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Artifact of the Month for
February, Vintage Memories: Dry Creek, Neighbors and Friends.
a soft-cover book, measuring 9” x 6”, self-published by Dry Creek
Neighbors Club in 1976.
Compiled for the Bicentennial by the Dry Creek Neighbors Club, this
49-page book is replete with local stories, facts and photos
celebrating the history of Dry Creek Valley and the larger
Healdsburg area. Published in 1976, it is now out of print and hard
to find. The book features short chapters or essays on topics
including: Dry Creek Valley Schools, Living Through the 30’s
Depression, The Hendricks Family, Older Homes and Buildings in
Healdsburg, the Phillips Family, Boyhood on Felta Creek, the
Campbells, Table Grove Ranch and What Life Was Like in the 1860’s
and 70’s. |
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Cover of Vintage Memories Book
Sample Page
Whenever someone
comes to the Healdsburg Museum seeking information
on a Dry Creek family, I always reach first for
Vintage Memories!
Sample
excerpts:
A New Bride, Circa 1920
When I came to Dry Creek as a bride in 1920 (I was
born and reared in Alexander Valley, my parents
being Mr. and Mrs. George B. Andrews—my mother was
from the Warren family), among the first people
introduced to me were the two Thayer families,
George and Emma on one side of the road (5943 Dry
Creek Road) and Bert and Lillie, directly across.
Emma sent word for me to come to see her garden for
she had many plants to share. I went, coming home
with a carload. Through her kindness, my love of
gardening was started. George was the head of the
Dry Creek Telephone Company. As soon as possible,
he came to put in a phone for us so I could talk to
my mother. Across the road, Bert and Lillie were in
the chicken business. Through their encouragement,
I soon had chickens with eggs to sell. Lillie’s
interest besides chickens was quilt making. Soon I
was making quilt blocks. When the blocks were sewn
together, it was Lillie who helped me pin it onto
the frame and start quilting. This is my tribute to
the four Thayers, pioneers of Dry Creek, who helped
me on my road to happiness.
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As told by Mary Eakle Dodds
History of Dry Creek Neighbors
Club
One
day in November 1909, a group of women in Dry Creek
Valley met at the home of Mrs. J. M. Hendricks (7005
Dry Creek Road) at the corner of Canyon and Dry
Creek roads to organize a Dry Creek Woman’s
Missionary Society. The seven ladies present named
Mr. Shearer, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal South
Church, an honorary member. One of Mrs. Hendricks’
daughters, Stella, was elected president and another
daughter, Mayme (Adams) who was present that day,
.lived to become our first 50-year member in 1959.
Programs during those first years were relative to
missionary work. Teas, ice cream socials and
bazaars were given to meet their obligations: local
church, quilts for the Lytton Home, and comforters
for a home for working girls in San Francisco, and
clothes and money to local needy persons. The
ladies agreed to donate funds to feed the pastor’s
horse when he made the long ride out from town for
each meeting, and at one time made a loan to the
pastor and then proceeded to pay it off themselves
by giving an ice cream social. Another time $10 was
given to “help a neighbor dig a well.”
In 1914, a new name was chosen and
the group became the Dry Creek Neighbors Club. The
club has grown to a membership of over 40 [in 1976],
living in a vastly changed world, but continuing to
remain as a group of Dry Creek women serving their
community.
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