Interview with Mary Hague

Mary and Frances came to Bly in December of 1951. They lived in what Mary called the rabbit hutch. This was a small house on the East end of town on the property that is now Wayne Jacob's truck shop. Little cabin, next to Walt Ellingston, had three little kids; two room house. Their daughters are Judy, Janice and Frankie. Frankie Hague Davis was a year old when they moved here. Judy was three or four. Frankie drives the school bus and has for 18-19 years. They moved to the chicken house on the street down from Nisha Hadley's on Edsall Street.

They moved to their present location in 1954 and added on over the years. Bill Brown did part of the remodeling. Back part of the house is a cabin.

Neighbor was Harry Stone. He lived next door.

On Edsall Street, Betty Wright lived across the street. She lived across the street from Net Lee.

Husband Francis worked in the woods all his life. They didn't live at Ivory Pine. Worked for Jerry Crew, logger. He later worked for Weyerhaeuser Co. Retired after about 30 years.

Francis was a side rod for Weyerhaeuser Company. After being a top loader and cat skinner. Francis died in 1999. Side rod is a term used for boss. Took him in to have surgery and he never came home.

What businesses were downtown? Tikkanens owned the store that is now a cafe and lounge. It was called Tikkanen's General Store. Ed and Opal Patzke owned the Shell Station. Bill Hotsi ran the Sycan store for his father-in-law. Mike Hunt ran the other store that is now an attachment to the Shell Station. The Shell Station is now an antique store ran by Steve Leonardo.

John Dillavou, neighbor across the street, didn't live here when Mary and Francis moved into their house.

Jean Pool moved into the house next door in 1955. She lived where Ritchie Howard now lives before that time. (By the Catholic Church)

There used to be an Oregon Department of Transportation people stationed here. Mary knew the Nelson family. Her name was Nita.

Greasy Oly had a garage downtown. After it burned he lived next door with Harry Stone. Cross Haul Oly lived behind the union station or was it behind the Forest Service. We are not sure.

Did Mary go to the theater? We went until we got television. She can't remember the price but Leda remembers that she used to pay $0.25 when she was a kid. She had to pick up beer bottles at $0.01 a piece. Always went to Saturday night movie.

Hunt closed the store and Bill and Helen Lawrence opened a second hand store.

The school, now torn down, was for grades 1 through 12. A new building was built in 1962 for grades K-8. Grades 9-12 are bussed to Bonanza.

There were two Quonset huts on Main Street. One was the bowling alley but she couldn't remember what the other one was. People came from Bonanza one time to bowl. It was a two-lane bowling alley.

The place across Mary where John Dillavou lives was just a one-room cabin. The kids next door tried to burn it down one time. Playing with matches, but someone put it out. John moved in and brought in the Camp Six School as an addition.

Fire downtown, old laundry, burned up Bea Miller's son. He was playing with matches. She doesn't remember the year.

Bryant's house under the water tower burned one day while they were in town. The story is that the same arsonist(s) burned Bob Winfield's house. Piled stuff on the bed and set fire to it. Leda remembers hearing that they had stolen stuff and covered it up by setting the fire.

There used to be a little bitty cabin where Frankie Davis mobile home is now. Madelyn Hutchinson lived there with her first husband Bobbie. She later married Calvin Hutchinson and they now live in Beatty.

A lot of houses have been replaced with mobile homes.

The CMA church burned at one time. People complained about the CMA church adding the metal roofing on the steeple because no one in that end of town could get T.V. reception with their antennas. People could only get one channel.

One of the Dillavou kids, Max and Betty's son was burned in a fire and is now disfigured. That house was across from the softball street.

Leda remembers going into an old house when she was a kid that was located behind where Greasy Oly had his garage. (On the corner of Gerber and Hwy 140) and finding a set of false teeth up in the rafters. Gross. Always wondered why the teeth were there.

Leda talks about Ken Delainie, who worked at the Forest service for 13 years under the Senior American program. He lived in a small 3-room house, owned by Curt Allen, on Axel Street. (Next door to Fred and Carol Walston)

Burley, Jim and Georgia Hall used to have a home there. Bill Branham's home next door caught fire and burned into Hall's house. Someone by the name of Moorhead lived there.

The hotel and cafe were downtown. Pauline Bell ran the barbershop. The hotel was open for years and then closed for quite sometime before being reopened. Annie and Pat Patzke ran the cafe. Ernie Flakas owned it when it burned.

The Pastime tavern burned to the ground while Gabby owned it.

The Assembly of God church used to sit right in front of the parsonage on Hwy 140. Leda mentioned that someone had told her that it used to be a roller skating rink. Converted it and used it as a church. The Assembly of God later moved to what was the Methodist Church near the Gym.

There used to be a church near John and Arlene Bryant's house. Jess Bryant also lived near that area. Kleffler's laundry was next to Bryants. (Diane and Granville Curtis now live in Kefflers place) Mrs. Keffler sold eggs and Leda would go buy from her. Mrs. Keffler complained that the vector control spraying for mosquitoes was killing the honeybees. She always seemed old. Jack Griffin lived with her.

Did Mary remember the Buckhorn cafe. It was closed when Leda came here. Mary's brother talked of eating there. Mary Gordon had a string of cabins. The house next to the cabins? Leda thinks someone told her it was the Bucket of Blood or? Jim Haven owned the cafe.

Willis Panky was a cop when Mary first came here. He would stop those just leaving the bar and make them walk the yellow line. Panky Lake named after him? Don't know. He moved to Dairy and later died.

Next? Arthur and Jess Bryant were both law enforcement. Jack Hunton and Jim Conroy. Jim Conroy cut his finger off in the lawnmower. He lived on the east of town on the north side of highway.

Burley and Georgia Hall lived near Conroy's house. They bought the house, furnished, for $800.

Leda's dad bought a car for $10 and Leda cleaned it up and Bill traded it for a house that is fallen down, by the new Chevron station. Bill turned around and sold the property for $300. Jody Ford lived in the house. Jody was Ma Keadle's daughter. There used to be a store, on Edler Street, and the street ran through by Ma (Alice Keaddle) Kettle's house. The alley is closed now. Leda remembers her father-in-law telling about Ma Kettle bending over in her garden and his shooting her in the rump with a B B gun.

Leda tells about her mother-in-law, Lura Hunter, living at Ivory Pine but she always called it Podunk. She never really learned to drive so they would point her towards town and she would do her shopping and then Ed Patzke would turn the car around for her and point it back to Ivory Pine. She never did have a driver's license. Delia Melsness says Ivory Pine and Podunk were the same place. Someone called it a Podunk town and the name stuck.