officers elected were: Mrs. Elver Nielsen, president, Mrs. Eugene Ste phen, vice-president. Mrs. Duane Holcomb, secretary and Mrs Jim langlev. trea surer Anxious to get their club active, they held their first flower and plant sale April 3, 1955, at the Nyssa Insurance office. The profit was $47.00. This sale was to become an annual Memorial Day Plant Sale and a true money raiser for this club. Enthused and convinced they could function as a club, the ladies tackled a booth at the Malheur County Fair. This also was to become a yearly project. They took top honors among five other garden exhibits in August 1955. The general theme of the fair was "The World Is Mv Garden." The Owyhee Club portrayed the beautiful "Cry stal Gardens” in Victoria. British Columbia. Needless to say, these club members were overjoyed by winning and more inspired than ever with setting and keeping high objectives of a well-organized and Federated garden club. It I* interesting to note that even then, in 1955, the club was fighting the prob- lem of litter. They gave each member a litter bag with large red letters ‘‘Keep America Clean” and “Don't Be A Litterbug." These were handed out over the Community. There were also many meetings based on conservation problems and how to solve them. In the year of 1966, The Owyhee Garden Club took a good look around and deci ded to jump headfirst into a community improvement pro gram. They had done this type of thing for several years but now it was to he done in gigantic proportions They dediced to beautify the Owyhee Cemetery. It has been said. "If you want something done get a busy person to do it.” The members of this club are,for the most part, women from the Owyhee or Adrian area who live on farms. However, there is a member from Ontario and some from Nu Acres or Parma and Sunset Valley. Anyway, these are very busy women with famlles and other activities in which they arc involved. Were they daunted at the prospect of ail this work? Never! The old Owyhee Pioneer Cemetery at the timi^it was chosen for a project,did have water available and wav surrounded by an old wire fence Burials date back to at least IH92 and the members of the club felt this was a most worthy project. The work on the foundation and the wall containing the name plaque was the first step. This was completed in 1967. They were presented the National Scars Award for the beautification project in the amount of $12S. When the first burials were made in IH92. the cemetery was a hot. dusty area surrounded by sagebrush. After the Owyhee Dam was completed and the sagebrush lands surrounding the ceme- tery were converted to irrigated fields in the 19.10's, neighboring famlics began to improve the small cemetery. The 29 members donned their working clothes and planted flowers in front of the old wire fence, but the weeds grew better than the flowers so the peonies and other plants weir removed and the area was treated with weed spray. It was at this point the dream of a pretty wall to set the cemetery apart was bom. Many hours were spent pulling weeds, planting shrubs, and grooming the area. The two beautiful Juniperv which were placed at the main ent rance ..were in memory of Mrs. George Schweizer. The project was finished and dedicated in May. 1974. Presidents during the pe riod in which this project was underway were Mrs. Ira Price. 1965-67; Mrs. Carl Lee Hill. 67 69; Mrs Kenneth Price. 69 71; Mrs Keith Tallman. 71 73 and Mrs. John Stubstad, 73-75. Mrs. Stubstad is from Ontano and has become affiliated with the group. The garden club spent over $3,200 in cash on the ceme tery, which didn't include donations of material and labor from many sources. Cut flower sales raised some of the funds and the selling of note cards and many other fund raising projects helped them to meet the total they so badly needed. While working on this project the members were exhibiting at the County Fair, took part in district garden club events and carried on a continuous educational program within their club. Annual club events are: the making of corsages for the Adrian teachers; making table decorations for the Adrian smorgasbord; the naming of committees to clean up the Owyhee irmc tery each year; making May baskets for shut-ins and Senior Citizens; work days for Christmas decorations, etc.; sponsoring the essay and poster contest at the Adrian Grade School; holding cooked food sales and ba zaars; holding plant sales and exchanges; and the Me morial Day flower sale. By pitching in and working together the Owyhee Garden Club now has 29 members. and meets the second Friday of each month. Their club flower is the chrysanthe mum. Their program book for 1974-75 includes a wide variety of well-chosen sub jects such as the potted plant exchange, rock hunting, a garden tour and learning about wild flowers, flower drying, the fair booth, corsage making, macrame. the Christmas workshop, flowers from other countries, garden therapy and lawn care. For twenty years this group of enthusiastic women have continued to function and have contributed much to the community. The present day members chose Friday, June IT, to celebrate and honor their charter members. The "Tea" was held at the home of Mrs Ellen Strick land. The party meant a social visit for the nine charier members of the club and for all its members since 1955. Guests included. Mmes Mae Shireman. past presi dent of the Town and Country Garden Club; Alice Payne, president of the Town and Country Garden Club; Jansie Siam, who was district dirctor several years ago; Lois Boenig. Mary Hoffman. Lake Puett and Wilma Strickland. Refreshments were served with a beautiful tea table dec-orated with a beautiful green and yellow sheet cake. Medallion rose hushes were presented to Mrs. Elver Nielsen. Mrs. Eugene Ste phen and Mrs. Jim Langley who were the first slate of officers. Charter members and two of this year's members. President Ellen Strickland and District Direc tor Eve Stubstad. wore rose corsages made of ribbon. When asked about future projects. club members agreed upon the problems of conservation. being active in civic activities ecology, the fair booth, specific beauti fication projects, helping with the District and State conventions and they will probably be ready to tackle a good many other problems as they come to the club’s attention in the years ahead. Not only has the Owyhee area benefited from the work of these enthusiastic, ambi- tious and eager - to - help women, but the whole community has and will continue to profit from the Owyhee Garden Club, as it leaves its beautiful and everlasting mark as a part of community history. Whoever said “God makes all things grow; we just lend a helping hand." must have had the Owyhee Garden Club in mind. THE OWYHEE GARDEN CLL'B HAS ELECTED, left to right. Ellen Strickland, president; Sono Aral. treasurer; Eve Stubstad. who is the district director; and Bertha Atagi vice-president, and Eleanor Brewer (not pictured) as secretary for a full slate of officers for 1975-76. Now at your Ford Dealer's HELLO WORLD! Mrs. Clinton Robbins, nee Barbara Char land. of American Falls. Idaho very happily announce the arrival of a bouncing baby boy, Andrew Paul. He tipped the scales at six pounds and ten and one- fourth ounces and arrived at the Power County Hospital in American Falls on Friday, May .10. 1975. Young Andrew is the couple's first child. Proud grandparents are Mr and Mrs. Irvin Charland and Mr and Mrs. Merildean Robbins, all of rural Nvssa. Beaming great-grandparents are Mr. and Mrs. L. E. Robbins of rural Nvssa and Mrs. Lois Henderson of Ontario. • • • Mr. and Mrs. Roy Morris of Salt Lake City, proudly announce the birth of a nine-pound son. The nine- pound bouncing baby boy, unnamed at this time, arrived Tuesday. June 3, 1975 at the Salt Lake City Hospital He joins two sisters at home. Maggie, age nine and An drea who is two years of age. Grandparents are Mr. and Mrs. Lester Oden of Nyssa. Mrs. Oden returned to Nyssa Friday after a ten-dav visit during which time she got acquainted with her new grandson and enjoyed her granddaughters very much. heavy-duty i/i-ton pickup Looks super...runs on regular. There’s no pampering our F-150 y2-tonner. Because it’s built to take what you dish out.,. from the toughest job to regular gas at the pump. And it’ll do all that in smooth-riding style. So if you're tired of paying for super or searching for unleaded qas ■» ♦ z-4 •»« s izs ♦ the L-s x-s C F-150 4 C ZY today. 4 — test-drive And see how good things look at your nearby Ford Dealer’s. -J — . . Happy Birthday June 20 • Terry Richesin, Enrigueta Loera, Steve Bos- selman. June 21 - Paige Burbank June 22 - Kerrick Bau man. Rick Thomas. Don Strickland, Joey Jayo. June 23 ■ Glenda Barnes June 24 ■ Sandra Mor rison. Lorraine Bauman. C. A Wennck. Dave Rich. Tim Phillips. June 25 • Freddie Lopez, Anselmo Siffuentes, Allen Hallantvne, Chip Burning ham. Bill Montoya. Diane Langley, Thomas D. Church. June 26 - Doddie Corfield FORD GENTRY FORD SALES, INC SOUTHWEST 4TH AVENUE ONTARIO, OREGON 889-9694