Thank You for Everyone who made Dear Mad’m Event such fun!

Thank you!
Thank you to all who worked together to make Dear Mad’m Symposium such a fun event for all last weekend! First of all we thank Geneva Johnson who received our Dear Mad’m Award for her wonderful pioneering spirit. Thanks also to Casey Chambers who shared what Geneva “Dear Grandma” has meant to her through the years since she was a newlywed neighbor. Thanks for bringing the speaker system too!

We Thank Barbara Brown, who was our Dear Mad’m last year at the first annual Dear Mad’m Day. She has been the publisher through Naturegraph publishers, both of “Dear Mad’m” by Stella W. Patterson and the newly published “Dear Mad’m Who Was she?” More recently, we thank her for having the Friday reception at Naturegraph, and the great sweet grapes and homemade apple juice that she made. Besides welcoming so many to her place, she also provided printing tours thanks to Sonny.

Thanks to Abigail Eadie for the beautiful sunflower cupcakes she made for the occasion and Melissa Colbert who helped her decorate.

Of course Bonnie was most responsible for the luncheon on Saturday as she shopped and cooked and served the old fashioned meal. Bonnie always serves food with love. I cannot believe the effort and wonderful skill she puts into such a meal, all the while being a volunteer. Thanks to Joe for the help that he gave as they work as a good team. Audrey Henke, Cheyenne Moore, and Nikki were great working in the kitchen and serving the pie. Thanks to the Happy Seniors for providing wonderful coconut cream, banana cream, pumpkin and apple pies that were so tasty! Especially Pauline (Sis) Attebery, Jeanne Burrer and Anita Wolf!

In addition we are grateful to the Karuk Housing for sharing their wonderful building with us for this event. The beautiful kitchen and dishwasher made serving the meal a joy. Thank you Dorcus, Sara Spence, and Babbie Peterson.

Thanks to Marilyn Townsend for making fabric napkins in fall floral for decorating the tables and the idea of flowers in canning jars centerpieces to decorate a dozen tables.

Thank you to Judy Hahn who wrote a great poem about Dear Mad’ m! Loved it!!We can’t wait for the second installment which will tell more about her story.And we didn’t even know that Judy had such a talent for writing epic poems until “Happy Camp Has Talent” was held last summer as part of the Rockin’ the Klamath concert. So glad we found out about her wonderful talent.

Karen Tulledo was not only a great help on the committee, but also wrote an historical story about John Jeardeau who was the Clear Creek postmaster for many years and his special 50 year old sourdough. Next year we hope to have sourdough pancakes with blackberry syrup! Her story really made the life on the Klamath River in Dear Mad’m’s day come alive.

Of course, We want to thank the main speakers who are authors of Dear Mad’m Who Was She! Peter Lismer is a great nephew of Stella Walthall Patterson! Thank you Pete for sharing your family story! His wife, Elizabeth Lismer, was also author of the book and shared how they went about research and tracking down the tale of Stella’s life. Their presence having flown from a summer place in France was just in time for this event for which we are very grateful. Thank you Lismers for having the book there for people to obtain autographed copies of too.

Thank you Cindy Trobitz Thomas for your additional comment about the love that James Patterson showed when hearing that Stella was dying and walking all the way to be with her since the flooding had washed the road out in December of 1956.

Thank you Roberta Everett for bringing Stella’s rocking chair and Claudia who enjoyed seeing it again after all these years. Thank you to Liz Lismer, Cindy Trobitz-Thomas, Karen Tulledo, Claudia Diridon Wagner and her husband Dick, who brought old photos and mementos to share with all of us.

Thank you to Managers Robert & Sherry and James, the owner of Klamath River Resort Inn for setting up a beautiful camp fire right down on the river where we could enjoy a beautiful fireside evening Saturday evening.Thanks to MsD for bringing her guitar and Matthew for a camp fire sing.

Thank you to Rod Diridon both for your comments and help at the Luncheon and for making a map and providing a guided tour of your memories visiting grandparents John and Alice C at their place along the Klamath in your childhood. I especially enjoyed your inspiration of how we are all like the storytellers sitting around the fire sharing the stories. The others around about hear those stories and pass them on and some day they will go to another generation.

Thank you to the Happy Camp High School Seniors who served a pancake breakfast Sunday morning. Thanks to Cassidy Little the class president, Brandon Tripp who stirred up pancakes, Shelly Hokinson, and Ray Griffin especially! Also thanks to their Class advisor Alyssa Garcia and her daughter Emma who colored pictures for us. And thank you Dan for getting the coffee going, which got some who love coffee in the morning ready for the day!

Thank you to the Klamath River Writer’s Group and especially Linda Martin who originally had the idea for our first Dear Mad’m Day last yea rand worked on the website www.dearmadm.com.

Thank you to the Happy Camp Chamber of Commerce Board, President Robert “Javabob” Schmalzbach, Vice President Dolly Elston, Ray and Bobi Arneson, Rosemary Boren, James Buchner, and Judy Bushy. Special Thanks to James Buchner for helping get the plans off to a good start and Karen Tulledo who joined the Dear Mad’m Committee the last month. They aren’t responsible for any foibles, but were enormously helpful in making the event possible! Looking forward to seeing the video record Linda and Bob Dusenberry made possible.

Thank you to all who came and what a joy it was to visit with all those who are relatives or fans!!. We have enjoyed getting to know Stella through her writings, and now through Pete and Liz’s biography and the larger circle of friends who enjoyed her story also!

Can’t wait until next year OCTOBER 11-13, 2013 to see you all again!!

Sincerely
the Dear Mad’m Committee,
Happy Camp, CA 96039-1675