Minutes of the 2014 reunion of the Hewitt-Matheny-Cooper Families
The meeting was called to order by president Barbara Kerr. She introduced the board members:
Merrilee Johnson, co-president with Barbara Kerr
Barbara Kerr is serving as secretary until position is filled
Louis Rodge is treasurer
William McKinney (Isaiah Cooper, Jr) from Seattle
Coral Hewitt Nolan (Jasper Hewitt) not able to come from Pennsylvania
Shilah Bauer not able to attend due to having a National Guard drill
Elma Hewitt, President Emeritus
Don Rivara, Historian emeritus not able to come from California
Barbara thanked everyone that helped set up, especially Mike Layman, our park coordinator who reserves the park and pays the fee. Mike also sets up the tables and brings all the sports equipment and kid games. He has a broken ankle this year so we need even more help in cleaning up and packing equipment into his trailer.
A thank you to the Arne Young family for bringing a pinata for the 6th year!
A special thank you was given to Elma Hewitt who has done so many tasks including the photo display, the family book sales and picking up the albums every year. She has retired from her role and traded in her many hats for more time golfing.
Melissa Jones Clark Gomez is now in charge of the family albums, picking them up and returning them to the Yamhill County Museum in Lafayette and entering the new information you provide on the Family Group forms as well as any that Don Rivara or the Yamhill County Museum collects.
A thank you to Mark Fery who is not only the photographer but also the new Webmaster for the HMCFamily.org website.
A thank you to Brad Kerr for running the Daniel Matheny Hewitt Two Hops and a Jump Challenge. There are age categories: Under 5, 5-10, 11-15, 16-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, 50+
A thank you to Brent Kerr for being the auctioneer. Brent is working on improving our auction process this year and asks that when you win a bid, you stand up and say your name and family branch. Louis, our treasurer, will then be better able to keep track of who won what.
A census was taken by family branch, Hannah Shipman helped take the count:
Hewitts: Ann Eliza, Daniel, Adam, James Andrew, Isaiah, Mathew, Jasper, Lorin. Henry had
descendants past his one grandchild. Horry had no children. 27 attending.
Mathenys: Daniel Boone, Adam, Isaiah, Mary, Jasper, Charlotte. Elizabeth married Henry Hewitt so all of the Hewitt members are her descendants. 9 attending
Coopers: Mary, Rachel, Enoch, William S., Isaiah Jr., John 7 attending
The people lost this year were Bonny Bauer Payne, in November. She was the oldest of Sylva Hewitt and Henry Kerr’s 23 grandchildren.
Olive Merry Johnson (James Andrew Hewitt)
Winnie Davies, wife of Walt Davies (James Andrew Hewitt). She was born in a log cabin in Arkansas.
Obituaries should be sent to newsletter@hmcfamily.org
Attending for the first time are Jenny Shipman and Bentley Brazil, 9 months old (Isaiah Hewitt). Also attending for the first time are Gary and Donna Halvorson, son in law of Walt Davies and John Miller, friend of Walt Davies. The oldest descendant at the reunion was Kay Kerr at the age of 89 (2-2-1925). Also acknowledged was the 100th birthday of Jack Green in Austin, Texas in June. A card was sent around to sign to send to him. To our knowledge, he is the first in the family, other than spouses, to live to be 100. The farthest traveled were the Halvorsons from Rapid City, South Dakota and Kerwin and Linda Kerr from Elizabethtown, Kentucky.
Roger Shipman asked that a new category be added; the number of generations removed from the original family. His grandson, Thomas Snyder is a member of the 7th generation.
The treasurer’s report, given by Louis Rodge, shows that there is a balance of $6,288.31.
It was moved by Hannah Shipman and seconded by Joanne Shipley to approve the minutes of the 2013 reunion be accepted. Passed by majority.
FAMILY COMMUNICATION
Newsletter Don Rivara has discontinued his email family history newsletter. We hope that is temporary and that he will bring it back as a complement to the website. Please be sure to write your email address on the list at the registration table if you did not receive his email newsletter. The more email addresses we have the more chance he will start it up again. Mark will be putting all of Don’s emailed stories that do not include personal information about living persons on the website. We are hoping that Don will still be adding new ones. There are some hard copies of Don’s newsletters on the Books table.
We are still looking for digital copies of the first two. Did anyone save them electronically?
Don estimated that the number of emails we have is 25% of what we have on the postal mail list. If you did not receive a newsletter via email, be sure to put your email address on the list at the registration table even if you think we already have it. We may have an address that is out of date for you. Include email addresses for any of your family members who would like to receive the newsletter. If we have enough email addresses we may be able to save enough money to send out a smaller, less frequent newsletter for those who do not have computers or family with computers.
Hannah Shipman volunteered to be the children’s page editor.
POSTAL ADDRESSES Also, check the list of postal addresses that the post office said were unforwardable to see if there is someone on it that you may know.
Mark Fery is the webmaster for the hmcfamily.org website. Bryan Kerr has been helping him. When he gets it all figured out he will be looking for volunteers to help with the postings. Send your notices, articles, family information and pictures, etc. to newsletter@hmcfamily.org or Don at donrivara@att.net.
FACEBOOK [Melissa will give report] John Carlisle created and is hosting our family Facebook page. It is at HMC Family. There are several with similar names. Look for the one that includes John. It is a closed group so you have to be accepted as a member to participate. Make your request with your family connection and John will get back to you with the permission quickly. Then you can start communicating with family members. 38 names so far. John was not able to come today, but reported via Facebook: Anyone can add information if I authorize them. Anyone that is currently on list can be authorized to add new group members. Any group member can post information i.e., stories, family announcements, etc. But I do need more people that are willing to allow others. I am trying to work out a cloud access where we can maintain a living family tree so to speak and could use some input from others on this also. Thanks, John
ANCESTRY.COM Reminder that Don has put much of the our genealogy inc. pictures on Ancestry.com.
ELECTIONS
It is the Cooper’s turn for elections this year. Both Louis and Bill have said they would like to be
reelected. We do still need Mathenys. The other four of us on the board are Hewitts. As you remember, we filled vacant spots with Hewitts because no Mathenys were coming forward and we all are descendants of Coopers and Mathenys. Merrilee and I were sharing one spot (one vote). So if there is anyone who is a Matheny but not a Hewitt who would like to be on the board, you can be elected this year and Merrilee and I could go back to sharing one vote.
Roger Shipman(Matheny descendant) volunteered for the board and was elected by majority vote.
| Election Year | Hewitt | Matheny | Cooper |
| 2010 Hewitt year | Barbara/Merrilee, Bonny | Joanne Shipley, Dan Matheny | Louis, Christine Cranmore |
| 2011 Cooper year | Barbara/Merrilee, Bonny | Louis | |
| 2012 Matheny year | Merrilee/Barbara, Bonny, Coral, Shilah | ||
| 2013 Hewitt year | Merrilee/Barbara, Bonny, Coral, Shilah | Louis, William | |
| 2014 Cooper year | Merrilee/Barbara, Coral, Shilah | Louis, William | |
| Results of the Two Hops and a Jump contest
0-5 |
No entries |
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| 6-10 | Carson and Hallie Kerr both jumped 12 feet
Sean Young and Emma Walls jumped 11 feet |
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| 11-15 | Hannah Shipman 15-½ feet
Luke VonHeeder 16 feet |
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| 15-20 | Scott Davidson 20 feet
Kent 15 feet Bella 11 feet Luke Shipman 28-½ feet |
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| 21-30 | Mark Fery 16 feet | ||
| 31-40 | Scott Fery 11 feet | ||
| 40+ | Brad Kerr, Roger Shipman 17 feet |
OTHER WAYS TO PARTICIPATE We are looking for someone to manage the book sales. It involves taking requests for sales via snail or email and mailing them out, delivering them to Champoeg or any other organization that requests large orders, and having them copied at a copy store as necessary, and manning the book sales table (or finding someone who can) at the Reunion. We have set up an email address for orders familybooks@hmcfamily.org.
There was a re-enactment by some volunteers from Champoeg of a few stories from the book “In the Eye of the Setting Sun”. They were entertaining and interesting.
COTTONWOOD – Ivan Nuxoll jokes that he and his wife, Dina, live in the “suburbs” of Greencreek.
That means the couple, who are this year’s Idaho County Fair grand marshals, live about a quarter-mile away from the hamlet’s hub, consisting of a Catholic church, a community center and an auto repair shop.
The Idaho County Fair begins today and continues through Saturday at Cottonwood, with 4-H livestock and home economics shows, food booths and a variety of entertainment.
“Yes, it’s a community,” Ivan Nuxoll, 77, said of Greencreek – the town his grandfather, Francis C. Nuxoll, homesteaded in 1895. “It’s beautiful. You can depend on the people and that’s the thing that I miss over in Oregon (where the couple spend part of their time on Dina Nuxoll’s family farm). You can’t really go down the street and have a conversation with anybody.”
Dina Nuxoll, 69, agrees only partially.
“I’ve been there for 45 years and I’m still not really a Greencreeker,” she said. When she moved to the Nuxoll farm shortly after she and Ivan were married in 1972, she was one of only two non-German Catholics in the community. Things have changed through the years and there is a tad more diversity, but the core demographic remains the same.
“That’s just the way it works,” Ivan Nuxoll said. “It’s not that we’re different, because Oregon’s the same way.”
But the Nuxolls point out that when somebody needs help, as one farmer did last year after having back surgery right before harvest, neighbors all pitch in to help out.
Twelve other farmers with their equipment and their wives loaded with food converged on the hospitalized farmer’s place and harvested his crops before moving on to their own fields.
It happens whenever there’s a need, the Nuxolls said.
The couple met when she was working as a home economics teacher at Grangeville High School and he was employed by Jordan Motors in Grangeville.
She needed car repairs. He helped out. One thing led to another, including a wedding in McMinnville, Ore., in the dead of winter, and they ended up on the family farm raising two children, Eric and Ellen.
Once they settled in Greencreek, the Nuxolls picked up the customs of their parents, who had been 4-H leaders in Greencreek and McMinnville. Dina Nuxoll handled sewing and cooking clubs, and Ivan helped out with the livestock groups.
“When I was in 4-H it was the Idaho County stock show,” located in a vacant lot toward the center of Cottonwood, Ivan Nuxoll said. Livestock was the main event, although there used to be a smattering of something besides livestock displayed at the nearby community center.
These days the fairgrounds has new buildings, clean, comfortable pens for the livestock, a roomy show arena, plenty of food venues, an open class exhibit hall and a large home economics building.
These are all good changes, the Nuxolls said, but the idea behind showing livestock then and now has also shifted.
“When I was in 4-H it was trying to make the most out of the least,” Ivan Nuxoll said. “Coming out of the Depression and the Second World War, it was tough going.
“Now you’ve got these pens and they’ve got these animals, done really well, and they’ll have what it cost you per pound for rate of gain. And it may be $1.69 per pound it cost them to get it up there. But they don’t factor in that if you take that to the livestock sale you may get 55 to 60 cents (a pound) for it. The money-making doesn’t work very well, but they still have the responsibility to take care of the animals.”
“And that’s a good thing,” Dina Nuxoll said. “That’s what it’s about – not so much about the money any more.”
The Nuxolls will preside over the fair’s ribbon-cutting ceremony.
| Nuxolls are grand marshals Idaho County Free Press “Bill Eimers was the Grangeville High School principal then,” Dina Nuxoll grinned. “He wasn’t going to let one of his teachers get mixed up with someone he didn’t approve of.”  “Well, I think I could have checked out OK with the FBI after that,” smiled Ivan. “It all worked out.” With more than 40 years of marriage under their belt, Ivan and Dina Nuxoll of Greencreek will serve as Idaho County Fair 2013 grand marshals. Dina was born and raised in McMinnville, Ore., and attended Linfield College there. She came to Grangeville to teach home economics in 1970. Ivan was born and raised on the family farm in Greencreek. He lives next door to the same house where he was born. His grandparents homesteaded there in 1895 and he has lived and/or worked there most all his life. He purchased the farm in the ‘70s. Ivan graduated from Greencreek High School and served for two years in the U.S. Army. At Greencreek he was taught by the nuns and learned to type in school, something not all boys could do at that time. He graduated in 1954, then volunteered for the draft in 1956, as he knew he would have to complete his time in the military at some point. He spent time in Germany as a wheeled-vehicle mechanic, but then, Dina said, it was discovered that he could type. “So I spent some time in the office and post office, too,” Ivan said. Upon returning home he worked the farm but also worked as a mechanic at Jordan Motors in Grangeville from 1959 to 1974. He and Dina married in 1972 and they soon purchased his parents’ farm and he went into full-time farming. The Nuxolls raised their two children, Eric and Ellen, on the farm and also managed Dina’s family ground in McMinnville. “I say we have roots in two states – both Idaho and Oregon,” she said. The couple still spends a lot of time in Oregon on the property there as well as on their Greencreek land. Eric graduated from Prairie High School in Cottonwood in 1993 and went on to the University of Idaho then to graduate school in Minnesota. He is currently a professor at the University of Iowa. He and his wife, Kim, have four children. Ellen graduated from PHS in 1996 and went on to the U of I, studying communi-cations. She received her masters at Portland State and is now employed by Linfield College, her mother’s alma mater. She and her husband, Mike, have two children. Throughout the years the Nuxolls spent time with their children and worked with them on 4-H livestock and other projects. Prior to the children beign involved in 4-H, Dina served as a club leader for Needles, Spoons and More. She also worked in a sewing club with Pat Schmidt. Ellen served as fair queen in 1995. Ivan’s family connection in 4-H goes back even farther as both he and his father participated in the Idaho County Stock Show, which is what it was called prior to being named the Idaho County Fair. The couple was on the Idaho County Centennial Committee and Ivan helped write several stories for Idaho County Voices. They belong to the historical society in Oregon, and at the county fair in Cottonwood Ivan works with the Lions antique machinery display each year, explaining to attendees how the machines work. Dina has an extensive cookbook collection. Extensive. “She like the books better than she likes to cook,” joked Ivan, laughing. “But we really do have several tons of cookbooks.” “I like to look through them and especially the ones with history from the places where they were made.” Dina said, showing one room with thousands of cookbooks neatly organized by categories. “This is only about a fourth of what I have. And to be fair – I married a real meat and potatoes man and he also likes sweets. No fancy cooking.” She also keeps busy sewing – she also has quite a collection of useable sewing machines – making pajamas for her grandchildren each Christmas. “I’m up to six now so I better get started,” she laughed. Ivan not only maintains the grounds at both the Oregon and Idaho residences, he also spends time writing. Each week, since his children left home, he sits down and writes a letter to them. In 2003, Eric presented his father with a five-inch hardbound volume containing copies of all the letters his dad had written him since he left for college in 1993. “It’s just something I do,” shrugged Ivan with a humble smile. Something he now does more often because each of his six grandchildren also receive a letter – on a monthly basis. “I think the post office should be doing pretty well because all the letters get mailed in their own envelope,” he laughed. “The kids like to have their own piece of mail.” The Nuxolls said they consider it an honor to be chosen as grand marshals for the fair and look forward to the week’s activities. “We love the fair and always spend time there,” Dina said. “And I am so glad it is still truly a county fair that isn’t trying to charge admission,” Ivan emphasized. “Anyone can afford to go to the Idaho County Fair and have a good time.” |
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