Great granddaughter of Oregon settlers next speaker for PAWS
OTHELLO — An Othello woman, whose great grandparents settled in Oregon after the Civil War, will be the guest speaker at the next meeting of the Presbyterian Adult Women’s Society on Wednesday, Dec. 14.
The PAWS meeting, which is really a fellowship gathering, will get under way at 11:30 a.m. It will include lunch, and it should end at around 1 p.m.
Orvalla Hafer, who came to the Columbia Basin in 1956 with her husband Ray, has lived in the Othello area (Radar Hill) since 1959. With the help of a book she authored, “The North Woods of Wallowa County,” She will relate the times of her great grandparents, grand parents and parents.
“She has some wonderful stories to share,” PAWS member Nancy Briggs said.
The magic of Christmas will include a special gift for those attending this month’s meeting of PAWS, Briggs said. It will be held at the First Presbyterian Church of Othello.
The PAWS gathering will begin with seasonal music and a luncheon of holiday hors d’oeuvres and desserts. The entire community, especially senior citizens, is invited.
Orvalla and Ray came to farm in the Basin in 1956. Ray had won a land unit in a government lottery for World War II veterans. When it proved too small for their needs in 1959, the Hafers sold it and purchased a larger tract of land on Radar Hill.
Both of the Hafers grew up in the small community of Promise, Oregon, which even in the 1940s, had primitive conditions. There was no electricity, and travel was on foot or on the back of a horse. But conditions were better than those encountered by her great grandparents. Coming west after the Civil War, they were among the original settlers.
Both sides of Orvalla’s family had Civil War veterans. The paternal side came from West Virginia, the maternal side from Kansas. The West Virginia great grandparents were Northerners but had family fighting for the Confederacy. The Kansas family was entirely Northerners.
Orvalla lived in the North Woods until 1949. Her parents separated, and she moved to Portland to live with an older couple. She returned to Wallowa County to work with cattle in Promise, and met Ray Hafer, who was doing the same work.
Orvalla and Ray married and remained in Promise until 1956, when he won the lottery unit near Basin City.
Orvalla will share some of her own experiences, as well as those of the hardy settlers, many from West Virginia, who came to the North Woods in the 1880s and 1890s. She attended a one-room school through 8th grade.
Orvalla’s book is complete with photos, facts, and family stories about life in “Promise Land”. She will also bring hand-made quilts and an assortment of household items from those bygone eras.