Becoming a Memory

I lived in Corvallis, Oregon for twenty-six years. My son Jeff still lives there and keeps me updated on what is happening. Yesterday he e-mailed me this: “Looks like Richey's Market might be a memory. They're re-developing all of 9th and Circle Blvd. …Rumor has it that Richey's might close. What a sad day...”

Richey’s Market (part of the 9th and Circle complex) is one of those rare things nowadays, a local business. I don’t know when they first opened in Corvallis, but I know I shopped at Richey’s as the new wife of an OSU college student back in 1960. The town hadn’t grown out to Ninth Street yet, and the original Richey’s Market was located in the heart of town on Fifth Street, within easy walk of the campus. I remember a lunch counter there, where coffee was only 5-cents a cup. I bought my first ever fresh scallops there and have loved scallops ever since. Richey’s has been the sponsor for the local baseball team forever. That’s what local businesses do. They become important members of the community.

The Ninth Street developer has bigger ideas. He has approached some national chain grocers like Whole Foods Markets, but their response is that Corvallis is too small. Trader Joe’s won’t touch a customer base under 100,000! Corvallis has just been chosen by Sunset Magazine as one of the twenty best small towns in the United States. Maybe it is time to appreciate what has helped to make Corvallis one of the best small towns… local businesses like Richey’s Market.

Just by chance I came across a website that described the Greyhound Bus station in Corvallis as a “Vintage Bus Station.” I admit that I am caught off-guard when things that are familiar to me are called vintage. The website describes the bus station: “Straight from the heyday of bus travel, the station in Corvallis still sports its vintage neon sign from yesteryear. Bus travel hit its high point in the 1940's after the world war. This location stood the test of time and still serves the same function that it did in the Golden Years of travel on Highway 99W.” The Golden Years? Egad! Am I still alive? I know that bus station intimately. I’ve sat in the waiting area on vinyl and aluminum chairs, waiting for the bus to come and take me home for Thanksgiving when I was a college student. I’ve waited there for the arrival of a visiting relative. I’ve waved goodbye as the bus pulls away. I’ve gone to the station on Christmas Eve to pick up just-in-time Christmas presents that have come by bus.

As I think about it, the Greyhound Bus was an integral part of our lives when I was growing up… it was especially important in rural areas. As a kid I always looked forward to spending a couple of weeks in the summer with my favorite aunt and family who lived in the small mill town of Cottage Grove. On departure day Mom would walk me down to the Sutherlin bus stop. I don’t remember there being an actual station. Often it was just in front of a coffee shop or service station. I watched as the bus driver put my suitcase in the luggage compartment under the bus, handing me a receipt. I could feel butterflies in my stomach at the prospect of going somewhere all by myself. But there was excitement too as the bus picked up speed. It felt like I was embarking on a big adventure as we traveled north on old Highway 99, stopping at every little town along the way; Oakland, Yoncalla, Drain, and finally Cottage Grove where my aunt met the bus. I guess that was the heyday of bus travel... and a long ago memory for people like me.

... P. L. Morningstar