Reader recalls many fond memories on recent trip

To the Editor,

I appreciate receiving The Record weekly. The inclusion of Harrington and Mohler old and new news is especially appreciated. (Marjorie Womach is a Mohler friend. Her mother, Elizabeth Womach Dammel, was my piano teacher when we were neighbors. I still play piano weekly at nursing homes and care centers in Portland, Ore. and Sandy, Ore.)

My son, daughter and I drove to Odessa, Lamona, Downs, Mohler, Harrington and Spokane recently. Our Odessa visit included decorating six family plots with flowers (my brother Donald Werner’s being the most recent - March 2017). My parents, Adrian and Addline Werner, grandparents Simon and Matilda Roloff, aunts, Violet and baby Adalina Roloff, uncles, Rudolph and Martha Roloff and their granddaughter Ann McLean. We visited Nate Lathrop at The Rolling Thunder, enjoyed a pizza and stayed at The La Collage Motel overnight.

The trip to Spokane the next day was to celebrate cousin Ann Louise (Swyter) and Bill Mason’s 60th wedding anniversary. She and her brother Gordon came to live with us in Mohler after the death of their parents. She was in my Harrington grade and high school class. We graduated in 1952. At this celebration, all of our class of ‘52 were there except one, Patty Kerr Morgan (six out of 14 still living): Tom Talkington, Peggy Chappell Heidenreich, Joyce Kindred Fleischer, Ann Louise and me. We also visited with aunt Lolabelle (Gus) Roloff, cousins Dale and Norman, aunt Donna (Harold) Roloff, cousins Marilee and Tim, and cousin Evelyn Lobe Heider. Before we returned home Sunday morning, we toured Whitworth University, my alma mater.

It was a wonderful trip! Odessa is still a quiet, clean, picturesque community. (The hanging baskets on main street were beautiful). We wanted to visit the hospital (my father Adrian E. Werner was the first Lincoln County Hospital Commissioner), but the day was too short!

Again, thanks for keeping many informed about Odessa and surrounding towns. I praise God for my heritage and being a part of a loving, safe area. Friends I remember in Odessa are Alva Gettman Richardson, Corrine Borgans Schuh (and sister Leota and cousin Colleen Janke), the Goetzes and others.

Filled with happy memories.

Gloria Werner Kaiser

Damascus, Ore.