On March 2, my wife, Garnet, and I traveled to Fairchild Air Force Base for lunch. This wasn't just any ordinary lunch, but, rather, 92d Air Refueling Wing 2012 National Prayer Luncheon.

The guest speaker was Maj. Gen. Cecil R. Richardson, who is also the U.S. Air Force Chief of Chaplains, stationed at Headquarters U.S. Air Force, the Pentagon, Washington, D.C. As the senior chaplain in the Air Force, his assignments over the years have been numerous as he has served around the world.

Richardson was an extremely effective speaker, the best I have heard at any prayer breakfast or luncheon. Part of his talk was about his decision to become a preacher.

He was at a church service when...well here is how he told the story.

"There was a need to give to a local organization, the pastor said the entire church's offering on this particular day would go to this local organization," Richardson said. "I decided to give everything in my wallet and decided not to look, in case I would be tempted not to give it all.

"When the offering plate was passed, I turned my head and dumped everything in my wallet into the plate. The next day, the pastor called me, 'Cecil,' he said. 'I have your drivers' license.'"

Another story involved gardens and related to both vegetable and flower gardens.

"Reap what you sow is an agriculture term," Richardson said. "If you sow corn, you reap corn. If you sow wheat, you reap wheat. If you sow a garden you reap weeds."

These are just two parts of his message, as I can't remember any others, but all of it was packed full of humor.

Strolling Strings

The East Valley High School's musical ensemble, The Strolling Strings, is sensational. Before and during the prayer luncheon this group of 25 plus students performed many songs, singing to some, while playing violins, cellos, an upright bass, piano and perhaps some violas.

None of the students were in one place very long, but, as their name suggests, strolled around the room. The piano and bass didn't move, of course, but the rest of the instruments traveled, even the cello players, as they hooked part of the instrument behind their neck while moving.

I'm anxious to watch their performance again, but, unfortunately, there are no public events scheduled at this time. If you have the chance to be at one of the East Valley High School Strolling Strings concerts, go out of your way to attend.

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 then continue the story of Coulee City, by C.K. "Slim" Jolly, recorded July 13, 1976:

I suppose all of you know where Pilot Rock is, up on the west side of Grand Coulee, the highest point until you get clear over to Waterville. You can see it from Davenport and Mansfield and many areas so they named it Pilot Rock.

The early settlers tell me they used it as a landmark for traveling from one area to another. Pilot Rock is visible from different dir?ections. I think it is 2,250 feet which is about the highest point until you get over toward Waterville.

Question: Did you have an underground cellar?

Answer: Yes, that is where you'd keep your vegetables, potatoes and such, because they'd keep in that until late in the spring.

Question: Did you have a well?

Answer: Yes, sometimes wells were 300 feet deep, but sometimes they could get water within 50 feet of the top of the ground. It is real odd, back along the Grand Coulee wall there were a lot of springs.

More from Slim next week.