February 2 & 16, 2017 Episodes.
We are debuting a new segment of our program format today, Yesterday's Voices. In these episodes, we will talk with folks who have lived in the Salem/Willamette Valley area for more years than either of your hosts. Their remembrances will add texture, color, and real-life experience to our sharing of local history. Our first honored guest is David A. Rhoten, who at 82 is still practicing law and regaling us with wonderful stories of his years in Salem.
We are debuting a new segment of our program format today, Yesterday's Voices. In these episodes, we will talk with folks who have lived in the Salem/Willamette Valley area for more years than either of your hosts. Their remembrances will add texture, color, and real-life experience to our sharing of local history. Our first honored guest is David A. Rhoten, who at 82 is still practicing law and regaling us with wonderful stories of his years in Salem.
Young David Rhoten David's great-grandfather came to Oregon as a 6-year-old in 1852, settling in the Roseburg area. The Rhoten branch of the family arrived by train from Iowa in the early 1900s, His grandfather E.A. Rhoten was born on the family homestead in Stayton. He later developed a farm in rural south Salem. David has fond memories of spending time on that farm as well as growing up in his family home on Church Street, on land once owned by E.A., where South Salem High School is now located. He shared great stories of his boyhood attending Ms. Wilburn's Musical Kindergarten, McKinley Elementary School, Leslie Junior High School, and Salem High School (now named North Salem High School).
 The Three Puppeteers  Coralie Doughton Rhoten performing | David enjoyed entertaining others from an early age. His first job, picking prunes on his grandparents' farm, afforded his purchase of a portable, lighted marionette theater that he and several of his young friends (including Wally Carson, who went on to become the longest serving justice of the Oregon Supreme Court), known as the Three Puppeteers, employed to entertain area children in the basement of the Carnegie Library. He would continue his theatrical endeavors through high school where he and Wally produced musical reviews and half-time band presentations. In these years, he met his future wife, Coralie Doughton, another long-time Salem family, who was often the lead singer in the productions. David talked of the community distress at the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941, as the Willamette University football team accompanied by many supporters was stranded in Pearl Harbor where they had gone to play the University of Hawaii. Eventually, all were safely returned to Oregon via ocean-going freighters, as all passenger ships had been commandeered for military use. He also shared memories of rationing and the family's concern about the forced internment of local Japanese families from the Lake Labish area. |
Rufus being "recognized" David & Coralie married after his military service in Korea and settled down first in Monmouth and then Salem. They were both active in the community in various endeavors and organizations. Even their dog, Rufus, was well-known about town. Rufus, a rescue match made by their local veterinarian, was in-dwelt with wanderlust and was determined to be "about town" as much as his masters. The meter maids were always calling Coralie to come retrieve Rufus from various locations in the downtown area. Their attempts to corral Rufus at home came to little fruition, so much so that the Humane Society recognized him officially as their most-often-cited "at-large" client.
David & Coralie have enjoyed a rich, full life here in Salem, where their roots began and most of their "new shoots" still remain. Their garden in the Kingwood Heights area of West Salem was often a stop on local garden tours, another example of sharing themselves with the community. We should all hope to have as many good memories of our lives as do David and Coralie, and we feel privileged to have recorded and shared some of them first hand.
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