Mt. Angel residents Paul and Pat Zollner wrote and recorded a song titled “Christmas in Mt. Angel,” which begins: “Church bells of St. Mary’s are ringing in my mind, Once again they call to me, ‘Come home, it’s Christmas time.’
Shalom Prayer Center, a ministry of the Benedictine Sisters, presents the annual Thomas Merton Retreat, this year with award-winning filmmaker and author Morgan Atkinson, Dec. 11-12.
With some creative thinking and a pair of clippers (or chainsaw if need be) you can gather the raw materials to beautify your holiday table, a community function – or a whole wedding!
StoryCorps’ message is “Don’t wait.” The national oral-history project urges people to record true stories – memories, actually – of their favorite relatives, mentors, neighbors and friends, keeping history alive for future generations. It is all too common for those who remain behind to wonder after someone dies what life held for them, only to realize there’s no longer a way of knowing. Their curiosity will never be satisfied, because the only one who can answer is gone. Without written genealogies or written memoirs the stories vanish.
Silverton Country Historical Society is conducting a drawing for a limited-edition Oregon Sesquicentennial Pendleton blanket.
Almost every day, Kathryn Cramer is visited by angels. Not the kind you see in the movies with the feathery wings, glistening white gowns, saintly smiles or glowing halos. Instead, her angels come in tennis shoes or clogs, sweatshirts or sweaters.
He’s a man who, in his younger years, rode bodacious bulls and bucking broncs. He’s got a good sense of humor, too. Doug Brown, who lives in the Evergreen district outside of Silverton, was in fine form at the dedication ceremony Oct. 3 of Silverton’s newest mural.
By Linda Whitmore Richard “Rick” Ernst has done a great deal of genealogical study about the Cooley family – his mother’s ancestors – tracing them back to the 1740s in Virginia. Like other American pioneers, subsequent generations of Cooleys moved westward. Some were among Silverton’s early settlers and through the years the name Cooley has become world renowned for the […]
Shalom Prayer Center, a ministry of the Benedictine Sisters, offers “Women of the Bible” – a retreat with a creative approach, focusing on the role of women in Biblical texts. The workshop takes place on Saturday, Oct. 3.
Mt. Angel College may be long gone, having closed in 1973, but it is certainly not forgotten by those who attended the small, liberal arts institution founded by the Benedictine Sisters of Mt. Angel.
Only three families made up the Gibson Wagon Train of 1849. Gibson was the captain; the other families were Glovers and Graves.
The Mt. Angel Oktoberfest, like its older and larger namesake in Munich, is all about celebrating the fruits of the harvest, as well as the wonderful Bavarian heritage we claim as ours.
Philis Schmidt has made die Früchtsäule for Oktoberfest every year since 2002, but, although she uses a variety of beans and lentils, herbs and spices; she’s not cooking up a dish to be sold in one of the many food vendor chalets.
By Linda Whitmore Since James and Lucinda Brown trekked across the Plains, seven generations have called Silverton home. Through the years, the Browns have been influential in the development of the community and its resources. James and Lucinda Brown and their four children left Independence, Mo., in April 1846 on a half-year journey to Oregon. They carried their belongings in […]
Patti Battin was working on the design for the 2009 Silverton Fine Arts Festival poster last fall when she learned longtime Silverton woodcrafter Tom Allen had been diagnosed with advanced cancer.
This is a continuation of a year-long series of stories about historical people and institutions of our region, which Our Town is publishing in commemoration of Oregon’s Sesquicentennial. By Linda Whitmore Religion is an integral part of the story of Mt. Angel and surrounds. Among institutions established in the region’s early white settlement is Queen of the Angels Monastery. The community […]
By Kathy Cook Hunter Jack Hande, who has carved airplanes since his boyhood, looks over one of his newest projects – replicas of Japanese warplanes from that era, which will hang from the ceiling in the renovated aircraft observation post outside the Silverton Country Historical Society’s museum in Silverton. They are examples of a Japanese Zero and a Japanese G4M, […]
Tavis Evans and Jacob Dickson rehearsing for “Summer Lightning,” the new comedy opening June 11 at the Brush Creek Playhouse. Performances are Thursday through Saturday at 8 and Sunday at 2, through June 28. Photo by Bill Naiditch.
Lunaria Gallery has added seven new member artists to the cooperative gallery in Silverton.
Lunaria, owned and operated by 27 local artists, has evolved into a successful 14-year-old business.
When Silverton-area resident Karen Kidd first learned about Freemasonry, the fraternity’s so-called “no women allowed” rule intrigued her. However, when she did a Google search on the subject, she found there had been women Masons in the past, there are women Masons now and if she chose, she could become one.
As Kidd continued to investigate Masonry, she began to fall in love with it. She became a Freemason in a Seattle-area Lodge in 2006. In a March 2008 ceremony in Manchester, England, she was honored by many of her Malecraft Brethren when her essay “I am Regular” won the World Award in Internet Lodge No. 9659’s Short Papers competition. This past April, Cornerstone Book Publishers (New Orleans, La.) published her book detailing the lives of women who managed to be made Freemasons early in the organization’s history and some who tried but failed.
Haunted Chambers; The Lives of Early Women Freemasons, is not only the most complete list of early women Freemasons to date but includes as much detail about their lives as can still be found.
Lunaria artists Lynn Woolson and Penny Hiebert celebrate the coming of summer by creating works of metal and glass for gardens and patios.
The depth of Richard Jackson’s purpose for sharing his twin passions – Nostalgic Theatre and Golden Age Radio – reveals a third: helping others.
There’s something new this year for the Fine Arts Festival Unveiling Event – the venue has been changed to the former Cafe Trio at 405 N. Water St. in Silverton.
Summer Lightning, written and directed by Silverton resident Michael Smith, comes to the Brush Creek Playhouse stage for three weekends beginning June 11.
Described as a backstage comedy, the two-hour play portrays actors preparing to go on stage as they apply makeup and put on costumes. They’re doing a Greek tragedy, Phaedra, the story of a woman who is cursed by the gods to fall in love with her stepson. The play is presented within the play, similar to the well-known comedy Noises Off.
Lori Webb, a local artist and muralist, made sure every student at Eugene Field Elementary School contributed to creating a five-panel mural for the school’s gym. Webb said the mural begins with a girl tumbling in a field of sunflowers, followed by a boy and girl sitting on a bench with the boy reading a book and the girl holding […]
