On Tuesday, April 12th, Frank Caruso from OCA Media visited the Museum to learn what the Tuesday crew does at the museum and all about the history of the Oregon Area Historical Society for his Oregon Life segment.  Thank you Frank for spending the day with us and producing an amazing video.

On Sunday, March 20, 2022, we hosted our annual membership meeting (which has been on hiatus since 2019 because of COVID) at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Oregon.  The theme this year was an homage to the St. John’s Annual Smorgasbord.

A smorgasbord is defined as a buffet offering a variety of hot and cold meats, salads, hors d’oeuvres, and more.  The Women of St. John’s started the Smorgasbord in 1955 and it ran faithfully until 2019 when they decided to discontinue it due to lack of volunteers to cover the hours of preparation for the event.

The Oregon Area Historical Society honored this 64 year old tradition with our annual meeting by serving foods that had been served at smorgasbords of the past like turkey and gravy, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, a pickle tray and many pies.  The majority of the meal was catered by JL Richards and the pies were donated by several of our members.

     

During the meeting, Gudie Huston (with the aide of Pam Parsons) demonstrated the art of Lefse making.  She even had some audience participation.

American women played important roles during World War II, both at home and in uniform. Not only did they give their sons, husbands, fathers, and brothers to the war effort, they gave their time, energy, and some even gave their lives. A new display at the Oregon Area Historical Society now recognizes some of the women from the Oregon area who served their country.

Some of these women included:

Camilla Schloemer – 2nd Lt. Army Nurse Corp. on USS Hospital Ship Shamrock, Panama, and Arkansas

Fern Klug – 2nd Lt., Army Nurse Corps. Served in Manila and in Japan

Lucy Wallace, Capt., Army Nurse Corp. in Australia and New Guinea

RITA PLUMMER, Special Technician. Served in Coast Guard as a Spar in Southern U.S.

EUNICE ONSRUD,WAC Headquarters, 5th Army, North Africa and Italy

(The OAHS has Eunice Onsrud’s journal of her war time experience as a WAC serving with the 5th Army.)

 

 

The Federal W.P.A. (Works Progress Administration) works on the construction of the Oregon Village Hall, which was completed in 1941. Park Herrick (on far left) was the carpenter. George Johnson is the policeman in the back. We are seeking identifications of other workers.