Local fills in gas station history

FIRST COLUMN OF NEW YEAR--Well, here we go into another year and we have started out this new year very nicely; warmer temps and sunshine even! As we had a nice weekend, it was the perfect time to take down the outside lights while they were dry, and by Monday afternoon, they were definitely soaking wet, if they hadn't blown away. That was some strong squall that popped up in the late afternoon/early evening hours; thankfully it didn't last too long. They say we may have some rain by the end of the week, we may even get another break. The last week of December saw king tides and massive amounts of rainfall, as our fields turned to lakes and poured over the roadway all in one day. It was not nice! We feared some major damages; luckily the skies dried up and kept us from having to deal with any real nasty situations, like flooded fairgrounds again, so for that we were very thankful! I was told we'll have more king tides mid-month, so if it starts to rain heavily, please keep an eye on the creeks and streams and be prepared for more flooding.

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating their birthdays from January 5 through 11 are Scott McClain, Josh Moonen, Jim Koziel, Lisa Hoven, Jason Rainey, Tom Irving, Philip Vik, Kyler Sause, Colleen Elliott, Mike Quigley, Marlena Silva, Don P. Wages, Becky Elliott, Susan Schillios, Ed Bussone, Mike Moore and Matt Blain. Happy birthday to all of you!

Happy anniversary wishes go out to Milli and Jon Elven and Mr. and Mrs. Todd Davis. Enjoy your special days everybody!

SECOND WEEKEND--If you didn't get to catch the concert by some extremely talented performers at the Pioneer Church awhile back, well, you're in luck. On January 14, you can treat yourself to an encore performance of Andrew Emlen on cello, Jeffrey Reynolds on violin and Ronald Thompson on piano, at 7:30 p.m. at the Pioneer Church once again. This event is being sponsored by the Pioneer Community Association and tickets may be purchased for $10 at the Bank of the Pacific or at the door, but seats fill up fast, so get yours today. These guys are fantastic. Don't miss them!

WINNERS--Recently, Deege Insurance held a great Holiday Open House, with about 60 people showing up. About 30 of those were children who came to see and have their picture taken with Santa. I spoke to Teresa Cooley from Deege Insurance and they said they were really thrilled with turnout and wanted to thank everyone for coming out and making the day such a success. Besides having everyone from three weeks to 74 years of age visit with Santa, they also held several drawings for some nice prizes and the winner of the Grand Prize, a five drawer tool chest, was Shawn Gilbert. Congratulations to you! Other winners were Joyce Ower, a $50 Safeway gift card; Sharrel Mooers, a $50 Fred Meyer gift card; Cindy Hilton, a $25 Sharon's Pizza gift certificate; David Matney, a $25 gift certificate for Cathlamet Buidling Materials and a $25 Wright Pro Hardwareg gift certificate went to Jan Silvestri. Congratulations to all the winners!

DOWN IT CAME--As last year ended, so came the end of the old blue house sitting across from the Ingalls Road turn off on West SR 4, about milepost 27. The house had been leaning and bending after a fire years ago, when we first came here in the late 1980s and after those folks moved out, it remained empty, with the wind and weather finally taking its toll on it. It made quite a noise when it came down in the afternoon, and then a little later, another snap and crunch was heard. Judy Marsyla was nice enough to give several of us some information on the owners of the house back in the day and she knew it as Harold and Babe Peterson's house. He was a bus driver I understand and they had a daughter, Sherry. When we moved here, it was the Kunkle family home. Currently the property belongs to John Nelson of Puget Island. If anyone has any history of the house or when it was built, I'd love to hear from you, 795-3425.

MEETINGS--The Skamokawa Grange #425 will hold their first meeting of the new year January 9, beginning with a potluck at 6:30 p.m. The Grays River Grange will hold their first meeting on January 10 at the Grays River Grange Hall, where they are doing some extensive remodeling and we'll all be anxious to see it when all the work is completed.

PAINT JOB--Did you happen to go by the Rosburg Hall and see its new paint job? Well, thanks to Mrs. Eddie Blain, it's got a fresh new look with its pale gray color and coordinating trim. She did this as a service to her community, and as the hall is used for so many things, it's really great to have someone volunteer to do this very big job and make it an attractive place to go so thank you, Mrs. B. That was wonderful of you!

NEW BOOK--One of our local authors, Irene Martin, has her new book out entitled Flight of the Bumble Bee. This was a huge project regarding the Bumble Bee brand and its cannery in Astoria, which started out canning salmon and then went to tuna. The Bumble Bee Cannery was Astoria's major employer until it left in 1980. This is a great book about an important part of our history in our area and would be a great addition to anyone's library. Congratulations to Irene on her latest book, which I'm sure will be available locally soon. In the meantime, you can contact the Chinook Observer and order a copy.

GAS STATIONS--A couple of columns ago, we were talking about the gas stations in Cathlamet and I was happy to hear from Ralph Keyser who gave me quite a history lesson in our former gas stations. As I only remembered Howards at the end of town and Oliver Bacon's in the middle of town, it was great to hear a little more detail about who had what and when and where from Ralph, so I thought I'd let you in on what he told me.

According to Ralph, and a 1920s photo in the museum, the first gasoline pump in Cathlamet was located on the edge of the board walk by what is now Sassy Chocolates on Main Street. Where the doctor's office is today, there used to be an "L" shaped building, and on one side it had gas pumps, grease racks and a place for minor repairs. On the other side, it was a feed store and presto-logs were sold and this was owned by Roy and Tig Snyder, who also delivered heating oil around town. My grandma Everest's diaries often mention Tig.

Back in the early 1940s, Bud Delarm and Jack Lawson owned the Union 76 Station where the new fire hall is today. When Bud retired in the late 1940s, Johnny Hendrickson joined up with Jack to run the place. As the 1950s began, Ray Bauer worked at the station. Later on, Norman Nepsund was pumping gas and greasing cars until about 1960, when Jack Lawson and Johnny Hendrickson retired from doing that and so Norman operated it for several years before he passed away. It seems Jack and Johnny had gone on to sell Dodge and Plymouth cars.

Where the pharmacy is today, used to be the Frank Miller's garage, but it burned in the later 1930s and the lot sat empty for a long time. Then, the Shell Oil company came in and built a service station there and Oliver Bacon operated it until the 1960s when it was closed down. After the fire in 1938, Frank Miller went ahead and built a service station at the end of town, where the parking lot is by the Bank of the Pacific today. This was not only a station but a place where Frank sold Chevys along with his son Greshan Miller. Ralph says his dad bought a 1940 Chevy from Greshan in 1942 and his dad traded regularly with the Millers. Later on, Howard Carriker bought the service station/garage from the Millers but Howard didn't sell cars, but instead turned the show room into a parts room. Later on, Howard sold the garage to Frank Olsen and Verena Nepsund worked as a book-keeper for him.

Ralph remembers buying gas up at the Snyders' and he traded regularly with Jack Lawson and Howard Carriker, back in the day! So, now that's what Mr. Keyser remembers about the stations of old. Does someone else out there have any more dates or additions they'd like to add? Call me! It's great to hear these memories as many of these every day type things get lost in time! Thanks for sharing, Ralph!

SYMPATHIES--We'd like to send our sympathies to local Jim Koziel as he lost his mother recently and we want to offer our sincerest condolences to him and the rest of his family on their loss.

Also, while I thought I had mentioned this in a previous column, I was told I hadn't, so while this isn't new news, I did want to mention that my cousin's wife, Sharon Rich McCarthy, had passed away on November 19, 2011 in Longview at the age of 70. The Bill and Doris Rich family lived on Puget Island in the first house on the right on West Birnie Slough Road at one time, and Sharon was a 1959 WA-KI-HI graduate. Sharon had married my cousin Norman Ellison, but he was killed in 1964 in Alaska. They had a son, Norman Jonas Ellison, who was born shortly after his father's death; he died in 2007. Sharon also lost a brother Chuck and sister Billie Gibbons. She is survived by three sisters Marcia (Lonnie) Hage, Marilyn (Don) Schwingdorf and Yvonne (Dan) Gorans and a brother in law, Dick Gibbons, three grandchildren and many nieces and nephews. Our sympathies to all of Sharon's family members and friends. Her full obituary ran in The Daily News on November 23, 2011.