Memories . . . .

 

We had some nice patches of sunshine yesterday.

  This morning, while going out for the paper, I could see clouds lifting over Schweitzer, signaling what looks to be one fine day up on the mountain and another great day for dog walking in the woods. 

from this morning's Daily Bee.  Thanks, Karren, for alerting me about this historical short. 

SCHWEITZER VALLEY 4-Hers WON AWARDS

 About 70 Schweitzer Valley Dwellers 4-H club members, parents and leaders enjoyed a delicious potluck dinner at the Community Hall Monday for the club’s achievement night. 

Laurel Berger, club president, emceed the after-dinner program in which there was a report from secretary Ann Ross on the year’s activities and a congratulatory speech by Raynold Davis, extension agent. 

Twenty members and eight leaders received awards consisting of pins, premium checks and gold and green seals for their achievement. Laurel Berger was presented the County Award for a beef project, sponsored by the Celanese Chemical Co.  

Barbara Tibbs received two County Awards, the dog pin sponsored by Purina Dog Food Corp., and the horse pin, sponsored by Don and Ruby Lund. The award for photography, sponsored by Eastman Kodak went to Chris Pietsch, and Becky Rud was presented the award for food and nutrition, sponsored by General Foods.

🍀🍀🍀🍀 

 During its years of existence, our 4-H club was an amazing and active organization.  

My mother Virginia Tibbs was the main leader.  Others like Carol Pietsch, Betty Berger, brother Jim and Don McCormick, myself, etc. assisted her. 

I'm sure there were several other helpers that I'm not thinking of this morning because the club remained a strong force for several years. 

Members maintained a high bar with their projects, many participated annually in the Fourth of July parade, and we even put on horse shows. 

Graduates of this club have since distinguished themselves in some amazing ways---World Vets, flying with and reporting on the Pope, numerous distinguished prizes for photography, doctors, nurses, other professionals, national championships with horses----you name it.

Schweitzer Valley Dwellers had a great run, and everyone associated with the club deserves to be proud.

Neat to see this memory in today's paper.   

We had a class reunion planning meeting yesterday.

In addition to coming up with some plans, we enjoyed a flurry of childhood memories.  

Of the six at the table, only two of us were born in Sandpoint. The others were born in California, North Dakota, Spokane and Oregon. 

One committee member remembered her first time coming to Lincoln School from Hope where she attended school.  Twas to get vaccinated. 

I suggested to her that she probably went to the white portable which sat outside  our school building.  In the portable where we lined up for shots and sat down one by one for hearing tests.   

We also shared a few tidbits about tragic events in Sandpoint like the murders at the City Club in the late 1950s and the jet crashing in the pole yard (about two blocks from Lincoln School).

The plane crashed in 1953 when I was a first grader at Lincoln Elementary.  Each week different students had the opportunity to work as row monitors, passing out or picking up work books. 

That day I had collected the books and had just leaned over to put them in a lower book shelf when the plane crashed in the pole yard.  

The loud sound from the crash was accompanied by windows shattering.  My later vivid memory of the day was sitting on a school bus in a traffic jam on North Boyer where worried parents and onlookers had driven to the school area.

Later, I learned that we were some lucky kids, thanks to the pilot who, it was suggested, had tried to get the plane as far away from town as possible before crashing. 

Lots of memories brought up around that table yesterday, which is definitely one of the rewards of working on a reunion committee in our hometown. 

It was a rich conversation, with information flying so fast, I wished that it could have been recorded. 

In my mind, planning for a class reunion is probably more fun than the reunion itself. 

Anyway, during the lunchtime gathering at DiLuna's, our classmate Mike Rosenberger shared that he had put up his outdoor Christmas display at his home on Samuels Road. 

So, after the meeting I drove over and snapped a few photos.  I decided that I'll also have to drive by at night also when the Christmas lights enhance the display.  

That's about all for today.  Lots of Christmas-related projects on today's agenda. 

Happy Tuesday.