For those of you meeting me for the first time
here is a bit more about my journey
After spending twenty three years as owner/director of the Photographic Image Gallery in Portland and five years as a docent at the Portland Art Museum, I decided to retire to Central Oregon.
Fifty years ago I bought property at Lake Billy Chinook and with my brother built a cabin near the lake. For all those years it became a refuge for an extended family.
I knew the Metolius River and the surounding lower desert held memorable stories and a forgotten history, one that had never been covered in a single book. A chance meeting with 96 year old Hope Nance, the last survivor of Grandview, was the key that opened the door to that history. Who doubts that a single moment can change your path in life and open such possibilities?
I interviewed people who were approching the end of their life, I walked the rutted dirt roads and searched abandoned places. I turned to the local libraries, Family Finders, newspaper archives, hand drawn maps, diaries and the internet to find answers. Now loaded with my research have been contributing articles to local newsletters, newspapers and the files of the Jefferson County Historical Society.
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