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From the Willapa Harbor Herald:
Experience "Night of Living
History" Saturday at Community Center
See and hear Pacific County pioneers come to life at the Pacific
County Historical Society "Night of Living History" dinner and show
on Saturday, October 18, at the Willapa Harbor Chamber of Commerce
Community Center in South Bend. Hear Pacific County's first white
woman settler, Jane Adams, tell how she came to the area in 1850.
Learn how Confederate Civil War veteran John Bullington ended up in
Pacific County and became the only Confederate to be buried in the
Odd Fellows Cemetery located between Raymond and South Bend. See
long-time educator Arthur Skidmore tell about his early days
attending school in the "new" structure on South Bend's Nob Hill and
his life as a teacher at North Cove, Bruceport, Ilwaco, and several
other area schools. Listen to some of the founders of Oysterville
as they tell of their early life in the area. These characters and
several others will be the featured entertainment at the event.
The evening will feature a delicious barbequed salmon dinner
prepared by noted local caterer Karla Webber. Also, there will be
an auction of copies of old Pacific County panoramic photos.
Tickets are available at Jolly Rogers' Espresso in South Bend, the
Pacific County Museum in South Bend, The Bank of the Pacific in Long
Beach and The Columbia-Pacific Heritage Museum in Ilwaco. Tickets
are $20 for Society members and $25 for non-members. For additional
information, please call the museum at 360-875-5224.
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Willapa Harbor Herald - October 29th, 2008
Photo courtesy of PC Historical Society
Liz McCollum was dressed for the part as she
portrayed Jane Adams Wheaton, the first white woman settler in
Pacific County. She is also a member of the Willapa Players, a fair
number of whom had roles in the evening's event.
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Liz McCollum
as "Mary Jane (nee Belknap) Fiester Vail Adams Wheaton" -
first white pioneer woman in Pacific County - arrived with husband in
1847, survived numerous health problems (and husbands), was well loved.
Arrived from Illinois in 1849, passed away in 1901 - her obit read: Mrs.
Mary Jane Adams, the first white woman who settled in Pac. Co. was in
many respects a remarkable woman. She had the gift of binding to her,
in love or friendship, nearly every one with whom she came in contact. |
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PCHS Night of Living History showcased
hilarious performances
By REBEKAH HASTINGS SOUTH BEND --
The Willapa Harbor Community Center was an autumnal sight to behold
Saturday evening. In addition to the always tremendously popular
Raymond Fire Department salmon recipe, attendees were treated to an
amazing clam chowder and garlic mint roasted red potatoes as well as
all the other yummy items on the menu. There was a constant
diffused hum of beautiful music provided by recent South Bend High
School graduate, Norman Olsen on guitar and banjo, and sound was
provided by Ian Farrell and Friends.
The highlight of the evening, of
course, was the "living history" part of the night consisting of
eight local actors, six of whom were "on loan" from the Willapa
Players, and two with highly recognizable local faces, and two
actors from south county. Sydney and Nyel Stevens up from south
county have been performing "In the Beginning" the early adventures
of Robert Hamilton Espy and Isaac Alonza Clark in Pacific County as
well as "Pete and the Lady Bureaucrat" an oysterman and a lady as
part of the Shoalwater Storytellers performances since 1981.
Pacific County Historical Society President, the evening's emcee and
part organizer of the event, Steve Rogers, also portrayed one of the
county's historical characters, Arthur Skidmore. As he approached
the beginning of the performance portion of the evening, one of the
audience members announced that she'd known the real Skidmore and
that he was a lot taller and thinner. Rogers was sure to announce
that to the audience for a huge laugh. Most of the other characters
portrayed wouldn't have been known personally by anyone still
alive. In a surprise performance, South Bend high school teacher
and well known area Tae Kwon Do instructor Mike Schroeder
represented John Bullington, the only confederate soldier buried in
the IOOF Cemetery. As he approached the stage, Schroeder needed
assurance that the camera man wasn't going to shoot him with "that
contraption," and made sure the microphone wasn't also some sort of
dangerous weapon. As did all the actors, "Bullington" walked us
through the story of his life. In addition to this performance,
Night of Living History attendees were treated to performances by
Liz McCollum as Jane Adams Wheaton, the first white woman settler
in Pacific County, who as a side note seemed to have terrible luck
keeping living husbands, as well as Andy Mullen as Ben Cheney,
Pacific County resident and successful lumberman and
philanthropist. Scott Cowell portrayed Lum Yu, a Chinese man in the
late 1800's who met a sad and tragic death in South Bend, and Lisa
Mullen was Beulah Ellis, also known as "Tugboat Annie" who ran boats
on the Willapa Harbor for 20 years. Russ Wiitala opened the
performances with his portrayal of George Dewey DeLong, a colorful
early South County resident story teller. The performances were
hilarious as well as educational, and the whole event seemed to be a
huge success, selling out with all 135 tickets going quickly. "We
don't know how much was earned in total yet," Rogers said. "Not
much probably. We were just hoping to get it off the ground - and
boy, did we! My goal was to promote the Society and generate more
interest in county history. One of the board's goals is to have
more public events. I'm guessing we'll have earned around a
thousand dollars or so." Rogers said that the funds earned would
likely go to keeping the lights on and the water flowing.
He also said many thanks to "tireless researcher" and Pacific County
specific history expert Doug Allen. His generous contributions of
time and energy have been a major factor in the resurgence of the
Pacific County Historical Society in recent years. Allen Richard
Curtis donated several photographs to the auction for the evening as
well as what Rogers jokingly called being the "worst businessman"
because he constantly donates his best stuff to the group for
nothing. "Pat Shults of the Willapa Harbor Chamber of Commerce was
very helpful with the hall rental" Rogers said. "It's a great venue
for an event such as this given its historical significance."
Sydney Stevens, Karla and Jamie Webber, all the museum volunteers,
Jolly Rogers' Espresso, Norene Bagley, Karen Clements, Laurie Hobi,
Bud's Lumber, SBHS Key Club (who served the dinner and helped with
clean up), Dan Grogan, Carol Kleyn, Denise Rogers, Senja and John
Edwards, Dorothy Antilla, Tyson Wetterhauer, the Columbia-Pacific
Heritage Museum, and South Bend School Districts were all on the
list of many thanks the Society wanted to announce for their
contributions. "I really appreciate the work of the performers,"
Rogers said. "They made it click and wowed the audience. It was a
big commitment and they did such a great job!" When asked about
plans for a second annual Night of Living History, Rogers replied
that the group was planning a similar event for the same time next
year. "We'll tweak it a bit and digest the feedback we've gotten to
make it an even better event. I'm pleased with how the project
went. It was a lot of work but several board members, my wife,
Denise, and some new Society members all pitched in to share the
work. This project was about two months in the making. Of course,
we couldn't have pulled it off without the work of Karla Webber and
her husband Jamie. Karla is our Society manager and such a
professional.
A couple of years ago I heard about a Halloween activity where
actors staged historic readings in a cemetery. We considered this,
but concerns about weather and logistics made it seem too tough to
pull off and the idea just sort of surfaced to put something like
this together. A committee comprised of board members Karen
Clements and Senja Edwards, Denise Rogers, Karla Webber, and I
started brainstorming and this is what we came up with." Before the
night was over, the auction was filled with beautiful items
including framed prints of all three local area high schools, none
of which now look like their photographs from remodels or rebuilds.
Also up for bids were a gift basket from the McCollum family
containing nearly $100 worth of organic herbs, note cards and tea, a
Worthy Edwards print, and photos of early South Bend, Bay Center,
Raymond Waterfront, and three oil paintings by Dorothy Antilla.
Framing was donated by Sandra of Sandra's Art and Frame just across
the street from the Chamber.
Now that the dinner is over, the Society is putting together an
appraisal fair to be held in the spring. "Lining up appraisers is a
challenge but I think we can pull it off," Rogers said. "People can
bring in their antiques, old jewelry, photos of big items, or
whatever to be verbally appraised for a nominal fee. We'll find an
easily accessible site so as many people can participate as
possible."
Raymond Days Parade
August 2nd 2008 |
