Babies!
Where to start? Let's go with first ones to first:
Kristina and George Pearlingini started things off in early March with the
birth of their daughter, Eva Marie.
Adrienne and Will Harling brought Owen Wilder to this world later
the same month.
Dara and Toz Soto welcomed Roselyn Frances to river life in April.
Alicia Whitman and
Woody Watson are celebrating their second child Vīrusur
(vood ĭ sur)(thank
you Holly Hensher) Orion. Now there's a spelling of his name that
goes like this: Whitasu, (the following
disclaimer comes with that spelling of the young lad's name: The
name is Karuk for "bear". This however is the grandfather's,
Wally, phonetic
spelling based on a somewhat complicated theory involving Alicia's last
name, converging cultures, street rap, how the name will look on the back
of a Happy Camp High School sports jersey and the fact that Gramps Wally
can't figure out the Karuk spelling). And yes technically, no matter
how you spell it, his name is Bear Bear.
Cathy Leavens and Pete Cafferata brought Sienna Bell Lilly into our river family in May.
Margaret Lawson and
Phillip Purcell decided that little Karuna needed two brothers, so they
have welcomed twins, Shane and Kai to our growing family.
Jessica and Theo McCrummen, are living up Godfrey Ranch way and expecting their second child this July.
Sarah Coleman and Mike Cafferata, down on the South Fork, are expecting to join the parent parade this coming January. This news is just the icing on the cake of life for Grandma Viola, or as she points out (disliking the moniker, grandma) Ola. Just Ola.
The outlook for our schools in five years appears to be well in hand.
Cora Villeponteaux gave us a scare in mid June, but she's home and doing as well as...
Had fun this spring catching a couple of the girls JV softball team games out in Etna. Allison Sturges plays a little outfield and a little first base. Great good fun.
Not only does Shannon Flarity have a now have a phone up there at her place above Bloomer Falls, but it appears she's also got a basketball hoop and some home court rules! It's steep around those parts!
Twenty nine and a half
years later... Gary Carr retired in early June. Here's another
example of who's that? How bout if I say UPS Gary has retired?
Now your hip! To celebrate the event over 50 folks gathered in the
Etna Park to yakkity yak it up, listen to some live music and just plain
get misty eyed about the whole thing. After Big Butch got people's
attention Creek made a presentation from the many friends that Gary had in
the Scott Valley and on the Salmon River. A beautiful plaque was
presented and then a
special gift of a set of golden chains, in memory of all the times he had
to chain-up to get in and/or out of the river. Creek
remembered the times Gary would poke his head into the school at about
halftime of Monday Night Football to check the score and then head home.
That meant he was finally done with his river deliveries around 7 PM and
was heading home to the dinner his wife had waiting for him in the
microwave! Heck most of the river went on the "Zone Diet" together
with him, losing countless pounds, at least for a little while.
Les Harling turned 60, and spent the night sharing the stars and planets with his friends.
Les at 60...
Mark Dupont, from Sandy Bar Ranch, gave a couple of local
workshops in Somes Bar and Forks of Salmon. Like myself,
most
wanted to diminish there water use (for various reasons, like my own, a
finite amount in deep summer. Mark's workshop connected the river
communities' water use to the realities of the bigger world and then went
on to demonstrate, workshop attendees actually put in a drip system for
the Forks School) how households can improve their lives using water more
efficiently.
The Forks of Salmon
School lost a substitute-aid, school bus driver, secretary. The
Salmon River Volunteer Fire & Rescue lost arguably their most accomplished
emergency medical
responder. The Forks of Salmon lost one of it's most active members.
If it could be volunteered for, that's usually where you found her.
We
took a heavy hit when
Bev Benefield move with he husband, Paul, to
Bullhead City last month. Right the river, too, the Colorado River
below Hoover Dam. Said she wanted to be near her family, but you
could make her get all misty-eyed and punch you on the shoulder if you
asked, "what about this river family?" Bev and Paul moved up
to the river in 1991 and she became an EMT in 1994. Problem was we
started missing her before she left, so now that she's really gone we're
just plane sad.
Graduates and more...