On this Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend, I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge the long history and important contributions of African-Americans to the Lewis County community. From our earliest days, this largely white county has benefited in many ways from our black friends and neighbors.
I’ve written in this space about Centralia’s black founders, George and Mary Jane Washington, but did you know that next-door to them in Centralia lived another black couple who were also foundational members of Centralia in its earliest days?
The Bryans settled the land that is now Seminary Hill. They donated 5 acres and were founding supporters for construction of Grace Seminary, the ornate school that gave the hill its name. While history records William F. Bryan as something of a curmudgeon, his wife, Jane Bryan, is remembered as a woman of remarkable kindness and generosity. (Children gathered from around the neighborhood after school every day to beg for her delicious homemade bread and jam, which she invariably gave to them.)
One of Centralia’s most beloved early teachers was Mary Victorine “Rena” Cooness, an African-American woman who was valedictorian of her high school in Portland (and a member of one of the first classes that allowed African-Americans in a state that had long banned blacks from even entering Oregon).
Rena was a renaissance woman, by all accounts — a boxer and a gymnast, a singer and organ player, an eloquent public speaker and more. Local historian Kerry Serl recently discovered that Rena was even a gold miner, having taken out a placer mine in East Lewis County that she called the Yellow Rose Mine.
Rena taught all eight grades (as many as 60 students at a time, younger kids three pupils to a bench) from 1902 to 1909 in the Salzer Valley one-room schoolhouse, as well as other schools in the area.
The excellent history book, “The Land Called Lewis,” contains an entry about a time when the Winlock area was home to a black settlement of about 100 people, starting back in 1892. The founder of that community recruited residents from Oregon, citing a “downright friendly atmosphere” in Lewis County. He donated land for a Methodist church building near Winlock known widely as the “Old Colored Church.” Interestingly, that church was founded with a strict rule that it would always be open to people of all races, black and white. A striking photo on page 152 of “The Land Called Lewis” shows a group of black and white congregants outside the big plank church in the 1920s.
Today, as in the past, African-Americans are a vital and valued part of our community, and a few people especially come to mind for their influence on me and the contribution to the thriving of our towns.
Dr. Elisha Mvundura is a skilled medical practitioner at Providence Centralia Hospital. He recently served as president of hospital’s medical association.
Originally from Zimbabwe and educated at Georgetown University Hospital, he could literally work anywhere in the world. We’re fortunate to have him here. It was a delight to see him and his wife on the soccer field, cheering on their daughter this last fall.
I think also of Dr. Ron Williams, another talented doctor, who will always have my gratitude for his wise and effective care when I had let an injury on my foot go unattended for too long. He went on to found an innovative medical clinic that he ran out of an ambulance, providing personal care outside of the expense and complication of the insurance system.
And there’s Dr. Isaac Pope, founder of Pope’s Kids Place. Dr. Pope was my physician as a child, and he opened his doors to me for a firsthand look at the medical field when I was exploring the idea of becoming a doctor. He’s a longtime civic leader in Chehalis and founder of the Chehalis Foundation, which has improved the community in enduring and ongoing ways.
I’ve recently been fortunate enough to get to know Pastor Alan Woods, a beekeeper extraordinaire who has been generous with his expertise and products from the tidy beekeeping supply store in his garage, the Woods Bees Co.
Woods is also pastor of Trinity Christian Fellowship and a moral leader of the community — I was privileged to be there when he walked in prayer through a poor corner of Centralia many years ago after a young girl was raped in her home. I was also among the many people who attended the public memorial service he held more recently in honor of police officers killed in the line of duty.
His daughter, Kennedy Woods, is Miss Lewis County this year, and while still a teenager she was already a successful business owner and energetic community booster.
The list could go on. This weekend, as we consider the moral leadership and courage of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the work that remains to be done in America to heal old racial wounds that are still inflamed, I’m grateful to know and to have benefited from the contributions of many people in our community who, in ways large and small, are carrying on the legacy of the Rev. King in the 21st century.
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Brian Mittge and his family live in rural Chehalis. Drop him a line at brianmittge@hotmail.com.
