Each week in The Week magazine, there are two pages featuring homes for sale across the country. Last week, featured homes built from Sears, Roebuck and Co. house plans.
You can imagine my surprise when the first house, located in Austin, Texas, was an updated expanded Craftsman home from "Sears ... probably built using the 1915 Bandon kit." It was for sale for $1,585,000.
I began to research, and there is no doubt that this kit probably originated with Bandon in mind, as several of the 500 homes (first photo) that burned in the Bandon Fire of 1936, looked much like the Craftsman featured in the article.
The house that most resembled it was the first one, which belonged to Mr. and Mr. F.S. Perry, and I believe was located on the corner of Ocean Drive (Fourth) and Garfield, later the site of Jack and Faye Wade's home. Faye was the daughter of Frank Perry.
At the bottom left of the picture was the home of my grandparents, Grace and L.D. Felsheim, and the home next to it belonged to Bo Shindler's grandparents, Otto and Geneva Shindler. The only home in that group of photos that survived the Fire was No. 7 (marked 8 on the drawing), which was the Kronenberg home at the top of Carolina Avenue, which still stands today.
I love this feel-good story from the Feb. 10, 1916, Western World headlined "Bullards Resident Has Exciting Time."
And here's the story: "Joe Perry, a Portuguese who has been residing alone in a little cabin near Bullards for a number of years, received word last week that his brother had been killed by a train at Oakland, and that the deceased has left considerable insurance money. The information also contained a request for the local man to go to Oakland and claim the estate.
"Perry, who since the Lyons-Johnson mill closed down, where he was employed, has had no income except what he made by fishing, was without money at the time. He told his story to a number of men at Prosper, including C. McC. Johnson, R.W. Bullard, Vet Shields and others and they made up a purse for him. He was short $2.00 when the Elizabeth left Prosper, but finally found James A. Dollar, who gave him the amount. Greatly excited over the incident, Perry ran to his cabin, changed clothes, and then ran all the way to Bandon, arriving just in time to get the boat (second photo), which was starting for San Francisco."
"Awaiting the Mail" was the headline on the Feb. 3, 1916, Western World for the third story.
"Mail service between Coos county and the outside world during the past two weeks has been extremely bad. On account of the snow and slides along the Roseburg-Myrtle Point road (third photo), only a portion of the mail, mainly letters, has come in via that route. The balance was held in Portland for shipment on the Kilburn. It is estimated that several carloads have been stacked up on the docks there before that boat sailed. The Kilburn was due into Coos Bay today and Friday Bandon should receive an extraordinary consignment of postal matter.
"City Recorder Kausrud had been greatly concerned over the whereabouts of the $80,000 bonds which were sent by registered mail from Portland on Saturday, January 15th. The bonding house had kept the wires hot wanting to know why the local city officials didn't sign the bonds and return them which was to have been done at once. The fact is the bonds were lying on the Portland docks awaiting the Kilburn. They were located there through a tracer sent out from the Portland office.
"As soon as the bonds arrive they will be signed and returned, and the $80,000 in cash ($40,000 for the water department and $40,000 to take up back warrants) should be forthcoming in a short time."
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There is a full day of entertainment in Bandon Thursday to celebrate the Fourth of July, beginning with the parade at 10 a.m., which starts on Ninth Street and winds its way downtown and along First Street. Signup for the cardboard boat races begins at 11 at the boat launch facility next to Weber's Pier, with racing between noon and 2 p.m. Apple pie and ice cream will be sold from the glass picnic shelter, beginning at 11:30 a.m., with the GBA wine walk from 5 to 7 p.m. (glasses for $10 can be purchased at the picnic shelter). The chamber-sponsored scavenger hunt will take place from noon to 4, with people to take photos of the 10 clues to qualify for a prize.
This year's fireworks display will be great, according to Jim McDowell, the pyrotech for the Bandon Rural Fire Department. Assisting McDowell will be Ron Elliott, Mike Green and Ken Schwartz, with assistance by Bryce Smith. McDowell said the display will last 19 minutes and 54 seconds.
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The 75-year anniversary party, scheduled for Bud and Betty Gearhart, has been cancelled at their request, according to their daughter, Sandra Gearhart Merritt. She said her parents have their good days and their bad days, and they did not want family to go through the planning for the event, and them not being able to attend. Their anniversary is July 7, and cards or flowers can be sent to them at 62945 Cicada Lane, Coos Bay, 97420.
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The public is invited to attend a presentation by the Coos County Office of Emergency Management and the City of Bandon titled "Is Bandon Prepared." The event will be held at the Sprague Theater, Wednesday, July 10, with doors to open at 6:30 for the 7 p.m. program. The presentation includes how to create go bags, defensible space and sheltering in place versus evacuating.
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A big crowd gathered at the Bandon Fisheries Warehouse Friday for the 35th restoration celebration of the Coquille Indian Tribe, who barbecued over 2,000 pounds of salmon and served free meals until the fish ran out about 2:30.
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A gala art and music event, titled "Blue," featuring Anita West with Susan Applegate, Crystal Landucci, Victoria Tierney, members of the Hawthorne family and other local artists, will be held Wednesday, July 17, from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Langlois Cheese Factory.
"This gala has been in the planning stages since last year, and should be a great treat for art lovers in Coos and Curry counties. Anita, who used to live in both counties, conceived of this show," said Tierney. "Not only will there be fabulous art works on the walls, but there will be music by some of the area's great musicians."
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I received a note from a reader last Monday indicating that a woman walking her dog with bear spray had seen a bear on Tom Smith Road. "She said another neighbor reported a bear getting into his garbage cans and resorted to chaining those to his fence and putting a stump on top." She wanted to let people know so they could practice necessary safety measures.
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I was sorry to learn of the death of Bandon native Emmett Devereux, who died June 1 at his home in Florence from complications related to progressive Parkinson's Disease. The son of Mr. and Mrs. John Devereux, Emmett was born Aug. 31, 1935, and graduated from BHS in 1953. He married the love of his life, Barbara Carlson, in July of 1958, and they had four children. She died in 2000. Emmett worked as an elementary teacher and principal in Springfield, Junction City and Florence.
A memorial and mass will be held July 22 at East Woahink picnic shelter at 9:30. Internment will follow at Sunset Memorial Park in Coos Bay at 2 p.m. Among his survivors is his sister, Kathryn Anthony.
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I had a great meeting with Kendra Newbold, the new CEO of Coast Community Health Center, last week and I came away with renewed hope for the future of this very important facet of our community's health care.
Access to care has been a big concern of past and present patients of Coast, and Kendra explained that the Bandon health center now has four medical providers, with another to arrive in July, while there are three providers in the Port Orford clinic. Two behavioral health specialists are currently working for Coast and two more are scheduled to arrive this summer.
"A predictable result of changes in leadership is a shift in culture. Leadership has set clear expectations on the culture within the organization, and we refer to our culture at The Coast Way," she said. "This is the building block of a culture of honesty, integrity, trust and passion for serving our community.
"The hard work of the leadership team in place over the past 120 days has resulted in a successful financial audit with no significant findings, a reduction in expenses by half a million dollars, or 39 percent, and a slight increase in revenue. Patient visits have remained steady at approximately 1,300 a month," she said. "We recognize the need to recruit quality, permanent providers for our service area and great effort is being placed into both recruitment and retention. One barrier is affordable, available housing."
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There is no Meet and Greet this week at Bandon Fisheries Warehouse, but I do know that Southern Coos Hospital and Health Center is presenting the program for Tuesday, July 16, at noon, when local attorney Robin Miller presents "Estate Planning Tips." He will speak on Wills, Trusts, Real Estate, Taxes, Probate and Estate administration. Seating opens at 11:30 a.m.
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In an important ruling for cities, the Supreme Court on Friday ruled in Grants Pass v Johnson that cities may enforce laws restricting homeless encampments on sidewalks and other public property. The court disagreed with San Francisco's 9th Circuit Court in Martin v Boise and ruled it is not "cruel and unusual" punishment for city officials to ban homeless from sleeping on the streets or in parks.
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I saw a post recently on Facebook by Oregon Life.com that mentioned the six must visit beach cities in Oregon, and while they named Lincoln city, Gold Beach, Coos Bay, Rockaway Beach, Depoe Bay and Seaside, Bandon was not mentioned.
But, Coos Bay was mentioned again a week or so later in a press release about the most violent cities in Oregon. Ontario, on the border with Idaho, led the way as the most violent, followed by Portland, Roseburg, Coos Bay, Warrenton, Eugene, Salem, Klamath Falls, Astoria and Woodburn.
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