Then and now: Mershon was born in Portland and graduated from Corbett High School. She and her husband of 51 years, Clarence, have four children. The Mershons volunteer with the Crown Point Historical Society and the East Multnomah County Pioneers. Most Friday and Saturday nights they strap on their dancing shoes and go out for some of the ballroom variety.

Shio Uyetake was born in 1915 on a farm his parents, Juichi "Harry" and Chise Uyetake, rented on Henkle Road, Springdale. A year later, his parents purchased five acres between Mershon Road and the wire trail, across from the Porter place. Shortly thereafter, the Uyetakes purchased 17 acres from the Mershon family, also on Mershon Road. Shio had four younger siblings, Kor, b. 1921; Fujie, b. 1922; June, b. 1925; and Mitzi, b. in 1928. Laura Mershon, wife of George Mershon, and the Uyetake family’s nearest neighbor, helped deliver the children.

While growing up, Edith worked during the summers picking berries and peas and at other odd jobs for neighbors. The Warrens always had several acres of cucumbers to pick. Jack always inspected the fields on July 3rd and announced that picking would start July 4th. The youngsters all knew he was teasing so preparations for the planned picnic on the fourth continued. Edith graduated from CHS in 1935. Afterwards, she worked for Judge Languth at Corbett and for her Aunt Peggy Findlay in Portland. She also worked for several Jewish families in Portland and learned the rules for preparing Kosher foods.

In 1919, Arthur "Art" and Geneva (Wright) Johnson had their second child, a daughter, Arlene. Arlene had an older sister, Margaret, born in 1916 and, born in 1925, a younger brother, Ross. Margaret and Arlene attended Hurlburt Grade School, which was located at the junction of Evans Road with Hurlburt Road, until the district closed the school in 1929. In 1916, Art Johnson proposed that Hurlburt Grade School use a spring on his place for water. The water was piped by gravity flow to the school. A tank above the school on the James Ellis farm held the overflow, creating more pressure for the school. James Ellis and other patrons who lived close by could use the extra water. Several former students remember their fathers arguing many hours over the engineering of the pipeline and the overflow tank.

Vincenta Racanelli's father, John Racanelli, was a section foreman for the Union Pacific Railroad. Initially, he was stationed at Bridal Veil. Vincenta Racanelli attended Bridal Veil Grade School through the sixth grade, and then completed her elementary school years at Corbett Grade when Bridal Veil consolidated with Corbett School District. She attended CHS all four years, graduating in 1939. In 1937, the Union Pacific transferred her father to the Bonneville Station. However, students at Bonneville had the choice of attending CHS or Stevenson High School. Vincenta chose to continue her secondary years at Corbett.

The Dunken family lived on Pounder Grade just south of Everett Evans. There were two boys in the family, Robert 'Bob', b. May 31, 1928, and William 'Bill', b. , 1930. Both attended Corbett schools, with Bob graduating from Columbian High School in 1945 and Bill, 1948. Bob started working at the Bridal Veil mill after graduation. He worked there until 1963, and then he obtained a job with the Multnomah County Road Department. In 1970 he returned to the lumber business as the head millwright for a lumber mill in Carver. In 1977 he moved to the forest products division of Portland Machinery, where he was named General Manager. In 1977 he and a partner bought the division and operated it until 1991, when it was sold at an auction. Bob married a classmate of the class of 1945, Bette Jean Muck. Bette was born in Falls City, Oregon November 7, 1927. The couple had three children, Christine, Jerry and Susan.

Stanley "Stan" Hewitt graduated from Columbian High School in 1949, one of fourteen graduates that year. Born in Monterrey, California, Hewitt spent much of his youth in Oregon. During his high school years, he boarded with Fred Luscher, working on Fred's Bridal Veil dairy to earn his keep. After graduating, he "lied his way into a job with Meier & Frank Company repairing sewing machines." Always mechanically talented, his interest caused him to take things apart and put them back together, which gave him some basis for feeling competent to fix almost any small machine or appliance. And, according to Stan, he did just fine repairing sewing machines, so much so that White Sewing Machine Company wanted to employ him full time.

Jeffrey Alan Lucas was a member of the U.S. Navy SEALS and was aboard the special operations helicopter Tuesday when it likely was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade, said Jamie Lucas, the soldier's brother. Jamie Lucas said Thursday that military officials had informed the family that the crash site of the Chinook MH-47 helicopter had been located and personnel had secured the area. Initially, stormy weather prevented rescue efforts. The Chinook was carrying Navy SEAL commandos and an Army air crew. They had been called out as urgently needed reinforcements after radio calls from troops in the field said they were engaged in combat with insurgents, according to military personnel. Jamie Lucas remembered his brother as a thriving athlete who graduated from Corbett High School in 1989. Jeffrey Lucas played football, basketball and baseball at the high school, his brother said. He also participated in track and field.

Erica Pace attended Corbett K-12th grade, and graduated in 1995. She came back the following January to work as a kitchen assistant, since then moving up to be our Food Service Manager. During the summers with her children, she was trying to find a way to keep everyone busy. She came up with theme days for her children and it has now turned into her first book. Learning and Fun All in One has many activities that help teach young children about their world. The book is divided into themes that vary from the different colors, to holidays, to animals, and on to pirates. Each day the kids have different activities, crafts, meals and sometimes even a field trip all based on that certain theme.

Bridal Veil People get squeamish these days about chopping down trees, but Tom Cowling, child of a mill town, says we should never forget when timber was king. Cowling, who in 2001 published a collection of histories of Bridal Veil in the Columbia River Gorge, now has a second book about his favorite ghost town: "Letters from a Dying Town, Bridal Veil, Oregon, (1955-1960)".