The Applegater

2 Fall 2022 Applegater OBITUARIES Truman Scott Elmore January 23, 1941 – April 10, 2022 Tr u m a n S c o t t E l m o r e w a s b o r n January 23, 1941, in Medford, Oregon, to Charles H. Elmore I I I a n d B e r y l A . (Brockway) Elmore. He passed April 10, 2022, in his home in Applegate, Oregon. Truman married M a r l e e t a D e Ve e ( Jones) Elmore on September 20, 1966, in Claremont, California. Together they had four children: Chad, Alisa (Daniel Kuitert), Chet (Nikki), and Gary (Jesi), and nine grandchildren. Truman lived on Thompson Creek his entire life. He attended Applegate School, graduated from Grants Pass High School in 1959, and attended Oregon State University until he joined the US Air Force and served two tours in Vietnam. He was a charter m e m b e r o f t h e A p p l e g a t e L i o n s C l u b . H e h a d a role in starting the Applegate Volunteer Fire Department. He s e r ve d m a n y ye a r s o n t h e A p p l e g a t e Di s t r i c t 4 0 s c h o o l board and several years o n t h e T h o m p s o n C r e e k I r r i g a t i o n Association Board. Truman loved to farm, spend time with his family, hunt, and play cribbage. He is survived by his wife, children, grandchildren, and by his brothers Charles H. Elmore IV and Joseph H. Elmore, and sisters, Alicia D. Hogan and Barbara A. Niedermeyer. He is preceded in death by his parents, and his brothers Russell R. Elmore and Michael E. Elmore. A celebration of life was held in June on the Elmore Family Ranch. E d w a r d " B u d d y " William Robinson was born in Douglas, Arizona, to Edward E. Robinson and Jessie M. Reed. In the 1940s they moved their three sons to Central Point, Oregon, where in eighth grade Ed met his wife, Joyce Elaine Russell. They married five years later, and for 70 years, Ed and Joyce lived, loved, argued, and laughed side by side. Ed is survived by his spouse, Joyce, their two sons, Jair ( Jeanie) Robinson and Tom (Shirley) Robinson, six grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren, and three great-great grandchildren, most of whom still live in the Rogue Valley. He is also survived by his brother Elgin (Mary) Robinson of Fresno, California. Ed was preceded in death by his son Brent (1994), great-granddaughter Lilie (1999), brother Douglas (2010), and great-grandson Isaiah (2020). Ed graduated from the old Central Point High School in 1951 and joined the Air Force. He served his four years in Alaska and Florida and then came back home to the family farm. Ed and Joyce Edward 'Buddy' William Robinson January 13, 1931 – January 31, 2022 lived and raised their three sons in the Table Rock community on the Rogue River and continued to f a r m t h r o u g h o u t t h e Rogue River Valley for 30 years. In the early 1980s, Ed had a gill-net fishing boat built to fish salmon and he and his three sons began fishing "summer runs" together in Dillingham, Alaska. Retiring from farming, Ed and Joyce moved from the flatlands of the Table Rock community to the mountains of the Applegate Valley. ey created their mountain home on the Little Applegate and named it "Mule Run Ridge." ey were true mule-skinners, participating in parades, packing, trail riding, show wagons, and cart-driving competitions—a grand 15-year adventure that further shaped their legacy together. They then moved to Thermopolis, Wyoming, in 1996 to enjoy the wonderful healing hot springs and the wide- open spaces. They returned home in 2004 to Central Point to watch the grandchildren grow. "Truly full circle, a full life." Our Applegate Valley Fire District #9 covers a lot of terrain across the Applegate Valley. From just outside Jacksonville all the way south, through the town of Ruch and out to Applegate Lake, then west through the town of Applegate into Josephine County, and then north through Murphy almost to the city of Grants Pass— seven Applegate Valley fire stations have been built over time. But these locations were not just "scattered"! Every one of these seven stations was built over time, either as more residents settled in a new corner of the valley, if a certain area seemed to have more traffic issues, if a new school was built, or if folks from the Rogue Valley decided to visit the Applegate's beautiful lake, or to fish the Applegate River. e central town of Applegate was the first to grow so large that residents decided they needed to build a fire station in their town; hence (today's) Station #1 was built. Summer folks driving out to Applegate Lake each year caused a Station #2 to be built out that way on Upper Applegate Road. (is minimized leaving station #1 unmanned for long lengths of time.) At the junction of Highway 238 and Upper Applegate Road, the town of Ruch was rapidly growing in population, with churches, schools, a library, and a grocery store. Next built was Station #3 on Upper Applegate Road, with facilities to allow more types of fire engines (medical units, structure-fire types), as well as a larger headquarters that included restrooms, bedrooms, and a kitchen for the firefighters on call! Having human bodies on a station's site 24/7 allowed a much shorter length of time before said engine could reach a building, residence, or vehicle with an emergency situation. Station #4 (Water Gap Road), Station #5 (top of J-ville hill at Cady Road), Station #6 (Kubli Road), and lastly, Station #7 (on Griffin Lane at Sterling Creek Road) have all been built over the years. One of the reasons for the multiple stations and locations had been carefully mapped out over time—to allow a Always looking ahead keeps improving fire district services BY SANDY SHAFFER resident to live within 5-10 miles of a fire station, thereby giving a better rating and lower rates from home and property insurance companies. Nowadays, our Applegate Valley Fire District Chief McLaughlin and all personnel and volunteers are trying to find even better services for Applegate Valley residents. Chief McLaughlin has recently been researching the possibility of also having at least a two-man response team located at station #1 in Applegate proper. e Chief expressed that the area is fairly highly populated, so the location made sense to him. He felt that adding living areas and appliances, etc., at the fire station to accommodate two individuals would provide quick, 24/7 responses from AVFD #9 for local residents. e Chief asked that the board of directors and the Budget Committee give the go- ahead for the Chief to look further into this possibility. After a thorough study, the Chief brought the board and Budget Committee members the details of what he felt would be required to provide living quarters in the form of a manufactured home for two firefighters at Station #1. During the District's 2020/2021 budget process the expenses were reviewed and approved. Phase two of the process addressed staffing by providing living quarters on the western side of the district. Our fire district has a staff of five, and a strong group of volunteer firefighters/medics. The new facility in the town of Applegate allows volunteers and/or staff to cover shifts out of the Applegate facility when necessary. Chief McLaughlin told me that the district is "excited to now provide additional full-time coverage to the west end of our district." e district's goal was to decrease their response times by adding the additional staffing. Goal met. I feel that this project and the results have a lot of merit. Our fire chief and his staff and volunteers should be proud of this effort and their continued dedication to making our Applegate Valley safer. Sandy Shaffer • sassyoneor@gmail.com Ed and Joyce Robinson. It may be obvious to you to call 911 when you have an emergency—whether it be fire, medical, or a child stuck up a tree. However, we get a lot of calls to our direct line at Applegate Valley Fire District #9 that should have gone to 911. When you call our direct line, you're taking a chance that the emergency responder response will be delayed or may not happen at all. We also get a lot of calls about the status of wildfires. Here are some websites you should follow to track fire progress (please do not call our office—we will be busy providing support services to emergency fire personnel): • To track fires in Oregon, go to g a c c . n i f c . g o v / n w c c / i n f o r m a t i o n / f i r e m a p . a s p x , t h e n c l i c k o n t h e flame icon for details about a particular fire. • To track fires in California, go to watchduty.org, then click on the flame icon and information regarding that particular fire will pop up. • And don't forget to sign up for emergency alerts at jacksoncountyor.org/ emergency/Resources/Citizen-Alert. It is your best resource to get notified when a fire may threaten your home. Mike McLaughlin, Fire Chief Applegate Valley Fire District #9 Fire and emergencies: Who do you call? BY MIKE MCLAUGHLIN livestock owners, gives his first cutting to his own cattle. But that leaves plenty of his alfalfa, grass, or grain hay for horse owners and others in the Applegate who need to buy hay to supplement their smaller pastures and fields. Na n c y Ad a m s s p e a k s f o r m a n y customers when she describes Tim as "an example of a fine fellow, an honest working man who does a good job. He delivers on time, and you should see him buck those bales! Impressive!" Craig Lyons, who owns Saddleback Ranch on ompson Creek Road, sells mostly to horse owners in the Applegate. Whereas Tim took over the farm from his father, Craig bought his property in 2014 and spent two years pulling thistles and other weeds by hand to prepare the fields for hay. "Even now as I'm cutting hay, if I see a thistle, I'll get off the tractor and pull it up," he says. What he is after is a good product, baled into bundles that weigh less than 55 pounds so his customers, all women, he notes, can lift them. Craig started growing hay for his own horses, then put a sign on the road, "Hay 4 sale." e response from buyers— "My horses love your hay!"—grew his business. But there are more ways than two to grow a hay business. Spencer Smith, in Jerome Prairie, hires himself out to people who need someone to take the grass that grows naturally in their own pastures and turn it into hay bales. "I cut it, rake, it, bale it, buck it, sell it," he says. He calls haying a "side venture" that he does mostly to help his neighbors. Like Tim, Spencer grew up where he lives now and learned how to buck hay when he was young. "I learned from an old man who used to run the neighborhood," he said. "I was barely big enough to load a bale. I ran tractors when I was 14. is old man knew everything about hay and was damn good at it and taught me everything." Some people who used to grow hay in the Applegate turned their fields to ■ MAKING HAY Continued from page 1 A hayfield on Thompson Creek Road. Photo: Diana Coogle. See MAKING HAY, page 11.

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