Written by Violet Case:

“I, Violet Garland Case, was married June 30, 1932 and came to this community as a young bride after graduating from Albany High School which is now occupied by the First Baptist Church of Albany.

“My new husband’s mother died all of a sudden and he had been running the home place prior to this, but now he had no cook and we decided to get married. Now that put an end to my further education. But I did avail myself to some extension type courses, and some classes put on at the Conner School.

“While I was going to high school I had worked part time at Woolworth’s and then after being married, at Montgomery Ward and Company. I enjoyed meeting the public.

“In 1932, they were depression days. I very well remember working for 10 hours a day at 15 cents an hour, training hops for Henry Hoefer Farms and then doing all the work at home in the house. At that time men’s work shirts were 49 cents and peanut butter was sold for 5 or 10 cents a pound and you brought your own container for it. If we wanted ice cream we’d take an empty bucket and get ice cream. We didn’t have fancy containers like today. And if folks got a large peppermint stick from grandparents it was a big treat.

“We grew more diversified crops as years went by. But I always drove a tractor and pulled a combine. We canned pumpkins for Del Monte Canning Company. We also milked a few head of cows each morning and it was my job to wash the cream separator each morning until we started selling whole milk to the Albany Creamery in Albany. Then milk trucks picked up cans daily. I still have some of those milk cans we used.

“I always planted a large garden and canned and pickled all kinds of things. Later we got electricity in this neighborhood and we thought it was the greatest thing. We got milking machines and all kinds of appliances. We could afford them better then as the economy had improved and cannery crops brought more revenue. Back then we’d gotten inside plumbing and what a blessing that was! No more outhouses in the dark.

“We also got to raising baby chicks and had our own fryers to eat. Then we kept the hens and kept a large chicken house and sold eggs from the hens. We got to buying breeding hen turkeys . Our feed supplier would find the turkeys and we would buy them and put them in roosts. We’d string lights which caused them to start laying eggs quicker and we had nests all around in the fields and in the old barn.

“It was real fun picking up turkey eggs. It seems like we got $1 each. We then cleaned them and shipped them away to other states. We did this for several years until the market closed.

“One year high water cam and we had to go out in boats and put turkeys in boats and haul them into the barn to save them. And so thank the Lord they didn’t panic. We hauled them into a dry place. Neighbors were good to help. Walt Harnisch was the good neighbor to help. But in those days people helped one another a lot.

“In 1939 we had a baby boy and named him William L. Case. When he got old enough he started to our country one-room school, Conner School. We always had good teachers because our school was very selective in getting qualified teachers. Mervin Case, Walt Harnisch and others made up the school board. Our son Bill started attending school in Jefferson when he was in 8th grade. Our district consolidated. He had good teachers and the competition in a larger school was good. Bill enjoyed sports and the expanded program of the larger school. We parents got involved in school activities.

“Our grandchildren got a good education background in Jefferson and all 5 of them went to college. The only one that went to a junior college was our oldest grand daughter and she graduated in a medical field to become an employee of Salem Hospital. My family are all pleased with Jefferson and are very involved in many activities.

“For years back I’ve helped with after school time for Bible classes across the street from the school. We used to have Sunday School and church at the Conner School, then later the community acquired an old vacant store building at Dever Station. Then we had church and Sunday School there and used the facility as a community hall for years.

“After a few years the church members decided they needed a church and our men went over to Camp Adair, which was closed down and bought an old theater building (they may have bought more). Men helped tear down the building and it was brought here and first they built a parsonage, then the church out of the used lumber. The folk had a mind to work and there was a peaceful happy atmosphere over all the accomplishments. Women fixed food and pulled nails.

“It’s such a blessing to me today to see the families who had a part in this time. All and all I give thanks for the blessings of living in this farm community, and being married to my dear husband for 68 years before he went home to be with the Lord.”