Pioneer group meets for 94th time

Historian covers 150 years in program

By Sharon Nesbit

The Gresham Outlook, Sep 16, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Bertha Nelson MacKay, 97, who grew up near the logging community of Brower, was named queen.

Sharon Nesbit / The Outlook

The 94th annual meeting of the East Multnomah County Pioneer Association celebrated Oregon’s 150th birthday Sunday, Sept. 13, at the Corbett school complex.

Historian Clarence Mershon crammed 150 years of history into a pre-lunch program. The group also handed out honors recognizing Kathy Freund for volunteer work for the Crown Point Country Historical Society, Corbett school Superintendent Bob Dunton for making Corbett one of the top school districts in the state, Pat Lucas for community service and Nona Layton for volunteer service.

Bertha Nelson MacKay, who was raised in the logging community of Brower, was named queen of the East Multnomah Pioneer gathering Sunday at Corbett.

MacKay, who is 97, was the oldest woman present not previously crowned queen. The honor allowed her and the king, Herb Salzman, 88, to go to lunch first.

Salzman is the son of Clara Lasley Salzman, the first graduate of Corbett’s high school in 1916.

The pioneer gathering draws several hundred people for its annual event, which is held on the first Sunday after Labor Day. This year, those in attendance were invited to identify pictures of family members taken at pioneer meetings in 1959 and in 1923.

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