HELVETIA SWISS PICNIC

By Sally Schoch 503-647-5578 or sschoch@helvetia.us

 

Once again Helvetia Community Church is getting ready for their annual Swiss picnic.  This year it will be held on July 18, 2010. 

  Everyone is invited to this wonderful day of celebration, church services, musical entertainment, parade, picnicking, children’s games, and all-around fun day. 

 Come out for the day and enjoy festivities with old and new friends.  Coffee and soda pop will be furnished at the picnic; please bring your own picnic lunch, tables and chairs.

 Morning church services will be held at 9:00 am and 10:30 am.  The parade takes place at 11:45 am and the entertainment begins at l:15 pm.  For more information call Sally Schoch at (503)647-5578

 

The Jodelklub Edelwyss members are coming out of their winter hibernation and will begin weekly rehearsals in April. We’re looking forward to learning some new songs as we prepare for the 2011 Saengerfest in Vancouver, B.C. If you were lucky enough to watch the Vancouver Winter Olympics in February, you saw that the Canadians know how to put on a great show, so we’re in for a treat.

Be sure to mark your calendars for the Jodelklub’s Fall Harvest Concert to be held September 25 at the German Hall on Division St. in Portland. We had our first fall concert last year, and it was a great success, so we’ve decided to have our concert in the fall again. Plans are still coming together, but be on the lookout for more details as we hope to announce some very special guests who will perform at the concert.

At our annual meeting in January, we elected new officers. Ted Zurcher was elected president, replacing Pierre Vireday; and Stan Marugg was elected Secretary, replacing Jack Burri. The club is very grateful to Pierre and Jack for their great service to the club.

During our winter hiatus, we were saddened by the loss of two former members, Robel Straubhaar and Frank Baur. The group was able to attend Frank’s funeral mass in Vancouver and sing two of his favorite songs. Both of our “Kameraden” will surely be missed.

Jodelklub member Fred Pfarrer continues to recover from a stroke that has affected his ability to swallow. He is at the Stoneybrook Assisted Living facility in Corvallis, OR. I’m sure he would love to hear from his fellow Swiss. You can contact him at the following address: Fred Pfarrer, c/o Stoneybrook Assisted Living,  4650 SW Hollyhock Circle Box #236, Corvallis, OR 97333.

       We are always looking for new members. The only requirement is that you enjoy Swiss music and helping keep our Swiss traditions alive. A good singing voice is nice, but is not required. Just show up ready to have some fun. For more information, please contact Ted Zurcher at (503) 803-0733 or by email at ted.zurcher@intel.com.

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     Our members have been enjoying the monthly meetings at various restaurants around the area.  Membership is open to women interested in promoting their Swiss heritage. We award $500 scholarships yearly and hold a weekend summer camp every August. This year the camp will be held August 21 to 23.  For more information contact Rosalie Divens at 360-607-7200 or wsurose@gmail.com. Our Swiss Kids Kamp has been a fun event for the children and adult volunteers for over 21 years now.

Members and their guests enjoyed the Christmas party in December. A delicious luncheon was served at Gustav’s restaurant near Washington Square. Generous donations for the Oregon Food Bank were collected.

Sadly there are some long time members who are no longer able to attend meetings because of ill health. Missed are Frances Dietl, Helen Brooks, Rose Seeholzer, Helen Shallberger, Margrit Nadler and Marta Gruetter. Hospital stays have included MaryEllen Bernet, and MaryEllen Schraner.  Get Well wishes to all these ladies. 

On a happier note the club welcomed new members: Sandy Gernhart, Mary Seals, Naomi Hidden and Melissa Yungen.          

Election of Officers was held in January.  A unanimous vote was cast to keep the same officers which are as follows: President Sally Schoch, Vice-President Maxine Borosund, Treasurer MaryEllen Schraner, Secretary Elsie Neff.  Joanne Odermott volunteered to be a Social Secretary whose job is to send cards to ill members.

Congratulations to Frances Sutter who was presented with an Honorary Life Membership at the February meeting. She has been faithfully coming up from her Mt. Angel home for over 20 years and has supported the club with her help at Kids Kamp and has encouraged her children and grandchildren to attend camp

 

 Walter Apley, 90, passed away November 9th 2009 in Portland.   Walter, an attorney, spent the majority of his career as the deputy attorney general with the Oregon State Tax Commission.  He enjoyed traveling and spent the last years of his life living in Ajijic, Mexico.  Walter is survived by his daughter Betsy.  He was preceded in death by his wife Ava and children, Walt Jr., Susie, and Maureen. 

Ted Anderegg passed away on October 23 at the age of 72.  His ancestors started Meadowland Dairy, and he worked for the family business.  He later worked as the office manager for the Portland Expo Center.  He is survived by his wife, Linda; daughter, Lore; two grandchildren; and aunt Lillian Adams.  

       Lou Bauman passed away March 15 at the age of 74. She was a switchboard operator for Pacific Northwest Bell.  Her husband, Jack, predeceased her in 2006.  She is survived by 13 brothers and sisters and many nieces and nephews.

Charles Anton Baur died October 3.  He worked as a flagger and loved music.  He is survived by brothers Paul, Mike and Tony; and a sisters Ann and Katherine.

 Frank Baur former member of the Jodelklub Edelweiss passed away on January 6 at the age of 84.  Frank was a long-time school teacher who had a special gift with the kids.  He loved singing Swiss songs, and he was a mainstay in the Jodelklub’s Bass section.  He is survived by daughters, Ann and Kathryn; and sons Paul, Michael and Tony.  Son Charles predeceased him three months earlier; see above.

  Albert Gantenbein passed away on March 3 at the age of 94.  He worked in the grocery business for 37 years and later worked as a commercial real estate broker.  He was active in YMCA programs; tutored in HOSTS and SMART programs; was an ombudsman for Oregon State, inspecting nursing homes; and volunteered at the Cannon Beach Conference Center.  He is survived by his daughters, Judith, Sue and Sandra.   

Ruth Heiman passed away January 14 at the age of 82.  She was a bookkeeper for Vransian Brothers Jewelers and is survived by her brother Arnold.

Emma Jossy passed away on December 13 at the age of 92..  She grew up on a dairy farm in Toledo, OR and taught high school in Tillamook.  She was active in 4-H, AAUR, PEO and the Astoria Regatta Club.  She and her husband had owned a 50 acre hazelnut farm.  He preceded her in death in 2004.  She is survived by her son Bob; daughters, Carol, Janet and Phyllis

Raymond Kauer passed away July 4th, 2009 at the age of 80.  Ray grew up in the West Union/Helvetia area, marrying Barbara Dapp in 1953.  In the mid 1960’s, in order to expand their farming operation, they moved to the McMinnville area. Besides farming, Ray’s other interests included antique farm equipment.   He is survived by his wife, Barbara, four children Rosemary, David, Janet and Joyce.  He was preceded in death by his daughter, Linda. 

Rose Meyer passed away February 17th at the age of 92.  She was raised on her family’s Swiss dairy farm in Clackamas and was very active in 4-H.  In 1937 she was crowned queen of the Clackamas County Fair.  Her husband preceded her in death in 2007.  She is survived by two sons, Paul and Robert, a sister Helen Lauman and a brother Fred Anderegg.

Alan Roth, a member of Portland Swiss, Inc., passed away on February 28th at the age of 64.  Alan taught math and PE and coached football in the Hillsboro School District until his retirement.  He also served over 20 years on the board of directors for the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Portland.  He started his own non-profit company, Cape Crusades, Inc.  He is survived by his wife Linda, a daughter Allison and a son Derek.

Robel Straubhaar passed away December 5 at the age of 86.  He was a member of the Jodelklub.  You may remember him for his talent of playing the “gut bucket”.  Before coming to Portland in 1989, he had worked for 28 years in Crested Butte, Colorado as a ski school instructor.  He and his wife moved to Knoxville, Tennessee in 2004, due to his health.  He is survived by his wife, Abby; a daughter, Lisa; a son Peter; A son, Andre, predeceased him

 

Pat Aeppli and her son-in-law Tom Imholt were pictured in the Hillsboro Argus.  They helped make sock monkeys at the Forest Grove Senior Center.   The monkeys were donated to Doernbecher Hospital and the Forest Grove Fire Department toy drive.

About 50 people attended the second annual Sechselauten (Burn the Böögg) event Saturday at Camp Ireland in Hillsboro.  A big thanks to Diane Vireday and Bob McCormick and their crew for putting this together.  The burning of the Böögg (snowman) signals the end of winter and the beginning of spring.   A drawing was held and Ted Zurcher was the winner of a basket of goodies.  We anticipate this event to become bigger each year.  Hope to see you there in 2011.

Hildegard and Lani Miles competed in their first dance competition in October, 2009.  They performed a Viennese Waltz and took second place out of 10 couples performing American Smooth/Latin dances.  They are now working on a Tango/ West Coast Swing routine for a competition later this year.

Joe and Pat Schönbächler recently became great grandparents to Jacob Robert Souder.  He was born February 24th.  His parents are Lon and Kelly (Burk) Souder.  Kelly is the granddaughter of Joe and Pat and a former crown-girl at Portland and Tacoma schwingfests.

Katherine Ulrich, mother of Bob Ulrich, is going to be 100 years old this June. Please join her family in helping her celebrate 100 years of life.  Her birthday party will be at the Swiss Park at Bonny Lake, Washington, Sunday, June 6 at 1:00 pm.  Lunch will be served at 1:30 followed by a program of entertainment and reminiscing.  To help us estimate how many will be coming, please RSVP to Bob at 541-745-7207 or e-mail to: bobulrich@earthlink.net (Please, no presents).

                 Nathanael Franks (individual decathlon silver medalist) led an eight-member honors division team that took first place recently in the state academic decathlon.  Nathanael, a member of PSI and a schwinger, is a senior at Barlow High School.  The Barlow team will go on to compete at the national level in April in Omaha, Neb.  Nathanael is the son of Larry and Ulrike Franks

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