PART SEVEN Oral Histories and Family Memoirs - Mountain Light ...

Thank you for stopping in and seeing Aunt Dorie and Uncle Don when you can. They are having
such a difficult time with Don's illness, Russell and the grand children. Her heart has been giving her a
lot of problems also. She admires you so much and holds you in the highest esteem.
I have always admired your accomplishments. I have most of your books. I was always
interested in the local Indians also. Dad and his friend Itt Morasch use to go to all the rodeo's and watch
Yakima Cannut bull dog steers before they were married. They would go to Pendleton, Lewiston,
Yakima, etc., to watch him. Sometimes he would bull dog off the front fender of a car. Dad use to tell
me about the Indians at these rodeo's. In Yakima my Dad and Uncle Slim, my dad's sister‟s husband,
tried to spear Salmon in the Yakima River. The Indians would get them and they would not. Finally, one
of the Indians came over and said you have to aim about a foot behind their head because they always
backed up when the spear hit the water? Uncle Ben Weitz and Aunt Esther lived in Walla Walla and we
always went to Celilo Falls to get Salmon from the Indians during the run when I was like 5 to 8 or so,
until the Bonneville Dam flooded it out. It was interesting to watch them stand on those platforms out
over the falls and net the salmon.
One time I went over to Endicott and went to Spokane with Dad to the Doctor. A fellow was
sitting in the waiting room. He was from the Colville tribe. We were talking and he looked at Dad and
said what Tribe are you from? Without blinking an eye Dad said Yagoda! The Indian fellow said oh yes,
I know of it? Dad looked at me and he had that very small smile in the corner of his mouth. When I was
about 10 to 14 years old we use to bicycle down to the river at Winona and out to the Matlock Bridge,
now that was a long haul on the old gravel road. We use to look for arrow heads. Never found any. We
were told that they use to find them in the eyebrow behind the Cemetery.
Our son Larry R., 45, lives in Newcastle. He works at Aero Controls in Auburn. He is the VP of
Marketing. They rebuild 727 through 767 flight controls for Boeing and all the Airlines. He is married to
a Linda, she is a flight attendant for Alaska Airlines. They have a daughter Julia age 10 and a daughter
Jenny age 8. So we always drive by your place when we go up there. For some reason I thought you
lived in Shoreline?
Our daughter Lori 49, lives in Modesto Ca. She has always worked for Doctor's. Her husband
John works as a Sales Rep. for a Large Industrial Refrigeration Company, mainly large warehouses. Her
Daughter Erin 23 lives in Japan and is teaching English. She graduated from the UW last summer. She
also is a History Major and something German. She is currently teaching English in Japan for a year.
Trying to figure out what and where to go for graduate school. Her son James is 19, graduated from High
School last summer and is working at the Industrial park here in Chehalis, living with his other
Grandfather and Grandmother, and taking classes at Centralia CC. Thinks he would like to get into Law
Enforcement in some capacity. My step son Gary, 53, lives in Maine and works for a contractor that
remodels early homes, keeping the period look.
Rosalinde and I retired in 1995, we built a home on 10 acres up on the hill west of Chehalis. We
have been to Germany several times. Her sister lives in Vienna, a step brother and first cousin in
Augsburg, and a half brother in Germany near Bern Switzerland. We always have a great time when we
go over there.
Thank you for the invitation and sharing your family with me. That is very kind of you. I think it
would be fun to try to get some of the relatives and Endicotters together. There sure are a lot of them
over here. Aunt Carolyn said they use to do it years ago. I think Ray Bluemenshein's sons and Marvin
Schnaible live near you.
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