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Note: Four Generations Attend Graduation
ELMIRA, June 2--(Special)--Manena Inman had the distinction of having four generations represented at her graduation from high school Friday night May 28. They were Emma Deming, her great grandmother; Mrs. Charlie Inman, her grandmother; Pearlie Inman, her father; and Manena Inman. ____________________ Manena's schooling as told to Barbara (Peterson) Buchholz:
1st - Red Oak School near Elmira, Ore. - 1 room 2nd - Columbia School at Detroit, Mich. - 1 grade per room; and another school near Uncle Henry Sheffler's home in Detroit, Mich. 3rd - Fir Grove School north of Deming Road, near Elmira, Ore. - 1 room 4th & 5th - Veneta Grade School at Veneta, Ore. - 4 grades per room 6th - Edison School in Eugene, Ore. near the University of Ore. - 1 grade per room 7th & 8th - Elmira Grade School at Elmira, Ore. - 4 grades per room High School - All four years at Elmira High School, Elmira, Ore. Eugene Business College - 1 year Pioneer Service - worked as a typist and other secretarial work _____________________ SOME OF MY MEMORIES By Manena Buchholz
First, I must say that this is Barbara Herring’s idea that I should do this. Here goes:
When I first came into this world, we lived on Grandpa and Grandma Inman’s place. It was just off Territorial Road. Later, it was Verree Surcamp’s place. I don’t remember there except an ear infected that had to be lanced. I can remember the hurt.
We eventually moved down on the Long Tom. In fact the Long Tom circled our house on one side. Burt Inman lived about a mile further down the river. Frank Inman lived a couple of miles the other way (near the Jeans Road). Frank Inman’s wife was Edith Jeans. It was a neat place to live and besides the house, we had a big barn, chicken house, garage and smokehouse. We also had livestock, horses cows, pigs, sheep and goats. The cream separator was on the back porch. We saved the skimmed milk in five-gallon cans for the pigs. One time when I was walking past, there was a chicken in the milk. I took her to the house and Mom put her behind the kitchen stove. I called her WeeWee. There was a big swamp behind the barn. Some hunters built a plank path down in the water to a duck blind that they built. We also had a "Hunter’s Cabin" where the hunters stayed. I remember two families that hunted - Jenneys and Nealys. The Newman’s Fish Market came out a lot, but I don’t remember them hunting. Mom stayed at their place when Ethan was born to take care of Mrs. Newman and the house. My Dad did a lot of hunting and trapping. He dried lots of animal hides. He also hunted deer, and one time he came home with a fawn. We called him Nelson after Nelson Mountain where he was found.
Grandpa and Grandma Inman lived about a mile from us cutting across the fields. It was good old horse and buggy days then. The Sheffler’s lived probably three miles cutting through the woods. Uncle Clyde and his four children lived there, too. They used to come down to our place a lot. One Christmas they stayed all night, and Grandpa played Santa. He threw nuts at us. Lillian and I were scared of him. The bigger kids recognized him. In the summer time Lill and I would go swimming. That was a no-no and my dad would paddle us.
We also had two pigpens. One was down near the swamp and was built on stilts to keep the water out, and the other one was beside the barn. One time when my Dad was feeding the pigs, Nelson came up behind him and tried his horns out on his bet over position. I remember one April Fool’s Day when I told my Dad there was a stray cat that ran under the sled. After lifting the sled and no cat, and saying April Fool, he didn’t find it very funny!
When I was six, I had to go to school. It was the Red Oak School. It was one room and eight grades. Verree got to ride a horse to school until Lola Bangs drove past her in a car, and the horse threw Verree (she broke her arm). We had to walk the rest of the time. When the weather was bad, we wore boots which we left in Uncle Ben’s barn. I got off early from school while Verree had to go full time. She was a third grader. I was supposed to start home and wait for her at Uncle Ben’s. One time I went to the outside John and got interested in the catalog that was there. Time passed quickly, and Verree made it to Uncle Ben’s. I wasn’t there, and she had to come back and get me. She was not too pleased. I remember we used to have a Spelling Bee with all grades taking place. There was only one other first grader, Billy Barber. My word was "bacon", and I spelled it "bakon" like it sounded. They had just made the cut on the hill by the cemetery, and I spent a lot of time picking up sandstone rocks, on the way home.
In the summer after school was out, my folks separated. Grandma Sheffler’s half sister wanted them to come back to Michigan to visit friends and relatives. Aunt Addie practically financed our trip. She gave Grandpa Sheffler a Ford Sedan. The title was April 22, 1926. Of course, Grandpa couldn’t drive. Mom drove it along with Uncle Clyde’s car. All ten of us were off to Michigan. Back then cars didn’t have trunks, but they had running boards. We built a "Grub Box" on the running board to carry our food. At that time all the highways were gravel. Our Ford didn’t have enough power for some of the hills we encountered, so guess what, us kids had to get out and push! We stopped at Yellowstone Park and stayed there for a while, enjoying the sights and bears.
When we arrived in Chicago was the first time I’d seen a black person. I remember asking Mom if they were black all the way through.
Finally got to Michigan and Grandpa and Grandma’s. Aunt Mae, Grandpa’s daughter, was still alive. That’s where they started. In the meantime, we had to find a place for six kids and two adults to live. We had the first floor of an eight-story apartment. Mom found a job in a theater. She was sort of a nurse, in case anyone got sick. Uncle Clyde couldn’t find work so he went back to Oregon. Then they hired a woman to come in after school until Mom got home He name was Mrs. Mernants. It didn’t work out too well with her trying to herd six country kids in the city. We used to lock her out and take to tops almost off the salt and pepper shakers, and I’m sure a lot of other things as well. Mom tried to ease the tension by taking two at a time to the theater with her. They were all silent films so not much fun. Delmer and Kenny got bored and left, and Mom was sure in a tizzy until she found them. We all had to go to two different schools there. For me it was two full rooms of just second graders. I was so shy; it almost killed me.
This all took place in Detroit, Michigan. None of us liked the weather too well. Snow on the streets for months, and in the summertime it was hot and sultry - no air conditioning then. We did get to visit our relatives. We went out to the Richards; Grandma Mom married a Richard. We went to the Swifts, and, of course, Aunt Mae’s. Us kids had to stay in the basement until the adults finished eating before we could eat. I still don’t think that was the way to do it. Kids first!
It was time to come back to Oregon. Uncle Clyde came back to Michigan with a brand new Star car. Aunt Addie let us take off from her house. She gave each of us kids an al day sucker. Mine was grape flavor. Of course, the Ford wasn’t running well so Uncle Clyde drove it, and Mom drove his Star. We were in Nebraska when Mom ran over a pile of gravel after the grader was there. She lost control, and we turned over in the ditch. Grandma got a broken shoulder; Grandpa got shook up. Della and I got some gas cuts. Lillian and Mom were all right. While Grandma was in the hospital, the rest of us stayed in a park. I think it was for two weeks. Then we continued on home.
We stayed at the Sheffler’s and attended Fir Grove School. I was in the 3rd and 4th grades there. Mom got a job with Dr. Orcutt and drove back and forth. When school was finally out we moved to Veneta. Mom bought a house that was Uncle Clyde’s. She worked at night and that left Verree and I alone. In the meantime, Mom and Mr. McAtee got married, and we moved into his house. Grandpa Sheffler passed away 1-4-1929, and Grandma came to live with us. She passed away 8-29-1931. Mom got a job working for George McMorron taking care of his wife. Matlock’s mill shut down, and we found ourselves in another house of Uncle Clyde’s which they bought.
They started raising chickens and had a lot of other animals - horses, cows, pigeons, peacocks, sheep and goats. We helped the feed store out a lot. While in Veneta, I was in the 4th and 5th grades. While we were still in Veneta, Mom went to Eugene to work, and Verree and I went along. Verree stayed at two different places, the Payne's and the Babb's. She did housework and baby sitting for her room and board and $20.00 a month. Mom boarded me out with some people by the name of Butters. It was only a block from where she worked. I went to the Edison School in the 6th grade.
When that job was over, we moved back to Elmira. I was in the 7th and 8th grades there, and, of course, I finished high school there, too.
I went to Business School in Eugene. I stayed with Della. She had an apartment on 7th Street. I did some housework while I was there for a man and his son. He owned the Rose Cleaners. When I finished school, I worked in Mike Jenney’s Office. He had a Collection Agency. I met Marv and decided that I didn’t want to work. We became engaged, and I moved back home. Mom and us went in the turkey business. In the meantime, we got married at home, and Marv got a job at the Globe mill. I still stayed home until we marketed the turkeys, and he boarded with Verree and Earl. He got a company shack, and we loaded a small trailer with our stuff and moved in. That was a really fun time. All the mill workers were friendly, and we used to do a lot of fun things. I had all the boys while we lived there. I still like the smell of sawdust.
When Chuck was 1 1/2, we moved up on the Sheffler place, and the Globe Lumber Company ran out of timber and shut down. We lost our ‘49 Dodge to fire. It was totaled. That was another good reason to move. The kids really enjoyed it up there. They had lots more freedom, and we had chickens, turkeys, pigs, ducks and geese. We had our own milk, butter and cream. We didn’t know that we were poor. We stayed put. Marv got a job at the Fern Ridge School. The kids worked in the bean fields and other stuff for Crowson’s. Eventually, they finished high school. Norm worked in the cannery, then the feed store, and then became a roofer. In the process our chickens weren’t the moneymaker I though so we just raised what we wanted.
In 1961 we moved to Grandma Inman’s house. She left the place to Verree and me, and we divvied it up. I worked one summer in the Eugene cannery and then got on at Chet’s Famous Foods and stayed there for 23 years. I had a lot of fun and met a lot of nice people and earned a pension. The company changed ownership two more times while I was there. It became Manning's and then Chef Francisco. After I retired, Heinz bought them out and moved the plant.
Marv and I did get to do a few things after we were both retired. We went to the coast and Eastern Oregon. We took Ione a lot of the time on our trips. Then she got sick and passed on. Marv was sick later and passed on 8-25-1995. That leaves me here ailing, but Len lives here so I feel pretty good about that.
Len took me on a trip to Boston in September 1996 mainly to see the pretty leaves. There was so much more. We saw the Boston Colleges and lots of historical things like Bunker Hill and the old ships and monuments. He rented a car so we went up the coast. We went through Witch town and also Portland, Maine. We went through the marble plant, maple sugar place and through a castle. We stayed at a ski resort. I saw Logan airport and so many things besides the beautiful trees like the white rock that they used to gravel their driveways, old cemeteries, toll highways and bridges, Martha’s Vineyard, the Kennedy Library and houses and barns connected. There are so many things to remember. _____________________________________________ Register-Guard, Eugene, Lane Co., Ore., April 12, 2005: Manena Buchholz
ELMIRA - Manena Marie Buchholz of Elmira died April 9 of cancer. She was 86.
She was born Dec. 17, 1918, in Eugene, to Pearly and Myrtle Sheffler Inman. She married Marvin Buchholz on June 11, 1939, in Elmira. He died Aug. 25, 1995.
A lifetime resident of the area, she was a graduate of Elmira High School and Eugene Business School. After her children were grown, she worked for 23 years at Chet's Famous Foods, later known as Chef Francisco. She enjoyed gardening, quilting and working newspaper crossword puzzles. She also enjoyed spending time with her cat, Moe.
She and her husband raised cattle for more than 40 years and had continued with her sons' help. Her family will remember "her strong love of family, her great sense of humor and her generosity."
She was named West Lane Distinguished Pioneer of the Year in 2000 by the Fern Ridge Chamber of Commerce and the Kiwanis Club of Fern Ridge.
Survivors include four sons, Norman, Gary and Leonard, all of Elmira, and Charles, of Eugene; 11 grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandchild.
Private burial is planned at Inman Cemetery in Elmira. Musgrove Family Mortuary in Eugene is in charge of arrangements. ________________________________________ Inman Cem., Elmira, Lane Co., Ore. - inscription:
- - BUCHHOLZ - - Marvin Louis Jan. 24, 1912 - Aug. 25, 1995 Manena Marie Inman Dec. 17, 1918 - Apr. 9, 2005 ________________________ Social Security Death Index:
Name: Manena M. Buchholz SSN: 540-14-6565 Last Residence: 97437 Elmira, Lane, Oregon Born: 17 Dec 1918 Died: 9 Apr 2005 State (Year) SSN issued: Oregon (Before 1951)
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