Winter Program at Happy Camp High School

by Judy Bushy reprinted from Siskiyou Daily News December 21 2012

Wasn’t the snowfall lovely Friday and Saturday!! Didn’t last, but it was so pretty. I was wondering if Abbye Eadie and Cassidy Little singing, “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas” at the Winter Concert had anything to do with it. They sang beautifully , “Santa Baby” at the beginning, as well as “Dreaming of a White Christmas” concluding Happy Camp High School program.

In between, Denise Beardings Honors English Class presented a skit, “Superfreakiest Elfnam Christmas” which was their own invention. The Drama Class under the direction of Alyssa Garcia who had two presentations. First, the Dance Performance which was good in light, but then, when the lights went out,the glowing trims on black costumes gave a very bright dance. They choreographed the dance as part of their class work. The Drama Class also gave an abridged version of “The Nightmare before Christmas” which they will present in full later.

Our principal, Angelika Brown, welcomed everyone at the beginning and also reminded everyone to enjoy the Art and Industrial Arts displays. The students had done really fantastic work! Silent Auction proceeds to go to the Yearbook so the students will have a book of memories to carry with them after the school year ends.

Happy Camp High School Winter Concert

Proceeds from an earlier lasagne dinner went to the Scholarship Fund for Graduation, June, 2013. Carole Nelson, Vicki Hammon, and Sammy Jo were serving along with students, and Laura Wainwright-Thompson who is teaching Social Studies while Ms. Dorie is away.

Dream Catcher Reborn on the 4th of July!!

by Judy Bushy Reprinted from Siskiyou Daily News July 8, 2015

Did you have a special weekend, celebrating America’s Birthday? It was a perfect weekend to cool off at your favorite creek swimming hole!

When you are retired, as husband, Dan is, or on summer vacation as Happy Camp High School students and I share, holidays aren’t much different than other days. Summer has been busy, always the garden and keeping up with yard-work. Yet it is was good time to remember the legacy we have as Americans, especially when Dave Gordon of Cave Junction Community Bible Church shared the founding fathers’ praise for the blessings of how God has blessed America.

Dennis Day’s
Dream Catcher Reborn
July 4th, 2015

Saturday was the culmination of many months of work by Dennis Day of Happy Camp! A number of years ago, Dennis built a very large dream catcher on the Health & Harmony site at the north end of Davis Road. Through the years, it withstood all the elements. Recently, however, he took it down and rebuilt the dream catcher. Saturday it was complete down to over a thousand lights, nearly half again that many really, and it was lit at 9:05 Saturday evening. The blue, green, and gold lights were beautiful and as the sky darkened, it became even more beautiful in contrast!!
Accompanied by live music of Lou Tiraterra, Sr on the keyboard, and Jim Wainwright on his guitar made it more special. I loved hearing them play, “I’ll fly away,” and one of those I associate with, This Land Is Your Land, This Land Is Mine…but I can’t recall at the moment.

Dennis expressed his great appreciation for the help he received from friends in soaking the ropes in preservative and paint, gathering the natural materials for the frame, and all the other steps. He has a quote from Chief Seattle displayed on the Dream Catcher with words in Karuk at the top. This is part of Dennis’ website on the Dream Catcher philosophy, which he will be updating on his website www.wolf96039.com.

There were a number of people, besides this writer, taking photographs of the lighting, and one of those had an ingenious method of getting photos. Jim Mc Millan, a member of the Veterans Community of Happy Camp, sent his remote control helicopter style calendar buzzing up in the air as it took photos, both video and stills of the lit Dream Catcher. It was fascinating to see the contraption fly and learn how it could adjust its situation if a breeze came up and return to the launch site which it did by gps.

The Dream Catcher was a truly beautiful sight and a credit to the work that Dennis and his helpers have put into the project!On the way home, we passed the sandy beach near the beach of Elk Creek where there was a traffic jam. Yes, in Happy Camp, a traffic jam, and it wasn’t five o’clock at the Happy Camp Post Office!! Vehicles were parked all the way up watching a few sparklers, this being the only place where it would be safe. In the middle of the Klamath National Forest fireworks aren’t allowed, to say nothing of the drought conditions of the last few years!In Happy Camp we have a healthy respect for wildfires in the forest. We have lost firefighters who have come to fight our fires, and seen homes and even the town of Happy Camp threatened to take such matters lightly. Thanks to all who are respectfully cautious with any possibility of fire.

FIFTH Dear Mad'm Event in Happy Camp

by Judy Bushy from the Siskiyou Daily News October 20, 2015

Have you ever planned a picnic and two weeks up until the event, the sun shone every day? Then the day before clouds began to gather and the forecast was rain! We were so very appreciative that Barbara Brown of Naturegraph Publishers welcomed us to hold our Dear Mad’m gathering there Saturday! The rain might not have rained us out (or in—as it was raining out) but it was far more pleasant not to worry about the weather and be in such a comfortable homey setting.

Lisa Giola from the Siskiyou County Historical
Museum and Roberta Everett who shared
about Vivian Witt at Dear Mad'm 2015

Roberta Everett shared with us about Vivian Witt. How many Happy Campers remember Vivian? She was active in the Grange and Art classes and paintings. It was Vivian that illustrated the cover for the paperback book of Dear Mad’m that Naturegraph has been publishing for many years!!  Roberta stumped many of us with the question, how many ladies came from Chicago (Vivian being one of them) to retire in a cabin on the same claim as Stella Patterson had lived, after reading the book she wrote, Dear Mad’m? Most of us know about three of the ladies that stayed here, Vivian Witt, Joan Richardson and Marie Miller, but originally there was a fourth. She may have enjoyed reading Dear Mad’m and thoughts of living in the wilderness by the Klamath River, but  city life called and she didn’t stay.

                                    First man we don't know, Joan Richardson, Marie Nelson, Fred Crooks (DEarSir),                                                                                                     Joan Richardson and Cy Jenson (Upm'up)

Leona McLaughlin made a beautiful sunny yellow cake that was delicious as well. There were a good variety of hotdishes and jewel salad and homemade applesauce Dolly Elston made. Karen Wright brought homemade Apple pie too!! And thanks so much to Barbara for homemade grape juice and other beverages. It dawned on me, that while we try to come up with a menu that would have been appropriate about the time Stella Patterson was celebrating her 80^th year on the mining claim, the reason I don’t remember, is that I wasn’t around to be eating that kind of meal in 1946!

We were so happy to have Lisa Gioia, director of our Siskiyou County Historical Museum in Yreka with us. Lisa is a graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in anthropology, a Master’s Degree in History and minor in Public History. She specialized in Oral Histories which is such a needed project around here as well. Prior to becoming the Museum director, Lisa taught college anthropology and history in the west. She is author of “Showgirls in Las Vegas”,  Lisa has also been to Happy Camp and was sharing what she remembers from 35 years ago, Elmer and his bears, Ernie and another man, and she was familiar with the Dear Mad’m story! Lisa seems to feel there are Stella W. Patterson fans who’live elsewhere in the county and we do hear from others in Maine and Virginia and a wide variety of places.

 Perhaps we should hold the literary event there next year. Rod Diradon, speaker for our first two Dear Mad’m events, said that he has Dear Mad’m on his calendar for October 14-15^th 2016. It will be wonderful to see him and hear his stories of summer days on the Klamath River visiting his grandparents and Stella Patterson. If you’d like to have news of the event next year, just send an e-mail requesting to be put on the mailing list for Dear Mad'm at klamathviews on gmail.com. I'm so excited to hear of all those who have requested to have information on next year and looking forward to seeing them all again!

49th Bigfoot Jamboree in Happy Camp, CA

Riley, Madison and Kyndal were Super Mario Gamers
 at the Bigfoot Jamboree Parade in Happy Camp. CA over the Labor Day Sunday.

Individual Winners in the Bigfoot Jamboree Parade

by Judy Bushy

In the Individual Category, the VW Ol’ Volks of Grants Pass won third place with seven or eight vehicles all in a line, all pretty neat!! Second place went to Betsy who was Cribbage Dealer., and the first place: Super Mario was the cousins, Riley Gail-Derry, Madison Whitehouse and Kyndal -Whitehouse. See further news, three articles, highlights, 5K Bigfoot Run for Cal and the Parade of the Bigfoot Jamboree on http://bigfootjamboree.com/