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Note: rding school in College Place, WA were all taking off somewhere, and began piling into several cars awaiting them. Mother happened to get into the wrong car - that of a total stranger - but one who later became my father. Strangely enough, he turned out to be the very man Mom's aunt had been trying to get her to meet. When they married in 1939, they settled in Umatilla, OR near where many of Dad's family were farming. Although all three of us children were born at a Pendleton hospital some miles away, we were actually from Umatilla.
Umatilla was bustling town in those days, sitting alongside the Columbia River and railroad which transported wheat and other commodities from outlying areas to Portland markets. Later, the several dams being built along the river flooded most of the original townsite. Only the higher elevations along the highway above remained intake.
Most anyone from the area at the time will remember Harry Roddenbow's establishment - a pool hall and tavern, which was also flooded out. It was the town's major social outlet. It was also the only place we children could buy ice cream cones! I remember well the fun of going to Harry's for ice cream as a child of 5 or 6. The people there were always very friendly and helpful - sometimes even hilariously "funny!"
My mother's sister, Dorothy, married Herb Lane, the Chief of Police in Umatilla, (actually the only policeman in the area), and also raised their three kids there for many years.
Nearby, but closer to Hermiston, OR, was an old, largely unknown, US Army Depot which stored explosives for use during World War II. May father worked at that depot for a time, until he was enlisted in the war.
In the late 1990's the Government began destroying those old bombs, etc., which frightened many of the locals who feared the release of chemicals into the atmosphere. So far, no apparent damage has been done.
Note: Lois, my mother, met my father, Lorren, quite by accident. She and some friends from a bao
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