Skamokawa News

WET FORECAST. I am writing this very early, but from what I can see on the extended forecast for our area, we are in for a soggy week of Christmas. I hope we catch some dry spells and not three and a half inches of rain like last week, which was horrendous. We had flooding, road closures, and some outages combined with the King tides. It was a time to stay home when most of us wanted to get out and about and into the holiday shopping mode! Hopefully, we were able to make that happen anyway, as, by the time you read this, Christmas will be over. I hope the weather didn’t keep you from enjoying all your holiday plans and that your Christmas was genuinely delightful!

SPECIAL DAYS. Those celebrating their birthdays at the end of 2024, Dec. 27 through 31, and the beginning of 2025, Jan. 1 through 3, Mary Gustafson, Don Cooper, Carol Hadley, Bob Stewart, Trynity Mendez, Kristian Veys, Duncan Cruikshank, Kyla Gribskov, Grant Turner, Kohl Bergseng, Lee Tischer, Skylor Grasseth, Tony Danker, Ron Wika, John Hoven, Charlene Montgomery, Lorraine McNally, Jerrod Johnson, Jessica Moore, Robbie Kerstetter, Brooke Luthi, Veronica Hill, Justin Weathers, Olaf Thomason, Taleah Wallin, Adele Whittle, Megan Elliott, Matt Kuhl, Josh Cochran, Terry Cleveland, Jasper LaBerge, Aubree Thomason, Dennis Mueller, Greg Bain, Alex Everman, Debbie Zacher, Kelli Souvenir, Jim Blain, Toby Bell, Luke Pedersen and Frank Pedersen.Those celebrating an anniversary this week are Mr. and Mrs. Richard Bigler, Mr. and Mrs. Pat Thacker, Mr. and Mrs. Bob Jungers, and Mr. and Mrs. Larry Johnson. May all of you enjoy your special days as one year ends and another begins.

SAD GOOD-BYES. We were sorry to hear of the passing of Marie West, who was a lifelong resident of our community and who most of us have known forever, or you knew of one of her kids, as the Souvenir bunch have spread their wings and added a whole lot of members to Maries’ family tree over the years! We certainly want to extend our condolences to her entire family. This news came in too late for it to be published in last week’s paper, so her services were already held at the school last Sunday, Dec. 22. I hope you saw the notice posted on Facebook about it and were able to attend.

A SAD LOSS. Our Pedersen family suffered an unfortunate loss this past week, as Rhonda Campbell Pedersen, wife of my nephew, Mark Pedersen, lost her battle with cancer at the age of fifty-seven. Rhonda was the sweetest person, and she and Mark were the perfect couple. It wasn’t that long ago that the couple moved to Hawaii to live in the home they built there after they retired, but sadly, they did not get to enjoy it for nearly long enough. Doctors in Hawaii suggested she be brought back to the mainland, so they returned to Vancouver. She passed away on Dec. 17. While heaven may gain another angel, Mark lost his. The whole family is devastated for him; she was truly his everything. As of this writing, I’m not aware of any services. RIP, Rhonda. You will be missed.

NEW YEARS DOINGS. As I write this, I have no definite knowledge of the upcoming New Year’s Eve gatherings and what usually takes place, but please contact your local establishments for all their plans to bring in the New Year, as most will undoubtedly be planning something special. I will say that evening dinner specials and entertainment are offered as is customary on the big night, but I just haven’t been informed about it yet. With a super early deadline this week and all of us still thinking about Christmas, well, the other big plans for this month have yet to be set in stone, so to speak. Here’s hoping you all have a very “Happy New Year” and that you celebrate it wisely while still having lots of fun and making new memories and plans for the upcoming year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR. Here’s to 2025. May you be blessed with good health and happiness in the days ahead!