Kay Heflin, president of the Rainier Oregon Historical Museum, and Carl Pellham look through a binder with history on previous Rainier High School alumni during the museum's soft opening in the City hall community room on July 8. Sean Bassinger / The Chief

Eleanor Abraham was 95 years old when she wrote her last scrapbook in 2006. She called it "Rainier Daze of 59."

Abraham, who archived Rainier's history for more than 68 years, passed away shortly after. Kay Heflin, who's now president of the Rainier Oregon Historical Museum, said that her and a small group of others want to honor her memory by continuing her legacy in their own way.

"She was the true historian for Rainier," Heflin said. "Without her contribution, (the museum) wouldn't exist."

Though the museum officially started in 2014, it was not until Friday at the start of Rainier Days in the Park that they held a soft opening at Rainier City Hall.

With the help and approval of city officials, the Rainier Museum now has several display cases set up in their newly renovated community room at Rainier City Hall. Their latest addition is a 1949 Rainier High School basketball championship trophy.

Small groups of visitors trickled in around noon on Saturday, July 8, which followed visits from dozens of others the day prior.

July 12 marks the official anniversary of the museum, which was officially established in 2015.

Returning to their roots

Heflin was one of several others who have been working through social media to launch the museum as early as 2014.

The first five museum members started with $20 each as their membership and went from there.

"We took that $100 and started getting our corporation and papers together," Heflin said.

Heflin's father, King Foshaug, was even one of the first photographers of the first "Rainier Daze" festivals that came before Rainier Days in the Park, which started in 1959. This was also their motivation behind their soft open on July 8 and 9.

But back then, the events highlighted water sports as opposed to music and rides, Heflin added.

Heflin and company held a fundraiser last year at the Rainier Senior Center and stored other exhibits across town in City Hall and the post office. Their membership numbers grew to more than 40 last year, according to previous reports from The Chief.

The museum will receive $1,700 in matching funds from the Columbia County Coalition Grant to help with their setup expenses. Heflin said they have raised about $3,800 on their own so far.

"That enabled us to buy the display cases and storage cabinets to get this exhibit started," Heflin said.

Once they receive the grant, the museum will look into getting computer equipment and programs to help them digitally catalog their photo collections. It has also been suggested that they eventually develop a "walking history tour" of Rainier.

The July 7 and 8 exhibits featured several past buttons from the former Rainier Daze fest. Some even depicted Heflin's cousin, who was selected to become their "Miss Daisy" mascot when she was 3 years old.

"She won the Rainier Daze logo contest," Heflin said. "And that first year in '63 they did a banner with her on it."

Other highlights included archives of Abraham's scrapbooks, displays of plates from the old Ellis Store and an old RHS marching band uniform.

Honoring history

When walking into the shared community room, guests may have first noticed a display counter with "Heppner mineral soap" replicas. Heflin said that this was in honor of a mineral soap factory that used to be in Rainier, which sold the product throughout the 1900s.

The minerals themselves came from Heppner, a town in Morrow County that was nearly wiped out in a flash flood back in 1903.

Clay up in the hills was used to seal off dead livestock and prevent the spread of disease, Heflin added. Many of the minerals in the original soap, which the museum replicated as closely as it could, came from the same hills.

"That soap - it has all kinds of 'healing powers,'" Heflin joked. "It's supposed to cure everything."

Chip Hamilton donated an original box of the mineral soap from the early 1900s, but Heflin said they're going to wait for a more secure display cabinet to put it up.

Other current members of the museum include Mike Clark, a collector of photo postcards, and Carl Pellham, a local sports history buff.

All three have been lifelong Rainier residents. Clark and Heflin shared similar stories of their families arriving to the area between the late 1800s and early 1900s.

"I got interested in the genealogy," Clark said. "There's a lot of fascinating history about Rainier."

Clark, who graduated from RHS in 1969, has been collecting photos since his youth. Pellham could be seen putting the finishing touches on some photo binders, several that he received from Clark's collection.

In addition to Foshaug, the museum acknowledged the work of photographers Ervin Abraham and William Janvrin throughout the years.

Pellham has been organizing photos, trophies and other Rainier-related sports memorabilia for more than 10 years.

"This is a lot of work but I've had a lot of help doing it," Pellham said.

Pellham shared the story of Rainier's Dan Jessee, who played one game for the Cleveland Indians before blowing his knee out. Jessee served in World War 1 and finished high school as an adult at RHS when he returned.

A later photograph shows Jessee in his coaching years, standing next to former U.S. Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Ike Eisenhower. Pellham also credited Abraham's work for making today's museum possible.

"It's unbelievable some of the stuff that's in there," Pellham said.

Heflin said she and the others would continue their community outreach efforts to see what else they can find in terms of relics.

Heflin gave thanks to the community in their first newsletter of the year.

"I would like to say how proud and pleased our board is with our community and the support you have given us," Heflin wrote.

For more information on donations and membership, Heflin can be reached at kay-lynn2@hotmail.com.