Senior year of high school heralds changes in the lives of teenagers as they prepare to graduate and launch into life as independent adults.
For parents, though, especially those like me facing empty nests next fall, feelings of nostalgia surface with realization of how fast the past 18 years flew, caring for infants, toddlers, children preteens and teenagers.
I experienced pre-nostalgia feelings Friday night at the Toledo High School Band Bingo fundraiser. Two of my sisters, a niece and friends joined us for a fun evening of baked potatoes followed by rousing games of Bingo. We’ve enjoyed the fundraiser each of the past four years.
It’s a tradition, one that can continue, yet it won’t be quite the same without a child playing in the band.
But the good book tells us in several places to forget the past and press on toward the future. And more than anything else enjoy the present. As my husband celebrated his birthday last weekend, I thanked God he was here to do so after his close call in Finland last summer.
What’s even better is we won Applebee’s gift cards at bingo to pay for his birthday dinner.
Bridge For Regina
I’m happy to see state lawmakers renaming the Skookumchuck Bridge near Schaeffer County Park for Regina Clark, a Centralia Navy Seabee killed by a roadside bomb during an ambush at Fallujah, Iraq, in 2005.
My heart broke for her 18-year-old son, Kerry, who lost his mother during her deployment, and for all the memories they’ll miss out on making together.
Clark, 43, worked at Fuller’s Shop’n Kart and served in the U.S. Naval Reserves. Her unit was deployed in 2003.
Rep. Ed Orcutt, a Kalama Republican, sponsored the bill to rename the bridge on State Route 507 in Clark’s honor.
“I think it’s important for us to remember that freedom’s not free, and people go and defend our freedoms and that’s why we have the freedoms we do,” Orcutt said.
The Regina Clark Memorial Bridge will remind people of Clark’s sacrifice, which should never be forgotten. A case at the Veterans Memorial Museum in Chehalis also features Petty Officer 1st Class Clark and others who paid the ultimate price in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Movie Madness
What fun to have Centralia and Chehalis host movie producers this summer during the filming of “Maysville,” an independent coming-of-age film about a boy in 1929 who travels from the Appalachian Mountains to Maysville, Tennessee, after facing tragedy, loss and fear. Leslie Goyette of Portland is writing, producing, and directing the film, which stars her son (Holden Goyette) and the son of co-producer Michele Englehart, Forest Campbell.
I’ve been to Chattanooga once, and I can’t say that it reminded me of Centralia, but while I was in Florida during that trip in the 1980s I did see a blurb in the St. Petersburg Times about Toledo Mayor Shirley Grubb declaring war on possums. I primarily remember Tennessee for its Civil War museums, which primarily touted the South. After one tour, my younger sister whispered to me, “Do you suppose they know they lost the war?”
Back to the movie, though, I look forward to watching it and trying to pick out familiar faces among the extras in the background, as the movie’s limited budget means the producers want local residents to fill roles. Extras can hobnob with the actors, producers, directors and film crew. The main actors are Brian Sutherland, who was named Best Actor in Portland by Willamette Weekly, and Lisa Coronado, who performed in “Z Nation” and “Twin Peaks: The Return Part 6.”
To learn more about the film, attend the fundraising dinner at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, April 13, at Centralia College. Cost is $25 for a scrumptious dinner of smoked salmon Alfredo and vegetarian options prepared by Jeremy’s Farm to Table.
I hope the movie is successful. The trailer at www.indiegogo.com/projects/maysville-a-feature-film#/ looks intriguing. It would be great to see Centralia and Chehalis on the big screen, even masked as Tennessee.
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Julie McDonald, a personal historian from Toledo, may be reached at chaptersoflife1999@gmail.com.
