Veterans Day service Friday at Wahkiakum

ANOTHER BEGINNING--We are a week into our Thanksgiving month, and it's darker earlier than ever and we're aware that this year will soon be over; hard to believe. We began this month with quite the wind storm last Saturday and hopefully you came through it without anything major going on at your house. We need to be sure to get those winter survival kits ready as it's likely a preview of things to come. I hear the Farmer's Almanac is calling for snow the last half of December, so we need to be prepared to deal with messed up holiday plans.

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from Nov. 7-13 are Nicole McKinley, Greg Parke, Jordyn Kaattari, Rory Heywood, Ray Lindsey, Mark Helms, Joyce Hoven, Kim Havens, Skip Irving, Patty Hosley Shanahan, Tiffany Tischer, Heidi Souvenir, Samantha Havens, Dean Seaberg, Clayton Moore, Lynda Jensen, Jonnie Knowles, Ty Briscoe, Mike Parker, Denise Fuller, Chris Bernard, James D. Pedersen and Julianne Bell. May you all have wonderful birthdays this week. I will be remembering my Dad's birthday ( Krist Pedersen) this day, Nov. 7, where he was born to Jonas and Nelsine (Ericksen) Pedersen on Puget Island and delivered by midwife, Mrs. Sven Svensen. He'd have been an even hundred years old today!

GO MULES--It's KM Trophy game time and we are looking forward to seeing our Mule football team back in action as they play this traditional "rivalry" game. With the playoff games coming soon, we just hope and pray that nobody gets hurt and a good game is played by all! As I understand it, we will be hosting this game Friday night, so Go Mules Go!

THIS SATURDAY--The Sons of Norway members will hold their monthly Bingo game at the Norse Hall beginning at 6 p.m. The doors open at 5:30 so you can buy those cards, maybe a goodie or two and then settle in for a couple of hours of fun!

LIONS FOOD DRIVE--For many years the Wahkiakum County Lion's Club has held a "Walk 'n' Knock" food drive in November and this year is no different, so we hope you'll fill a bag full of non-perishable food items, as well as toiletries and baby items, like disposable diapers, and set them out this Saturday, Nov. 9, for pick up from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. If you don't get your bag of food items picked up, please call 795-3553 or 795-3497 and arrangement will be made. You can always take them out to the food bank at 42 Elochoman Valley Rd. It's a great time to be thankful for what we have and to share a little of it with those who are less fortunate.

VETERAN'S DAY--Don't forget the big Veteran's Day assembly up at WA-KI-HI tomorrow, Nov. 8 with their special guest speaker. Also, Veteran's Day is celebrated this coming Monday, which means many businesses will be closed that day. Please keep our current servicemen and women in your thoughts and prayers, and give thanks to those veterans who served their country in the past.

JOIN IN--On Nov. 23, the Ninth Annual Festival of Trees will be taking place at the Bank of Pacific so why not deck out a tree and enter it to be bid on and maybe your creation will be chosen as the winner! Also, there will be music and a chance for you to have pictures taken with Santa, so bring the kids, your camera and enjoy the celebration as the holidays are definitely upon us!

REDMEN HALL--From Nov. 29 through Dec. 15, the historic Redmen Hall, built as the Central School in Skamokawa, will be decked out in all it's holiday finery and greens for their annual "Deck the Hall" Holiday Open House.

PRAYERS ASKED--My former classmate, Noni Gilbertsen Meredith, is hoping that you will say a few prayers on her husband's behalf as he undergoes some surgery this week. We hope and pray he sails right through the procedure that will greatly improve his life. Hugs to Noni as well as these things are tough on the spouses too!

TRIP NORTH--I'm not sure if you missed me or not, but I hit the highway going north to Seattle last week and finally got to check out some football and basketball games by my grandson and granddaughter. Luke Sechler and his team, the Ballard Knights, headed to Burien last Saturday where they took on the Mukilteo Knights for the championship game in their division. Ballard came out on top and were given the big trophy to bring to their school and each player was given a medal, so it was a super thrilling game that this grandma was happy to have been able to see.

Granddaughter Tessa is in a Fall basketball league and we traveled to Redmond to watch Ballard play back to back games against Stanwood and Jackson. They wound up winning a hard fought game the first time, but lost the second one by just eight points. Tessa started her freshman year on the varsity team, so there's no doubt in my mind that she'll be there this year as she begins her Junior year.

One of those little oddities that sometimes happen when you travel, came at that game, when the guy next to me turned around and he had a jacket on that had a picture of a boat on it and it said the "Brittany," Cathlamet, WA. I about fell over. What are the odds of me sitting by this guy clear up in Redmond?! Naturally I had to find out how he came by that jacket and he told me that he got it from Billie Renfro years ago when he worked for Trident Seafood Co. and did I know him? I told him I was a "Puget Island kid" too, so we both laughed about that. At any rate, he said to tell B. Renfro "hello from Mark Palmer," so there it is. What a small world!

FAMILY LOSS--While I enjoyed watching the Sechler kids play ball, it was bittersweet, as they had just lost their grandfather, Fred Nollan Sr. and so the entire family was reeling from the loss of a truly great guy, and patriarch of their family at the age of 84. Before his passing, all five Nollan siblings, Fred Jr., Mike (Debbie), Kenny (Kim), Susan Schillios and Katie (Pete) Sechler, gathered around their mother, Sally, along with most of their children, and said their good-byes. Later, as the family gathered at the Sechler home, it was a place where warm family memories of Fred were shared and the love for this man was apparent. Our deepest sympathies go out to the entire Nollan family, who will be holding a gathering to celebrate Fred's life at a time and place yet to be determined.

FINALLY MET UP--Whenever I make it up to Seattle, I never seem to have enough time make it around to do all the things I want to do or see everybody that I want to see, but this time I did manage to stop by Bernice (Tover) Ellison's, so we had a nice visit. Bernice is a former Puget Island girl whose father was Alfred Tover, one of many brothers in that family. Bernice gave me a picture of my Uncle Ulrich Pedersen who had been photographed with her father, Alfred. I caught Bernice knee deep in Avon business, as she'd just gotten a big shipment in and was doing all that sorting and billing just like she has always done for the past 50 years, amazing! While Bernice may be turning 88 in the next couple months, she's as active as most people that are 20 years younger and she drives everywhere and delivers her Avon products to a wide area up there. Hopefully we can have a longer gab fest next time and I'll be able to catch up with some other friends and relatives as well.

OUT OF THE PAST--This coming week in 1958, the weather was miserable with some of the worst rains coming on November 12, when the Everests' basement got flooded for the first time ever. There was wide spread flooding and damage all over the northwest. On Nov. 11, the State of Washington celebrated their 69th anniversary as a State of the Union, when President Harrison signed that proclamation at 5:20 p.m. all those years ago. While eating lunch at Millie's one day, Elsie Everest visited with Dick Day and Marshall Meyors (sp?), a couple of telephone boys, who had been very busy cleaning up after the recent storms. Leon Healy got a deer that week while his hunting party also got an elk. It was also this week that Grandma Elsie was appointed the curator of the Wahkiakum County Museum by the W.C. Historical Society. She was already taking care of the books for the museum and would now be in charge of the museum, and would be arranging displays, holding special events and showings. Due to volunteers, the new museum's interior paint job was almost finished. A special feature for the opening of the museum was a handmade visitors book made by Mr. Clarence White. The WCHS was going to be holding their first meeting in the new building on Tuesday, Nov. 18 at 8 p.m, with a full building report to be given, election of officers to take place and plans for the big opening day displays to be made. Between the museum work, making an afghan for grandson David Pedersen, baking bread, making Swedish rolls, making blankets and doll clothes for the children for Christmas, crocheting and cleaning up the flooded basement, there was still time to attend the Home Ec Club meeting at Coral Linquist's where Grandma and 18 other ladies joined for a good afternoon, as well as attending a Pocahontas club meeting in the evening! All this according to my Grandma Elsie Everest's diary!