Mt. Vernon resident Billie Bullard, who turned 101 on Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022, celebrates her (almost) birthday with friends and family at the John Day Senior Center on Monday, Oct. 17, 2022.

This news report finds the author in Boise doing long-distance reporting.

Returning to John Day on Monday, May 13.On Monday, May 6, our lunchtime began with Joe leading us in the flag salute. Elsie did the announcements, and Valeda asked the blessing.

The servers were ladies from our volunteer kitchen crew as the Living Word Church could not be with us. Thanks to Valeda and Chris, and even Corrine stepped in to help. There were 26 in-house diners in need of assistance. Thank you, ladies, for you loyalty and Johnny-on-the-spot care for our seniors.

Fifty-six fresh meals were delivered into the community by Rick, Millie, Jeanette and Carolyn. Thanks to each of you for your devoted love for others. There were seven meals picked up by other people. In total there were 89 meals that went out of our kitchen, not to mention the 50 meals that go out at the first of each month. I just don’t know how Shay keeps track of all these meals. We all have our talents, and his is obvious. Good job, Shay.

We dined on the best cream of potato soup you could even imagine having, a green salad, sliced bread and butter, and berry cobbler for dessert. Everyone was talking about that soup. Some asked for more, and some got some to take home. The cobbler was mentioned quite a bit, too. Alesa and Shay really outdid themselves this day. Wow!

Rhonda Metler won the Len’s card, and Karrol Green won the free meal. Congrats to both of you.

Thursday, May 9, Judy and Sonie were greeting everyone, getting everything taken care of, and they even did the paperwork after lunch to add up attendees and donations taken in and prepared the bank deposit for these funds.

Margie led the flag salute, and Darlene did the announcing.

Fifty-eight fresh and 29 frozen meals were delivered by Peggy, Meloni, Jeanette, and Jeff and Jodi. Thank you all for your service of love for others.

There were 30 in-house diners and 17 to-go meals. All in all we had 134 meals that went out of our kitchen this day.

Jeanette asked the blessing on our meal of sirloin steak with mushroom sauce, twice-baked potatoes, vegetable medley, croissant, and poke cake with chocolate and strawberry sauce poked into it. I have never made one, so that is how it seems to be for me. The servers were from the Cornerstone church: Jeanette, Valeda and Jo. Thanks to all three of you for your service to our seniors in our center.

Earl Carlton won the Len’s card, and Bonnie Kocis won the free meal. The 50/50 drawing was won by Ron Phillips. Congratulations to all of you.

Our monthly board meeting was pushed ahead to the third Thursday of the month due to Elsie’s absence.

There is a free event at the Prairie City Senior Center on Wednesday, June 5, featuring Jane Kirkpatrick, who will be presenting her newest book, “Thoughts in Resilience.” She will be accepting questions and will sign books.

It seems there was a bit of confusion about the memorials on the 18th of May. Marla Carlton’s memorial will be held in Dayville at 11 a.m. on May 18 at the Presbyterian church that I thought was the Lutheran church at 200 South Fork Road.

Billie Bullard’s memorial is also on the 18th at the Elks Lodge in John Day, from 6 to 9:30 p.m. It will have desserts, and anyone desiring to bring something is welcome to do so.

Louise Nelson’s memorial is also on the 18th, at the Methodist church in John Day at 11 a.m. Louise and her husband were the former owners of Len’s Pharmacy, I was told.

Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers in John Day and the surrounding area of Grant County.

Tomorrow, Thursday, May 16, we will dine on mushroom chicken pasta, veggies and Black Forest cake. Then, on Monday, May 20, we will dine on Swiss steak, noodles and tapioca pudding. You don’t want to miss either of these meals, they are mouthwatering. See you then.

St. John 3: 16 For God so loved everyone in the whole world from beginning to end, that He GAVE His ONLY begotten son to die so that all of us who believe in HIM will NOT perish, but have everlasting life. (That means forever and ever and evermore).

Well, in the past week, we have had temperatures all over the place as well as snow, rain, hail, and scorching, hot, sunny days. Yes, all these various weather conditions occurred in the course of one week. I think I even got a bit of a tan on my face while doing my chores on the hot sunny day! I had to dig around to find a couple of tank tops to wear after getting hot and sweaty when the weather suddenly changed. It’s been super weird, waking up to white snow that was almost 2 inches, and then a few days later, it was like we were in the middle of summer. Crazy! Our greeters at the table were Bob Cockrell and Sue Cavender. They checked in all the guests, collected and counted up the money. Jan Ensign filled out the paperwork. Bob led us in the flag salute and made the announcements. Yours truly prayed the blessing over the meal. The free meal ticket winner was Bill Nichols of Monument.

Urgent prayer request for Ms. Betty Breeding. She had a fall, had a stroke, and has bleeding on her brain. Calling all prayer warriors out there to help pray for her healing. She is presently in a hospital in Boise, Idaho. They are not encouraging with their diagnosis but we believe in a powerful God who hears and answers the prayers of His people. We pray that Max, her husband, is comforted by His peace and love.

The EMT dinner that was held on May 4 raised over $12,000! Thank you to all who came to support this dinner and event. The money raised will be used for equipment and further education for our volunteers. We also want to thank Sylvia Cockrell, Rose Howe, Carrie Jewell, Teawna Jewell and Julie Erickson for all their hard work.

We all want to thank Ellie Asher for setting up the grant that we received to build planters. These wooden planters were built by the kids at the Monument School, headed by Michelle Engle. They were beautiful planters. The kids helped the seniors put the dirt in the planters, the seniors picked and planted the flowers, and then the students helped to load them up in the vehicles. Ellie took pictures of the event. We thank Ellie, Michelle Engle and all the students at Monument School for their beautiful craftsmanship and help. The seniors were ecstatic.

The Monument School Greenhouse will be open from 8:30-10:30 a.m. and 12:30-2 p.m. Monday-Thursday. There are vegetable plants and flowers available for sale.

There were two $10 off coupons for haircuts that were donated, and the winners of those were Jan Ensign and Monica Boyer.

A friend from Washington came and got her baby goats. Graham and Riley went to their new home and are doing great. It is much easier to feed two less hungry goats. They were the biggest piggies. LOL. My babies are getting big, and I don’t think I will have them on my lap to feed for too much longer.

1 Corinthians 14:15 What is it then? I will pray with the Spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the Spirit, and I will sing with understanding also.

I am so glad that I got the lawn mowed before it snowed! And I got my load of garden “soil” after I got the lawn mowed and got it all shoveled out onto the garden bed. Felt pretty good — until the next morning when I was REALLY tired! The soil is in a pile, so I still have to throw it over into the far corners. Maybe I won’t do it all in one day … ahem.

Ginger led the flag salute, Patty Perkins won the $5 gift card donated by Len’s Pharmacy, and Tom asked the blessing. We dined on chili burgers with onion rings and all the trimmings, cottage cheese, orange segments in orange Jell-O, and your choice of berry pie or a BROWNIE. I tell you, our cooks make the best BROWNIES! The chili burger was good, too. (Ahem.)

Our volunteer servers and delivery people included Sharon, Mary, Carla, Gwynne, Teresa and Tom. Thanks for your help. We couldn’t do it without you. The notable birthday had to do with a man who dreamed of being an NFL quarterback. It took him some years, but he finally became the quarterback of a championship team (can’t remember which one now — oops). His quotes: “Talk is cheap; let’s play!” “When you come across a stumbling block, use it as a stepping stone.” His name? Johnny Unitas

We have two big announcements: On May 22, the Prairie City third grade class will come to have dinner with us and if you come into the hall and eat with us, you will not have to pay! Now, you can’t beat that! Then, on June 5, author Jane Kirkpatrick will be with us starting at 10:30 a.m. She writes historical fiction about our neck of the woods. And her own life story is very interesting, too! Come and listen to what she has to say. So, have you marked your ballot yet? I was so glad to have the local candidates’ information in the paper since they did not put it in the Voters’ Pamphlet. At least there were no measures this time to try to figure out. I still like that line from “Back to the Future” when Doc explains that trials happen a lot faster since they outlawed lawyers …

In the attic I found two suitcases full of historical newspapers that Mom had saved. Now, what do I do with them? I suppose that all their information is available on the web, so is there any need of keeping them? Decisions, decisions. So I brought them to the hall and they are on a table for you to look at. And if you want one, you can have it!. Or two or three!

Did you ever wonder why they called the person the Neanderthal Man? I found out that he was named for the valley in Germany where Joachim Neander used to go on walks. He was famous for writing poems that were set to music, so the people named the valley after him. And we sang his most famous poem last Sunday. He wrote it in 1660, and it was translated into English in 1863. Neander chose a certain German tune for the music for his poem, and it was published in a German hymnal in 1665. So now you know, too

Psalm 150:3,4,5,6 Praise Him with … trumpet … lute and harp … timbrel and dance … stringed instruments and flutes! … loud … clashing cymbals … everything that has breath praise the LORD.