After looking back at the last issue, the one of April 2001, I realized a lot of things have been happening back here at the ranch that may be of interest and should be reported. First, here is a picture of our trusty fifth-wheel trailer. It is tied up in the back yard awaiting our call to duty. The only call it has had was started by a phone call from Charles Cosper sometime in May. He called to tell me that some of the students I had taught in the sixth grade at Mills Elementary School in Klamath Falls, Oregon in 1947 or 48 were planning a reunion for the 1st of June. He mentioned Richard Pastega and Tommy Premo, two of my former students, and something about a picture on the Internet. I sent an e-mail to Richard and he responded by telling me all about the reunion he and others in the class were planning.
He also told me how to find a picture
of the whole class on a web site. I found it and . . . there I was, fresh out of the Army and Southern Oregon College of Education, and there was Richard, a 12 year old boy in the front row. He invited me to contribute stories about my memories of our days at Mills School.
I wrote several short items about things I remembered and after talking it over, Doris and I decided to attend the reunion too. After all, it isn�t everyone who can attend a reunion of his 6th grade class 52 years later . . . especially if he was the teacher. E-mails from Richard Pastega and Tom Premo started coming in and they brought back memories long forgotten. Richard has become an authority on the history of the Klamath Basin and his story of a bicycle trip along the paths I knew made me aware of the fact that, although many things have changed, many things remain the same.
The last time we visited Klamath Falls, we went to see the bronze plague on the bridge on Wall Street over the Reclamation District canal. My father�s name, B. J. Loftsgaard, a school Board member when the bridge was built, was on it. It was so corroded that his name was almost obliterated. I mentioned this to Richard in one of my messages along with the fact that my sister, Alice Shaffer, still lived on Hawthorne Street near the north end of Pacific Terrace.
Rather than take our trailer to Klamath Falls and back, we decided to visit June Quincy in Red Bluff, leave the trailer beside her house, drive to a Motel in K. Falls, stay overnight, and arrive at Mills School the next morning. This gave us time to drive past our first home. We stopped in front of the house and then decided to see if Everett Bohannon and his wife still lived next door. We had not seen them since about 1954, so our reunion was very enjoyable. Next, we went to visit Alice. While we were there, we went across the street and visited an old Barbershop buddy, Buzz Crabtree and his wife. We had dinner with Alice at a restaurant before going back to our motel for the night.
Here are the remains of my Mills School 6th grade class . . .well, not exactly; these are the four who made the trip to the reunion. L � R they are Constance (Collier) Breazele, Bonnie (Sparks) Robeson, Ruth (Alexander) Prock, Richard Pastega, and behind Richard, . . .former teacher whose only chore at the present time is producing this tome. Nick Valdez took this Picture in front of the school. In the original picture of the class there were 22 students and me. One of the nice things done for the reunion was the booklet prepared and assembled by Richard and given to all the participants. It had pictures and stories in it that had been sent to Richard (one from me � more later). The booklet brought back many memories.
In the first column is the picture of the corroded plaque on the Wall Street bridge. Here, beside Richard is what it looks like now. It is all shined up like new. Dad�s name can be seen again. I found out about this when I was awarded the SCREW at the reunion meeting.
After I told him about the Wall Street plaque, Richard and a friend went to see it. It was still there but hanging by one screw in the lower left �hand corner. They removed the plaque, cleaned it, and replaced it with four brand new screws. At the reunion meeting I was ceremoniously presented with a small teakwood box. In it was the old brass screw that had held the plaque in place since 1931 o o o o o o o
One morning a husband called out from the kitchen, �Honey, would you like half of my English muffin?� �No thanks, �she said, �I�ve already had breakfast and I ate like a horse.� He came back with; �Does that mean your answer is neigh?�
A newly ordained minister was presiding at his first funeral. In the middle of his eulogy his cell phone rang. He quickly took it out of his pocket, flipped it open and said, �I�m sorry Sir. He�s not quite ready yet.�
A man who forgets himself often ends up doing something everyone else remembers.
Links to other sites on the Web
DEEP PURPLE DREAM By Doris Loftsgaard | MILLS By Tom Premo
Mills Elementary on NetDay | South Central Oregon Schools
Klamath:
Directory |
Chamber |
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Links|
Motels
Herald & News OnLine |
Oregon OnLine | Area Guide:
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KUHS Alumni Registry
-Alumni.net- |
Classmates.com
US National Parks: Lava Beds | Crater Lake | Lassen AltaVista Searches: "KLAMATH FALLS" |
"MILLS Elementary"
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6/28/04
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