Good Afternoon & Happy Wednesday!
Here’s to the Gonzaga Men’s Basketball Team and the Washington State University (WSU) Women’s Basketball Team for winning their respective tournaments these past few days. What an accomplishment! Now it’s on to the National Championship…may they both go ALL THE WAY!
Here’s to dear friend Jeanne in Spokane WA, who celebrates her 90th birthday tomorrow, March 9th. There are so many superlatives to describe this wonderful and gifted woman. She is the ultimate fundraiser extraordinaire. She has been a help to a countless number of organizations throughout the Inland Northwest…the Spokane Symphony and the ARC of Spokane, just to name a few! I’m not sure what Spokane would look like today if it weren’t for Jeanne’s efforts. She has a way of bringing out the best in people. Happy Birthday Jeanne and enjoy your special day of celebration!
Happy Birthday wishes also go to our family friend Kay in Lewiston, Idaho; our friend and Whitworth University women’s basketball player and accountant/CPA to be Quincy “Q” in Spokane WA; and to childhood friend, fellow member of the Olympia High School “Amazing Class of ’73” and superb nurse/health care professional Kay in Bainbridge Island WA…all of whom celebrated their birthdays yesterday! Here’s to all of you!
Speaking of special people…
We celebrate the remarkable life of Nora Mae Keifer-Olfs, former business owner and county commissioner in Whitman County, Washington, who died recently at the age of 89. We had the pleasure of knowing Nora Mae when I was a graduate student at Washington State University and my wife, Judy, worked with Nora Mae at Myklebust’s Department Store in Pullman WA. Nora Mae gave Judy a job when we first arrived in Pullman and was so gracious to her. Nora Mae epitomized all that was good about this world of ours. She was a wise person beyond her years and gave so much back to the communities she loved. She was a classy woman in all respects and treated everyone with respect and dignity. She understood what it took to run a farm, a business and a county government. We can all learn a lot of great lessons from her life. Thanks be to Father God for her life and for us to be able to call her “friend.”
Deepest sympathy also goes to the family of my wife’s friend, Catherine Klingel, upon the news of her recent death after a courageous fight with cancer. Judy got to know Catherine through Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) and enjoyed her friendship with her. Judy says that she was a lovely woman. I know that she will be missed by her family and friends. There certainly is a celebration going on in Heaven right now, as Catherine trusted in God’s promises fulfilled in Jesus.
Another special person is Lanie Crabb of Superior, Montana. She is a high school student who won the 2023 Essay Contest put on by the Montana Electric Cooperatives’ Association. This year’s question was, “If you could witness one historical moment first hand, what would it be and why?” Here are some excerpts from Lanie’s essay:
“The wooden drawer clicked on its tracks as my mother slowly pulled it open. As I waited to see inside, my heart leapt with anticipation and the corners of my mouth quivered to a smile. Reaching inside, my mother withdrew a tube of brown, ordinary cardboard. My 8-year-old eyes were glued to the object, which held something of great importance. The map inside was not any ordinary map, but one encrypted with Japanese writing and symbols, found by my great-grandfather during the battle of Iwo Jima.
My great-grandfather, Earl Benton, fought on Iwo Jima in the Marine Corps, serving as a radio operator. It was there that the map, a copy of which now lays peacefully in a drawer, was found, possibly in the blood and dirt-stained hands of a fallen Japanese soldier, or maybe in the cockpit of a wrecked fighter plane. A silent soldier, my great-grandfather rarely spoke about his experience on Iwo Jima, including where he found the map. The small piece of paper has a detailed sketch of the island, and has drawings and labels of where the electrical lines and generators on the island were located, as well as the damage caused by the initial attack…
…My great-grandfather once said that it would take “no holds barred, and no mercy fighting” to win, and if I could go back in time, I would want to stand beside him and witness the events he endured that led up to him finding the map…
…The closest I might ever come to being able to stand beside him again would be at the National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.. The possible moment that I might have to type his name into the kiosk at the Registry of Remembrance site, look him straight in the eyes, and see his smile would mean the world to me. There are so many questions that linger in my mind that I wish I could have asked him, including about the map….”
—-Youth Tour 2023 Essay Contest, “Rural Montana Magazine,” March 2023, pages 2-3.
If you are interested in reading Lanie’s entire essay (it’s worth reading), please let me know and I’ll e-mail you a copy…
And speaking of another special person, there was a great article about cowboy Tom Harmon in the February 22nd edition of the “Valley Press & Mineral Independent.” Honoring his life and career, Harmon was inducted Feb. 11th into the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame, representing Flathead, Lake, Lincoln & Sanders counties. As the article says: “Riding horses and working livestock have been an integral part of his (Tom’s) life…first growing up, later working on ranches and at rodeos, and throughout his 41-year career with the Montana Department of Livestock…” “…The Kila, Montana resident grew up riding an old bay ranch house and a runaway pinto mare as a kid. When he entered high school he was hired by his neighbors to start a colt and throughout the years he would start colts at the Flathead County Fairgrounds…” “…In the ’70s and ’80s there were a lot of little and big places operating a lot of cattle,” he (Tom) said. “I worked from teh Canada border to the Bison Range, Idaho and the Continental Divide.” “I investigated crimes involving cattle and horse thefts, white collar offenses and drug-related crimes,” he added. “The best part of my job was making sure that a stray cow was sent back to its owner. Livestock is worth a lot of money.”
During Tom’s career, he saw cellphones and computers enter the equation as brand inspectors began relying on digital records to check state databases. “It helped, he said of the changes in technology. “But it was never going to replace physically looking at the cattle. When I went to work the job description was you had to be able to ride a horse and rope cattle—they were hiring cowboys —it’s become more modern but it hasn’t changed.”
Here’s to Tom Harmon and all of his fantastic adventures throughout his career!
Speaking of good things that come from Montana…we’ve been treated to a number of “northern lights” (or “Aurora Borealis” if you want to get technical!) displays this past month. Really spectacular—lots of undulating red and green color spectrums across the sky! Well, Steve—a friend of mine in Arizona—recounted the following story about the first time he ever saw the “northern lights”:
“I climbed the apple tree in our back year in Olyville (Olympia WA) when I was a little kid, maybe in grade school by then, to see “the lights.” To tell you the truth, I thought we were being invaded at the time…Wasn’t sure what to do either, haha…run and hide as I recall…”
Here’s the trivia question for the day:
Question: The first woman to run for president chose whom as her running mate?…Susan B. Anthony?…Tim Kaine?…Frederick Douglass?…or Geraldine Ferraro???
Answer: The odds were stacked against Victoria Woodhull when she decided to run for President in 1872. Women didn’t have the right to vote yet, and at 31, Woodhull was under the legal age to hold office. Woodhull’s Equal Rights Party nominated abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass as her running mate. On paper, it was impressive pick, but not really: Douglass never accepted the nomination or even acknowledged the campiagn. In fact, he actually gave stump speeches for incumbent President Ulysses Grant. Although Woodhull failed to make it onto the presidential ballot, her bold campaign paved the way for the women who followed her.
While I attended Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington in the mid-1970s, I had occasion to visit The Pastime Cafe for some terrific Italian food, usually on Friday nights…you could get all the spaghetti and toasted garlic bread you wanted for a screamin’ price…like $7.95 as I recall. And just down the street, was McFeely’s Tavern where the sign always said “Drink Freely At McFeely’s.”
Some great memories of Walla Walla, for sure! Not to mention gigantic chocolate peppermint sundaes on Thursday nights at The Red Apple Cafe! Some great “study breaks” could be had!
Last but not least, here are some thoughts for the day:
“Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.”
—Frederic Bastiat, French economist (1801-1850)
“No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.”
—Mark Twain (1866)
Mike Newman, New York Yankees executive, on the pressure of playing in New York City: “It’s full of people who stand in front of microwaves and yell, “HURRY!”
Here’s to a great Wednesday and lots of love & good wishes always!
Press on,
Papa ‘a (Dad, Uncle Mark, Mark, etc.)