As I write this, Oregon is dealing with wild fires and winds that have raised havoc with life and property. Air quality is poor and affects breathing and many other things. I’m sure many square dancers have stepped up to volunteer to help family, friends and neighbors through these troubling times. May we all keep the faith that times are going to get better. Pray for all those who have lost their homes and property. Along with the pandemic we are in this together.
As we all look forward to getting back to dancing we have many hurdles to get over first. There will be some changes in how we do things and I think we are all flexible enough to accept these challenges. Many festivals and weekend events will be cancelled or rescheduled. Speaking of rescheduling, if you have a festival coming up in your area and the timing is not right to hold it, think about rescheduling it at a later date if the logistics can be worked out. We will need those dancing opportunities once the green light is turned on that we are now safe and don’t have social distancing guidelines any more.
Keep a connection with your club to make sure all members that you don’t see are safe and in good health. Texting, emails and phone calls are all good to keep connected. Social media is also good.
I have picked a theme of “Swing Your Partner”. We all miss that as it was taken for granted when we were dancing all the time. Do it in your home often to keep in practice. Then do virtual swings with others you are close to. Send a virtual hug once in a while.
These are sure changing times and we will get through this together and our dancing community will have a different look as long as we can accept any changes.
“Swing Your Partner”
Gary Clark
It's hard to imagine we could have so many disasters in one year. As I'm writing this, the sky is thick with smoke, and looks like the surface of Mars instead of the surface of the Earth. We're getting reports from dancers who have been burned out of their homes. Keep good thoughts in your heart.
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The next Federation meeting was held by videoconference on September 20, where our new officers took over. Your new officers are:
Thanks to all these people for your service to the Federation.
As of now, no Summer Festival is planned for 2021. Washington's Summer Festival is scheduled for June 17-19, 2021, in Everett, WA.
Oregon's Mid-Winter Festival 2021 will be held January 22, 23 and 24, 2021, at the Linn County Fairgrounds in Albany. At this time, they are still planning to go forward. A final decision will be made in October.
The 70th National Square Dance Convention® will be held in Jackson, Mississippi, June 23-26, 2021.
The 71st National Square Dance Convention® will be held in Evansville, Indiana, June 22-25, 2022.
The 72nd National Square Dance Convention® will be held in Mobile, Alabama, June 21-24, 2023.
The 73rd National Square Dance Convention has just been awarded to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for June of 2024.
All clubs in the Oregon Federation are required to maintain their status as non-profit corporations with the State of Oregon. The Secretary of State's office mails out a renewal notice about a month before your registration expires every year. The following clubs expire this month:
October 3 -- Elkhorn Swingers
October 4 -- Dancing Friends
October 23 -- High Desert Dancers
Download a complete list of the Federation club dances this month, all sorted by date and city.
Everything in the When & Where is extracted from the state directory information. If you find that your club information is wrong, you can fix that by going to the directory information area and fixing your data.
Theodore Charles Young passed away on September 18, 2020 at his Adult Foster home in Portland. Ted was born in Huntington Park, California on September 24, 1937 and moved to the Portland area when he was 11 years old. He graduated from Franklin High School in 1955. As a young man he worked at a service station and then for Stark’s Vacuum. Later he worked for United Parcel Service for many years and retired as a custodian for Portland Public Schools in 2002. He and Pat were married for 51 years. Ted was an avid fisherman and occasional bow hunter. He loved square dancing, camping, the beach and small ship cruising. He belonged to several square dance clubs; the Cross Trailers, Toe Draggers, Happy Hoppers, Columbia River Dancers and he danced with many other clubs around the Portland area as well as a few National Conventions. He is survived by his wife Pat, two daughters and three great-grandchildren.
Donald Hearld Kiel, born June 25, 1935 to parents Harold Henry and Anna Louise Genhle, passed away Sept. 5, 2020. He was born in Ft. Wayne In. Two sisters Lorna Rybacheck & Lois Oestrigh. His mother died when he was 8 years old. He was placed in Moose Heart Orphanage from 1944 till 1952. He left to live with his father in Chicago where he graduated high school in 1953. After school he joined the Army and spent 16 months in Korea. He was stationed in Seattle, where he met and married, Sandra Jan Cope. They had 4 children Mary Ann, Roberta, Vern and Donald Jr.
They moved to Chicago where he went to work for Nabisco. He then transferred to Portland. His wife passed away in 1993. He went to California to visit his sister where met and married Gwen.
They made their home in Garibaldi for 27 years. He loved fishing, crabbing, & clamming. They enjoyed square dancing. The did a lot of traveling. He was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Reta Lenore VanDeHey July 01, 1928 - October 09, 2020
Reta L Van De Hey, Washington County resident at Jennings McCall assisted living in Forest Grove OR, passed away on October 9, 2020. Reta was admitted to St Vincent’s hospital with congestive heart failure February 2020 and rallied to return to be at home with her husband, Wayne. At time of her death, she was 92 years old and together with her husband Wayne, daughter Gloria and son Kelly.
Reta was born in Portland Oregon to Hedley Vicors and Eleanor E Cropley. There she attended Holy Redeemer, Ockley Green and Jefferson High School in Portland. She graduated from Hillsboro Union High School in 1946 and went onto Benke Walker Business College leading to employment at Meier and Frank.
She married Wayne L Van De Hey at St. Mathews Church in Hillsboro OR in 1948. They were blessed with 4 children they raised south of Hillsboro.
She is survived by her husband Wayne of Forest Grove, daughter Gloria of Astoria OR, daughter Carol of Tucson AZ, son Kelly (Sara) of Astoria OR, 5 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren. All of whom miss her dearly. She lost her son, Danny (Roberta) of Husum WA in 2018.
Reta belonged to the Catholic Church, thoroughly enjoyed square dancing, (she & Wayne were members of Toe Draggers Club, camping and hosting frequent parties. Her favorite toast quoted from her father, Hedley Vicors was…
Here’s to you and yours, From to us and ours, And if us and ours ever come Across the path of you and yours, May you and yours be as good To us and ours, As us and ours are as Good to you and yours!
AND Her favorite saying was: Fine as Frog’s Hair!
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations may be made to… The Salvation Army, ASPCA (giving animals a second chance), St. Jude’s Hospital, or the Sunshine Division
Mass for Reta will be held on Friday, October 23, 2020 at 12:00 noon at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church at 1660 Elm St, Forest Grove, OR Covid-19 will impact attendance. At this time the church is only allowing 50 people in attendance, so if anyone would like to attend you will need to contact Duyck-VanDeHey Funeral Home (503) 357-8749 at 9456 NW Roy Rd, Forest Grove, OR.
You can download this list of callers and cuers who are available and ready to call or cue a dance for you.
Callers:
Cuers:
The Emerald Empire Council has chosen the October Oregon Round of the Month: "Don't We All Have The Right", Phase II+1 Waltz (Hover), choreographed by Diana & Jake Ring, music by Ricky Van Shelton.
For more information on the Round of the Month, please contact .
Please note that, due to the coronavirus, there will probably not be any square dance lessons this fall.
Everything in this section is taken from the state directory information. If you find that your class information is wrong, you can fix that by going to the directory information area and picking to the "Lessons" tab.
October 9 (2nd Fri)Click a thumbnail to download the flyer.
Click a thumbnail to see the full-sized picture.
Click a council name to go directly to that section.
The May Council meeting was held via email and dealt with various items that needed attention. In addition to their club reports, the club delegates were to respond to the items listed. We elected officers, got a count of directories, information needed for the next state meeting, and any other item that could not wait. The area directory is ready to be sent to the club delegates. The club reports were included in minutes that were produced and sent out. There was not much happening during the summer and we will meet in September to quickly install officers, distribute state directories, and have a small insurance training session when the new renewal papers are distributed.
So, even though there is not much happening, business does continue to be taken care of in a timely manner.
Of course, we don’t even talk about getting back to dancing; don’t know when that will be but our members sure are anxious to get started. We may all have to take lessons again; hope we have good memories! Stay safe and stay well. LaVerne
The club accepted the resignations of the club cuers for the last two years, Stephanie Lozano and Leonard Snodgrass, effective on August 31, 2020. The club has signed Randy Lewis to a four month contract to the end of December. Starting on September 10, he is teaching Bolero. We are looking forward to seeing some familiar faces along with some new ones for the class.
We start dancing at 7 p.m. now and dance until 9:30 p.m. See our flyer in the Sept. issue of the OFN. It will give you our schedule. Hope you will get to come and see us and join in on the fun and camaraderie of the dancers. Marilyn Schmit
Right now, the teen festival is still being planned to happen (we really hope so!!) Not much else to report right now. Petrina Buchheit
Ron Rasmussen
But we did have a lovely picnic one evening in August while respecting the social distance.
And last Monday Jim Hattrick was on deck via zoom to call one couple squares for "Let's Keep Hoppin'" with Tom and Liza Halpenny as hosts. I'm sorry that we missed it---we were out of town. But we'll see him and the rest of our square dancing friends this coming Monday evening.
Very sincere condolences to all who are being displaced by this terrible fire season. So thankful people are bringing resources together all over the NW to help.
Stay safe and breathe---shallowly.
Janet Linebarger
We are now being affected by fires, smoke and unhealthy air quality. Some have evacuated to safer locations. River City Dancers have been emailing and phoning members to keep in touch and just recently had a social meeting on Zoom. We discussed having zoom gatherings twice a month just to keep in touch. It was mentioned that we will probably need refresher classes when we are able to dance again. Several members spent time this summer fixing up our hall doing much needed repairs and re decorating. We are fortunate that we have a steady renter using our hall which helps support the hall.
We miss our fellow square dance friends and know that this is a difficult time for all of us. We hope that you will stay well and safe. Let us all pray for better days ahead.
Carol Mendenhall
Some clubs were struggling before the pandemic and are now faced with potential financial problems. All clubs and councils have fixed costs; annual corporation renewal, insurance requirements, internet domain costs, and Federation or Council fees, to name a few. Club members may want to renew their membership, even if we are not dancing, to support your club. Your board members need to continue with the tasks of being a business even when we are not dancing.
Remember, the "Seaside Sashay" to be held in late October and hosted by the TVC Promenaders and Hayshakers had to be cancelled due to Covid-19 concerns.
Happy Halloween or maybe not, since there will be no trick or treating. Please stay safe until we can meet on the dance floor again.
Ferrous Steinka
While you are not out dancing take a look at what it going on in the political world. Be careful to make sure young children are not in the room. Some of the language used is not fit for person or beast. Some people I would not even invite to my bar-b-q and I certainly would not vote for them. But voting is important. I do care about the options and I never agree 100% with anyone but I figure the 80/20 rule a pretty good one to follow. If I can agree 80% of the time I might vote for them. So, consider your options, do not believe the pundits who get paid for their opinions, and sometimes listen to people who disagree with you. Sometimes even I learn something.
Wish I had the magic wand to magically wave the virus away so I could see all of you out dancing. Keep checking for our start date at www.EagerBeavers.info.
Rachel Nettleton
Happy Birthday Winona Grange!
We will keep you updated on calendar changes thru this OFN report as well as our website: www.mixandminglesquares.org
Lindie Noonan
Annie Tietze
October 9 (2nd Fri)Gloria Davis
