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Two longtime employees retire
Donnie Rostedt is known for her smiling face and invaluable amount of knowledge when it comes to the City of McCleary. After working for 35 ½ years as McCleary’s clerk-treasurer, Rostedt is preparing to bid city hall farewell as she readies for retirement on June 30.
“I’m retiring with mixed emotions,” Rostedt said. “I’m looking forward to it, but I’ll miss my job here … I’ve loved working here.

What first started out as a temporary job in 1965, turned out to be a lifelong passion and career path for Eileen Foster. After more than four decades in the banking business — the last nine at Sterling Savings Bank as a customer service manager — Foster is retiring.
Although Foster said she was not at first certain that she wanted to retire, the decision has been made and she looks forward to her departure from the bank June 30.
“It’s the end of an era,” Foster said. “But once the decision was made in moving forward, I was really excited.”

Car show a go; Fest of People, no
MONTESANO — The Festival of People won’t be happening this year. Instead, the organizers of the Montesano Historic Car Show have added the festival’s vendors to their event. However, the car show committee wasn’t interested in taking over the operation of the entire festival, he said. The Montesano Historic Car Show will be held Saturday, July 18. The Montesano Chamber of Commerce, which had run the festival, no longer had enough volunteers and was losing money by running it, Chamber President Dan Olsen said.

Community Ed. board forming
MONTESANO — A group of interested citizens is in the beginning stages of forming new leadership for Montesano Community Education. The Montesano School District cut funding for the program this spring in the midst of budget problems. A subcommittee met in the house of Dolores Cavanah in Schafer Meadows this week after a second organizational meeting last week. “We are in the infancy stages of forming a board,” said Ann Galland, a former Montesano Community Education board member involved in reviving the board.

Man injured falling off tractor
OAKVILLE — A Carriere, Miss., man was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle Thursday, June 18, with severe injuries while working with a tractor and its empty hay trailer in Oakville. Philip Reed, 80, was on the tractor when “under it’s own power” it pulled out onto eastbound Highway 12 from Elma Gate Road E., turning left onto the second Elma Gate Road E., according to Washington State Patrol. Reed “was standing on the driver’s side step, leaning against the rear fender when he lost (his) balance,” the state patrol said. The tractor and trailer caused extensive internal injuries and facial trauma, the state patrol said.

‘So long’ to seven
ELMA — Seven Elma School District employees have retired, taking a combined 183 years of experience with them: Russ Taylor taught at the elementary and middle schools for 32 years, his entire career. Nina Boyer was a school psychologist, primarily at the elementary school, for 29 years. Before that, she performed the same function at the middle and high schools, as well as McCleary School in a cooperative arrangement. Dorothy Whiteman primarily taught sixth grade social studies and science at the middle school for 27 years, said the school’s principal Dave Demiglio. Hope Hood, who worked in the high school cafeteria for 22 years. Barb McFadden was an Elma Elementary teacher for 21 years. For 20 years, Jack Craighead made sure Elma students arrived at school safely and on time, then took them home again. The past decade or so, he drove the big yellow Bus 5 on Route 10, covering the Mox Chehalis and East Mox Chehalis roads. The district agreed to Chuck Boyer’s retiring during the school year so he could go to Japan and do the same thing he’d been doing at Elma High School for almost 32 years. In February, Boyer was featured in a Vidette story about preparing to leave his hometown to teach English in Japan on a two-year U.S. Department of Defense contract. Most of his 11th and 12th-grade students are children of military personnel attending the Nile C. Kinnick High School — also known as “Yo-Hi” — on the U.S. Naval Base in Yokosuka.

More Sports
Lovely loop gets hikers near big trees
On the Trail by Leif Nesheim, Vidette Editor: The Quinault Loop Trail makes for a pleasant, easily accessible jaunt through forest alongside a picturesque lake. There’s also the opportunity to see some of the largest trees of their kind nearby.

The forest is mostly cottonwood, willow, alder, salmonberry and a tangle of other trees beneath a canopy of Sitka spruce, western red cedar, Douglas fir and western hemlock. Some of the area was logged, but many giants remain.

The loop forms a 4-mile circuit, with several points of access and options to extend the hike. I began just past the ranger station, immediately before Falls Creek Campground. I chose to hike along the shore first and followed the trail down towards Falls Creek...

EGH to host 2010 Little League State Tournament
ELMA — East Grays Harbor was recently announced as the site of the 2010 Washington State Little League All-Star Tournament, according to a league press release. The tournament, which is part of the preliminary process for the annual Little League World Series in Williamsport, Penn., will be held at Elma in late July of 2010.


Bowhunter Education course offered in Aberdeen
ABERDEEN — The Grays Harbor Bowmen will be offering a Bowhunter Education class at their clubhouse Aug. 1-2, near Aberdeen. This class is required for many out of state and international hunts.
Pre-registration for the class is available by sending a $10 check — including the student’s name and phone number — to Annette Crews, 720 Spencer Creek Rd, Kalama WA 98625.
The class will be six hours each day, and all children must be accompanied by an adult.
For more information on the class, call Crews at (360) 673-2350 or e-mail her at aneoakleaf@iinet.com. Information about the Grays Harbor Bowmen can be obtained by calling T.C. Parker at (360) 533-4698 or Linda Parker at (360) 533-4698.