A dozen airmen and airwomen were in attendance for the Second

Lunch with the Troops event at the Porterhouse Steakhouse on March

15. More than 50 civilians also attended to visit with the

troops.

A buffet was served for $10 which included the tip and

non-alcoholic beverage, making the salad, sandwich and soup

assortment, well within the price range for a typical lunch.

A dozen airmen and airwomen were in attendance for the Second Lunch with the Troops event at the Porterhouse Steakhouse on March 15. More than 50 civilians also attended to visit with the troops.

A buffet was served for $10 which included the tip and non-alcoholic beverage, making the salad, sandwich and soup assortment, well within the price range for a typical lunch.

The next Lunch with the Troops will take place on April 19 from noon to 1 p.m. Again a buffet is planned at the Porterhouse, same price.

The only difference is the number of people. The first month we filled 29 of 30 chairs. In March we filled 63 of 75 chairs. This month I would like to double the attendees, filling over 100 of 75 chairs. Yes, this is more than the seating I'm told we have available, but the managers of the Porterhouse would be scrambling to accommodate everyone. As the spaces were filling up last month, I overheard them planning another table here and one there if need be. Let's have them scrambling again to add seating.

A Buck Knife, Model 110, Folding Hunter has been acquired to commemorate the next luncheon. The knife is inscribed with "Lunch with the Troops, April 19, 2011" and will be presented to the highest bidder of a silent auction. The back side of the blade is signed by Chuck Buck, C.J., Chuck's son, and Josh, C.J.'s son, so this is truly a collectable knife.

We knife collectors will be prepared, as there is no other knife such as this one and there never will be. This is an honest to goodness, one of a kind knife. I'm sure Jerry Lester and I will be fighting for ownership of it, but we don't want to leave other attendees out of the opportunity to win.

Knife sponsors for April are Larry Godden, general manager of Million Air, Randy McPhetridge, manager of Les Schwab and the Columbia Basin Herald. The knife sponsors split the $33 cost of the knife, so all of the money raised will go to Operation Warm Heart.

Last month the Porterhouse Steakhouse bought all of the airmen lunches. In addition, the civilians in attendance pitched in whatever moved them in support of Operation Warm Heart, an assistance program for airmen and airwomen administered by First Sergeants of the various units.

Around $289 was put in the kitty for the airmen. I detected a tear in the First Sergeant's eye as she accepted the money.

Want to attend the April 19 luncheon? We want you to attend. Call me at: Home: 762-5158 or Cell: 750-0541. Or the Porterhouse Steakhouse at: 766-0308. We just need to have an approximate head count.

Fair history, centennial meeting

The Grant County Fair History and Centennial Committees are seeking volunteers to help organize and celebrate the fair's history and centennial. No training or experience necessary, just a willingness to assist as needed. People with ideas and suggestions welcome. A meeting is planned for April 5 beginning at 5:30 in the Huck Fuller Building, what was originally the Grange Building next to the fair office.

Historical Society meeting

The Grant County Historical Society will hold their regular monthly meeting on Tuesday April 12 at 10:30 a.m. at the Soap Lake Senior Center, located at 121 2nd Ave SE in Soap Lake.

The Heritage meeting will follow lunch with our guest speaker being Lt. Col Jim O'Connell, Moses Lake Detachment Commander/Deputy Commander of Fairchild AFB. He will talk about his family background of the Hartline and Grant County area as well as the detachment program in Moses Lake.

The public is invited and if you plan to have lunch please call the Center at 509-246-1913 and let them know.

Contact is Rita Mayrant at 509-750-4555.

Wilson Creek history

The Rev. David H. Crawford compiled and published a history of families in and surrounding Wilson Creek titled, "Family Memories of Wilson Creek Area." The book was printed in 1978, which was the 75th anniversary of the town. David's son, John Crawford, has given permission for those memories to be a part of this column.

Today we continue the story of The Rev. Helmer Family, by Lillian Helmer Berg:

The school building was located up on a high hill. Although small in number it had all eight grades and four years of high school. Professor Scott was school superintendent at that time; basketball was a favorite sport and school spirit was high.

After graduating from Wilson Creek High School in 1912, Lillian spent the summer taking a review course at the State Normal School at Cheney.

She took the teachers' examination at Ephrata and taught school in the Timm District nine miles north of Wilson Creek that fall. The school board let her teach, but she didn't know from September until December that she had passed the exam.

There were 20 pupils, and Lillian taught all eight grades, excepting the seventh which had only one pupil. The seventh grader, Walter Bach, took classes with the eighth grade and entered high school in Wilson Creek.

During the winter months, Lillian had boys attending school who were older than she was. They wanted help mostly in math which happened to be her strong subject.

All in all it was a pleasant year. Next year she taught at the Appling District.

E-mail from Cheryl

Facts from the past gleaned from the Moses Lake Herald, Columbia Basin Herald and The Neppel Record by Cheryl (Driggs) Elkins:

From the Columbia Basin Herald on July 3, 1963:

We backtrack a bit about the 1963 Friendship Day celebration between the Airmen at Larson Air Force Base and the citizens of Moses Lake.

Upwards of 5,000 persons from Larson and the city are expected to gather at the park for food, games and exhibitions.

Games start at 11 a.m., followed by the singing of the National Anthem at noon. A bell also will ring a noon to mark local observance of Independence Day.

Serving of food is scheduled for 12:30. It will be barbecued beef on sandwich, salads, vegetables, ice cream, punch and coffee.

Cost per plate is 75 cents. Plates and utensils will be furnished by the Friendship Day Committee.

Games includes running events, sack races, a three-legged race, wheelbarrow races, a twist contest and a pie-eating contest.

Afternoon events include a water ski exhibition by the Moses Lake Aqua Jesters, a horseshoe tournament, a tug-of-war, an otter demonstration by the National Guard unite at Ephrata, a judo Demonstration and a hydro exhibition.

The horseshoe contest between the mayor and base commander is scheduled for mid-afternoon.

Mac McKay, school district public relations man, will be master of ceremonies for the fourth consecutive year.

The Grant County Historical Society has compiled several volumes of Grant County history. The books are available for purchase at the Historical Society Museum gift shop in Ephrata.

I bought the series in 2009 and secured permission to relay some of the history through this column.

Memories of Grant County, compiled from taped interviews by the Grant County Historical Society.

Today we backtrack a bit and continue the story of Coulee City, by Alfred Twining recorded July 30, 1975:

I'll go back to Tony Richardson again. He had quite a bunch of horses and they had a reputation, I don't know how true it was, but they said the "Dipper" brand would fit on most any horse, that didn't have a brand on it. So in 1896, I think, or 1897, Tony Richardson sold his whole band of horses for $3 a head, F.O.B. Coulee City, and shipped them out.

Tom and I were coming up to Sunday school one morning and of course in passing we had to circulate around by the depot and see what was going on there. The train was in and we didn't see a train very often and so the train was standing there with a whole trainload of horses headed for Kansas City or St. Louis, I don't know which.

So he got out of the horse business and started in the cattle business, but while he was in the horse business he lived here in Coulee City. I remember two of his kids, I think one was Dee Richardson and the other was Annie. He had a brother, Paul. I thought it was Paul that built the Greenfront Livery Barn, but I think I found out later it was Tony, Tony and Company. They built what they used to call the Greenfront Livery Barn that sits on the lot where the Gregg building used to stand. Then the Gregg building was demolished this year.

The first telephone line from Coulee City to Waterville was built in 1901 or 1902. The telephone poles were shipped into Coulee City. Jim Cunningham had the contract for hauling them. They put a big, long reach in the wagon and put about three or five telephone poles and four horses on the wagon. They strung poles all the way from Coulee City to Waterville that way.

Only two wires were on the poles at that time. Jim Terry used to live with Roy Carpenter down here in the Park and he had a place of his own for awhile. Roy left the place, I think, to Jim and he worked on that telephone line. They camped under some trees on the corner of my dad's place down there along the creek. I rem ember us kids would go down there almost every afternoon and the cook would give us a piece of cake. And, boy, that tasted good, first time I ever tasted any layer cake. My mother, being an "Old Country" woman she never baked layer cake at all. So that was quite a treat.

Charlie Sprague used to run a bunch of horses.

His brand was an outhouse, I guess, that isn't what we used to call it. George took a homestead down around Castle Lake and the way the draw runs down there from Dan Paul's place, he went along side of a cliff with a wheelbarrow and shovel and made a road down into Castle Lake. Some of that road is still there yet. He built it all with a shovel and wheelbarrow. George used always to call his brother, Charles. Charles was quite a guy, a pretty good man in a way. One of his words or saying was "and that's a cinch."

And speaking about the Garlands and Jap, Jap was the black sheep of the family, I guess. I remember hearing one time he was drinking quite a bit and he went up to his dad and said, "Dad, give me five dollars."

His Dad said, "I'll give you five dollars if you'll get to hell out of my sight and I don't want to ever see you again."

Then Jap disappeared and he never showed up for about ten years. But before that he was drinking quite a bit one day, was drunker than a hoot owl, and a man came in here from Wyoming or Idaho or Montana, maybe, and wanted to get a few nickels to eat on, so he got somebody to round up a wild horse and he'd ride him if they'd pass the hat around.

So he got a herder and a wild horse from someplace and he rode him a few jumps and told the, herder he had ridden him and to pull him in.

Jap was standing looking and said, "That horse ain't ridden. If you'll buy me a pint of whiskey I'll ride him like he ought to be rode."

So, I can see him yet. He was standing there with one hand on the saddle horn and took that pint of whiskey and poured the whole thing down and throwed the bottle out and got on that horse and rode him until he couldn't make another jump. I asked him one time how he learned to ride.

He said, "Ben Hutcheson learned me how to ride. The first bucking horse I ever got on I grabbed the horn. Ben came along with his quirt and he came down on my hand and he pretty near broke it, but, I never grabbed a horn after that."

He was a rider and a good one.