Recently we lost a very beloved community member. We are so sorry to hear of the passing of General, the Glenwood General Store cat.
General served as general manager and official greeter to all the customers coming to the store for many years. She was a sweet, gentle lady, much loved by so many of us and she always appreciated back scratching and petting from willing customers. She will be so greatly missed by Claude and all the staff at the store, as well as all of us here who knew and loved her. Our deepest condolences to Claude and his staff. Thank you for sharing her with all of us all these years, Claude.
On Aug. 17, one of our Glenwood teenagers suffered serious injuries in a horrific accident. Jed Yothers, son of Nikki and Dustan Yothers, was enjoying an afternoon with friends along the Klickitat River when the ground he was standing on gave way and he fell 60 feet to the water below, hitting rocks all the way down. His friends pulled him from the water and revived him, but his injuries were very extensive. Jed suffered a twisted and broken left femur, fractured pelvis in three places, broken jaw on both sides of his face, some broken teeth, a broken nose, and numerous other facial and orbital fractures. He was taken by Lifeflight to Emanual Hospital in Portland, where he was given three pints of blood before undergoing femur surgery where a rod was placed to align and stabilize the broken bones, and surgery on his jaw to put in a plate and remove some of the damaged teeth.
Jed was released from the hospital on Aug. 23 but continues to have follow-up appointments to check on the healing of his femur and jaw. He has been getting around on crutches and was on a soft food diet. On Oct. 14, his doctors released him to start putting some weight on his broken leg and he is finally allowed to eat anything he wants. His mom reports he is no longer a fan of soup. That’s sure understandable. Jed faces another surgery to remove the plate in his jaw sometime after Thanksgiving and still needs to undergo extensive dental work. Jed, we are so pleased so hear of your slow but sure recovery and are keeping you and your whole family in our hearts here in Glenwood. We wish you all the best as you undergo future procedures.
Because the annual pumpkin patch trip was canceled for Glenwood elementary students this year, the school staff and high school students made a modified pumpkin patch on the school grounds for the elementary students to run and pick out their pumpkins and gourds. It was great fun for the kids, and a huge thanks goes to the school staff for putting this together and to Pat Kreps for donating the pumpkins.
I recently read a very good essay on coping during this pandemic. Since the pandemic began and things began to shut down, many of us, and I’m also guilty of this, have made comments about how sad this is and how much our kids have had to miss. I’m sure we weren’t meaning to, but those kinds of remarks served as a constant reminder to the kids that life wasn’t fair and they were missing so much fun stuff. The essay reminded us all that the best way to help kids is that, rather than perpetuate a victim mentality, we should look for other ways to make life fun for them so they remember the fun they had and not dwell on what they missed. The school staff pumpkin patch event is a perfect example of that.
I’m sure there were a lot of very happy children showing off their pumpkins to their parents and smiling at the memory of the fun afternoon they had at school that day. One line in the essay I read says, “I assure you, if WE (the adults) started finding the OPPORTUNITY instead of inflating the perceived losses, we may actually find that we have opportunities to create lasting memories for our children.” Wise words, indeed.
The Glenwood School Board of Directors suddenly found itself with two vacant positions. After a community outreach, four good candidates expressed interest in filling the rest of the terms of the vacant positions. The candidates appeared in front of the board members in a Zoom meeting last Thursday night and answered questions put to them by the board. The Board was pleased to see so much interest and the decisions were hard, because all the candidates would have been good choices.
Ryan Sanchey was chosen to fill the remaining three years of Dave Wasgatt’s position and Kara Griffin was chosen to fill the remaining one year of Carla Dillenburg’s position. It truly is great to see so much interest and the Board hopes all community members interested in serving on the Board in the future will file for the positions as they come up for a community vote. The board and school staff wish to thank Dave and Carla for their years of service on the Board.
We have more rodeo news. At the end of the fall season of Washington State High School and Junior High School Rodeo, Joslyn Arnold is ranked 11th out of 30 contestants in the goat-tying and seventh out of 37 in the girls’ breakaway roping in the high school rodeo standings. Emma Patterson is sitting at 8th place in the barrels in junior high rodeo standings and Peyton Sanchey is in ninth place in the poles. What a great fall finish, girls. We are looking forward to your spring season and are sure you’ll be doing a lot of practicing all winter. Way to go, cowgirls.
Kids Jam at the church is in full swing now. For the months of November and December, Kids Jam will be the first and third Fridays, after school, due to Thanksgiving and Christmas Break. Kids and parents, mark your calendars for Nov. 6 and 20 and Dec. 4 and 18. All kindergarten through fifth graders are welcome to come for fun afternoons of games, snacks, music, bible lessons, and crafts. Jennifer reminds parents to please let the school office know if your child will be walking to the church instead of riding the bus home. Look for registration forms at the post office and the store. If you have questions call Jennifer at 364-3571.
You can still give to Operation Christmas Child! Operation Christmas Child is a ministry of Samaritan Purse that provides shoebox gifts for children around the world. Please donate new clothing for boys and girls age 2-4, 5-9, and 10-14. We are also in need of full-size bars of soap and washcloths, toothbrushes, combs and brushes, and new, small toys and games for all age groups. The church will be packing shoeboxes the first weekend in November. Watch for details if you would like to join in to help. You can also pack a box by picking up an empty shoebox and packing guide at the church. Call Jennifer at 364-3571 if you have questions.
As we approach the holidays, scammers are out in full force. I received a call with an automated voice recording regarding a purchase on my account at Amazon for a certain large amount. If I had questions regarding the validity of that purchase, I should press #1 on my phone. I had already heard this is a scam so I simply hung up. Others have reported receiving emails with a similar scam. It would be wise to check your credit card accounts, but not so wise to select any number option or click on a link. If in doubt, go to the Amazon website and contact customer service to check on your account.
Send your Glenwood news to gmpierce09@gmail.com.
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