Welcome to Monmouth monthly a peek into the heart of the Willamette Valley. Each month we will bring you updates of the things happening in and around town brought to you by the people who helped make it happen. I am your host Sabra Jewell
All right, welcome back to another episode of Monmouth monthly. You know, this month we are excited to welcome all things fall. And I am even more excited to have two published authors in the studio this week. And they're going to be talking about the events that we are having both in Monmouth and independence. And whenever we can have these joint events like this, I love to share the love with friends of mine from the city of independence. And so today I am excited to welcome both Amy Lemco and Marilyn Morton, who are here to talk about most of all history and mystery and Monmouth but since we also have the Ghost Walk going over the next day, we wanted to have Maryland to come on to talk about a little bit about that as well. So welcome to the studio. Amy and Marilyn!
Thank you for having us
Amy. So tell me how you ended up in Monmouth and a little bit about yourself.
There's some backstory required. Some my family is oddly split between the South in Mississippi on my mother's side and the northwest on my dad's side. I was born in Oregon, I grew up in Mississippi until I was 14, then moved to the northwest and my entire life wherever I was living, I was bouncing back and forth on vacations. And until I had kids, and then I had to stop that were slow that down. I went back to college after having kids and I moved to Virginia, where I got my degree in history and creative writing. And my mom is living now to when we knew that we were coming back to Oregon, we knew kind of the area that we wanted to be in in case I wanted to go to graduate school, we wanted to be near to the colleges, we wanted to be close to Portland and the airport access. We wanted something that was cost of living friendly, friendly for kids, low crime and kind of googling these things. Monmouth was the winner or really researched it shop for it online. And we moved here we had never visited before. So sight unseen 2020, mid lockdown road trip across the country to come to our new apartment that we had never seen in person or into town. And then it being the lockdown. It took me about a year and a half to even figure out where I had moved to and get out in when things were reopening. And so that's how I came to be here.
That's a good origin story. And it sounds familiar. I also came right at the beginning of 2020. And so it definitely was the same kind of Oh, where are my people? And where do I go on? What do I do? But I have found that Monmouth is a really welcoming community. And I hope that you have have found this thing.
Yes. And fascinating. Of course. Yes.
So you have to two kids, how many kids do you have?
I have two a daughter who is 13 Dun dun dun and a son who is eight years old at the schools and they love it as well.
So tell me about since you've gotten your degree is that when you started writing your first book is that what sparked that writing?
No, I have been writing for a long time since probably about 13 or 14 years old. There is a story that I finished as an adult that I started at that age. So I think that I was a very active reader at that time. And a few years later, I thought this is really what I want to do and started to be more serious about it more serious about my reading and how that affected the quality of my writing. And yeah, so that's it and historical fiction is actually my first love. The nonfiction has come about sort of by accident as part of just being into the research facet of it and then finding stories. And I have a book that's coming out. It's actually out now for order through University Press of Mississippi and Amazon called Waiting in desegregation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. It's about the desegregation of the beaches in Biloxi where I grew up just one generation ahead of me. It also covers the desegregation of the Biloxi schools Biloxi was actually the first elementary school in Mississippi to be desegregated. There were other schools that were on the same lawsuit, but Biloxi opened its doors first. So it was a big, tense moment to see if that was going to go well in comparison to other states. And it did go well, but that history is in the book as well. And that also happened by accident. I had applied to graduate school in Corvallis and wasn't accepted. And I was like, Well, what am I going to do for a year? I need to build my resume. And so I thought about what could I tell? Quickly fiction it takes a lot longer but there's no boundary and so as that nonfiction there's boundaries and my intention, when what I did was to write children's story about it, I thought, what history do I know that has not been told enough and certainly not to a younger audience and it was the Biloxi wait ends. When I was growing up in Biloxi, even though you have to study civil rights history and state history, I don't remember that we ever talked about it. I was an adult when I found out that that had happened. So I wrote a children's book, and I submitted it to the University Press of Mississippi. And I had done my research, I believed that they published children's books. But they kindly wrote me back and said, We don't publish children's books. If you want to write this as a full story, we are interested. So I said to my husband, I can do nothing else. Don't talk to me for the next few months. Nobody take care of everything, and did all the research in about five months to put together that book. So that first book that you wrote, what was that experience, like writing that first book, especially doing historical nonfiction, which you I don't think you had intentions of doing that. What was that experience? Like? It's different. I mean, this is the not the first book I've written. It's the first one who's being published by somebody else. I've also self published a couple books, but they were not professionally edited. So I don't promote them. That was just more for like self, to be able to say like, you can start a project and you can finish a project and to move on and learn from that experience. It is a different kettle of fish. It is its own sort of addictive adrenaline to research, newspapers and records and find what you want. That's like a treasure hunting experience. You definitely get like a burst of adrenaline when you find something. But there's not like the same feedback of the sort of magical feedback of fiction. It's more like doing a puzzle, if you really like to do puzzles, which I do, and not so much of the art, which I also of course, love. And it's an honor, it's very much an honor to deal with people's stories who maybe had not been told and maybe would have been left behind that's especially especially I don't know is any story, but the waiting and of course in the civil rights history, and just in general brights and seeing that we treat each other well and everything and telling that story is like really an honor.
What projects do you have that are upcoming? I know you're working on something now. Are you okay to talk about that? Or does that need to stay quiet for a little while?
right now I'm working on Well, the history and Mystery Of course was with Marilyn we put out a commemorative booklet this time so that it will be its own publication. Just through the historic commission and city of Monmouth. I'm researching Preston Murphy and Sarah bond who are the first Deaf couple on record in Monmouth. Of course, we have to assume that the native people who were here had deaf people in the community, but this is the first record that I am finding in 1850. Preston Murphy was one of the sons of John Eccles Murphy's big deal in town if you do no local history, and starting the college and starting some of the churches, and Preston was a bootmaker. And he had he his history, of course, coincides with just the history of the town, the history of the California School for the Deaf, the Oregon School for the Deaf, the Illinois School for the Deaf, so it really brings a lot of context. And with Western Oregon University having such an important ASL program and having brought deaf community into Monmouth, I just felt that this is a really appropriate story to be told, I do have a second project that I will keep a secret because I haven't gone far enough. And I have a historic fiction that I'm working on. It is set in England love story. And it will be the last that I sent overseas because I have learned as I got older that having access to archives, having access to the atmosphere at your fingertips is a benefit a crucial benefit.
I imagine. Well, we will have to have you back when those next projects come because now you have intrigued me, Amy and I want to know more. Now we are lucky enough to have you serving on the historic commission. How did that happen?
Well, I knew that again. I want to have the benefit of accessing whichever archives are at my fingertips. I thought about all this bouncing around my whole life. I've never spent time digging in archives. What was I thinking? So I met Suzanne, sort of by accident through a project that the historic commission was doing with the Monmouth Evangelical Church, which is the oldest church building in Monmouth. They were doing some grant writing to try to do some restoration on that building. And I said, the historic commission. i You mean, I can be surrounded by people who already know all the history and what books I should look at and where all the archives are and all the good museums. Could I be a part of this? She says, Oh, we're full. Right now. It's limited position. But then shortly after they had somebody who resigned and she contacted me and I got I got in and they'll never get rid of me.
now so
Well, that's good news. I know that you've been a really exciting new member of that board and comissions because even just with our historic walking tours, you added a lot of really excitement and flair. And I love your storytelling. So you've already given back a great deal to us. So thank you for being a part of that. Now, before we get into history and mystery, I'm just going to talk to Marilyn a little bit and get to know your background. And then maybe we'll bring it back together with chatting about how you two came together on history and mystery and how this even came to pass. But Marilyn just I know you were involved in so many things in this in this area, you've been around for a while, but for maybe our KMUZ audience or people who may not know a lot about you. Tell us about yourself, what you do all the things you're involved in and how you ended up here.
Well, how I ended up here all started in the hospital. It was 1989, I was having my final child, my youngest child. And at the same time, I was reviewing senior pictures for my oldest child, and my husband was in the room and our other daughter was there. And we were talking and we made the collective decision that it would sure be nice to move to a small town where I could get more involved in the school system as a volunteer and he had a good job, my husband had a great job. So he was going to stay on the job. We started doing a review of all kinds of little towns around Salem, which is where we were then living. But our only criteria was absolutely not Monmouth or independence. We don't want to go west of Salem. Well, I'm a firm believer that the overarching spirit that governs all of us has a great sense of humor, and heard that and said We'll see about that. And so after a year and a half of having sold our house, being homeless, because a house that we had, we thought bought in another community, not Monmouth or independence, the seller pulled it off the market because he said I was just doing this to make my wife mad I don't really want to sell. So we went to live in an apartment for several months while we continue to look and look and look anywhere but west of Salem. And finally, one day the realtor said, listen, we've looked at everything with your want list. And in every community, and every house that fits in your budget. And we're done. You're going to need to look west of the river and are west of Salem. So I said alright, well, let's give it a try. And it took two weekends of looking. And we ended up buying a house in independence. And that was in 1990. So I've been here for 33 years. And since then, since our goal, one of our goals in moving to a small community and in addition to being involved in the school system that our children youngest children have not yet entered. We wanted to be more civically involved. And I think that's played out very well. I got on to city council, my husband joined the Masonic Lodge locally and a number of other opportunities came to him through that. He was for many, many years driver, one of the little red shrine cars in the parade. And that became quite an attractor at our house that people wanted to come see it followed by the usual question, can I take a ride? And the answer was no sorry. But the ghost walk started in 2002 with three stops, and I was really, really hoping we'd get 40 or 50 people downtown because I would have considered that a success. And by the time the crowd, arrange themselves at the first stop, we did a little straw count 310 people and it's grown from there. I was very fortunate in 2013 to be contacted by Arcadia books is what it is now. And somehow they in New York had heard about our ghost walk and wanted to know if I would write a book for them. And that is like somebody saying how would you like to have a million dollars and and strawberry Sunday's for life. And I said I'd be happy to do that. And so I wanted to call it the spirits of independence but they were doing a haunted series haunted this city haunted that city so it became haunted independence. It came out in late 2013 It is the story of how the Ghost Walk got started but also focusing on the stories from the different businesses so it's like a read it to yourself Ghost Walk. Have you always loved telling spooky stories or did this kind of inspire that I have always been a very enthusiastic storyteller, but this gave focus to it. And as you can see by the lawlong intro that I just gave you, I am not hesitant to tell you as much and much more than you really want to know.
I can always count on you Maryland, keep the party going. And so other than the book about the ghost walk, have you written any other pieces either self published or published through through publishing companies?
I did a self published a did that. Over the last two years it came out towards the end of last year very limited printing because it was self published. I had envisioned all these different spectral characters that we heard about on the ghost walk, and I wanted to tell their stories. So this one is called the spirits of independence. And it is about it focuses on one gentleman who died in a hotel fire. And the hotel was located on the same piece of property that the heritage museum now sits on
you bring up the ghost walk and that runs back to back we have two events, one in Monmouth one in Independence, one on Friday night, one on Saturday night. So guess what you can attend both. And the one on Saturday night is what Maryland is referring to that is the ghost walk that's been going on for many years in Independence, the year before or two years ago, you had record breaking crowds?
yes, there were almost 2000 people downtown, which was a lot of people to put into downtown. And I am glad that at that point, we had changed the format a little bit instead of assigning a storyteller and group leader to 30 or 35 people we created instead of choose your own adventure and gave you a map of all the different places where you could stop and listen to stories. And then people took themselves there. And that part of it was a result of one year I thought I had. And by the way, I am so grateful for all of the people who have volunteered to be involved in this ghost walk. It's not the same crew from year to year. But it takes about 40 to 45 people to do this, right. That's a lot of volunteers. And I have kept every group that I've ever been part of you can almost make just count on the fact that within the first 20 minutes of me knowing you I'll probably say something about the ghost walk and tell you that you would have so much fun doing that. And I never lie. It is always fun.
How do you think I got involved with it? Yeah, I can't say no to any of y'all. But you get me involved in fun stuff. So I appreciate it. So how did you two merge together to work on history and mystery? How did we get your time and talent over in history mystery. Tell me about how this got going, ladies,
history and mystery started in 2018, which you may if you if you remember your dates and times that was pre COVID and Monmouth had just opened their amphitheater at Main Street Park. And they were looking for things to do. And I'd kind of had this idea percolating in the back of my head about doing something in Monmouth to really spread the joy across both communities. But it wasn't going to be a clone of the Ghost Walk, it wasn't going to be Ghost Walk light or ghost walk to it had to be a completely unique event. And we hit upon the idea of history and mystery. I worked with Roxanne belts and CeCe Koontz and Chris Lopez, and a number of other people. And we compiled some stories. Each person put their own brand on the story that they were telling. And there was a presentation done in the amphitheater on a chilly evening, but it was still comfortable. The lighting was perfect. The storytellers were perfect. The audience really seemed to enjoy themselves. And we were looking forward to doing again the next year and COVID came. So it didn't resurrect until 2022. And that was with the first history and mystery that was actually the second official but the first one that was on the street. Because the other thing that we want to focus on with this event, the ghost walk and other downtown events is to give some love to our businesses. And the best way to do that is put people in front of businesses. You wouldn't believe how many times I've heard people that are walking up and down Main Street for an event, looking at those storefronts and going oh my gosh, I never knew this was down here. It's one of the demonstrations of when you raise the water level, it raises all the boats. And that's what we wanted to do with any kind of downtown event is make sure that it has a positive a positive effect for everyone. And so it started up again last year with eight stories. It was very successful. It was a beautiful evening. We had lots of people downtown listening to stories. It really is about the genuine history of monmouth. And the mystery part of it to me is the anecdotal material that you find in the old newspaper ad stories that you didn't expect to find that make you chuckle a little bit or make you go, Oh, wow, that must have been really amazing to have been there and seen that.
Amy, how did we get you involved in this? How did that how did your talents merge?
I was still pretty new to the historic commission. So they were finishing up a walking tour brochure. And I just got to get a little bit involved at the very end of that project. And then this was the next thing on the calendar. And Sabra, as you know, growing up in the South, we are very serious about our visits to cemeteries and Civil War reenactments and all and ghost tours in New Orleans, things like this. So I said, there's a history and mystery tour, I actually went to the tour last year before I was a member of the historic commission, I have all my notes in my phone, I was desperately typing the stories that people were telling and details using that as a resource to get started with local history. So as a please let me do some research. And I think that because last year, it was a lot of stories about the like the founders of the town, the important businesses that were the history of the buildings that we were in front of. And I said, Well, if it's in October, we have to talk about tragedies and scandals and ghostly type things. So it's too late. Let's do 13 stories, just lucky number out of the hat, let's do more stories, more women, more minorities, these kinds of things, then I had a total panic attack. Because it turns out that having Monmouth be the longest running dry town and the university and pretty religious community and such, maybe part of the reason why you have struggled to find the kinds of abundance of tragedies and scandals, luckily, then Marilyn had sent the document that she had prepared. And so that was giving me that structure and starting place. And I was able to use that to dive into the wonderful digitized newspapers that are through the University of Oregon. So slowly begin to figure out like what keyword searches we're going to, you know, accidents and tragedies. And funny, we've tried to really balance it between the darker stuff and some light materials so that you're not totally walking away going, Why did I spend an hour becoming deeply depressed about the past? So yeah, that's cool.
And so let me let me see if I have this right. So Marilyn, your role was really helping shape the event, because you have such a depth of an event planning and you've done this event before? And Amy, you're kind of giving the beat to the history is that kind of the balance, you two are striking in this.
That's a very good assessment. I went before the Monmouth historic commission in early 2022 to pitch the idea of an on the street event. And at the close of the meeting, they said, What is it that you really want from us? What do you want us to do? And I said, basically, I'd like you to say you have my blessing to go forth and work. And that's what they did. And when this year's event got discussed or got started in the planning, I was lucky enough that Amy had joined I love her comment about we need more stories. And in her her statement was a nice round number like 13 A good Halloween number. Yeah. And she has brought so much to the fabric and the texture of the stories as well as adding to the corpus. And we had in the past done little lightweight commemorative booklets for the ghost walk to just retell some of the stories. And so when we were in a meeting, the group that's been organizing and formulating this, I could see that I wasn't going to have a whole lot to do because they had it so well in hand. And so finally I just said I would be happy to help organize a commemorative booklet. And then it started. And it's at this point, I think it's got one more edit to go through. But it is 60 pages long. So it's almost a novella.
It was funny too because I went from saying oh no am I going to be able to find any juicy stories to be in like I have too many stories now that's not going to run the right time length for this event that we have and very specific demand. That's one of my goals was not to step on the toes at all have stories that are coming out of independents or Dallas which had the county that's where like the executions took place. So even though sometimes it was tempting to go into those other areas, I was like no Monmouth it has to be in Monmouth that this is happening. And so at the meeting I said What am I don't know how to cut these stories in Maryland said well how about we do the booklet, she volunteered to put it together and it is beautiful and there it will be limited. So the first 70 I think we're going for 75 The first people who will go to the Mamere's Guest house that they're allowing us to use their carriage house as a memorial station and to have some other resources and goodies, the booklet will be there and for a small donation, you can get it and get some extra details and not have to take notes in your phone like I did.
So let's talk about the night it's it's October 6 was, which is a Friday. And what do people do? What do they wear? Let's talk about the whole event. If I'm if I'm coming to this event, what should I prepare for?
I would certainly say dress comfortably so that you're not chased home if it gets the temperatures are dropping by that time. I think a lot of us storytellers are dressing up in period costumes. So hopefully you'll identify us if you would like to join in period costume, we would love that
and began at Main Street park, there will be an information station that will have maps to hand out to people. The seven o'clock start date is actually for the storytellers to be in place. So we ask that people don't go to them at 645 and say, Oh, can't you just start because there are eight of us here now? No, we're gonna wait till seven o'clock because we're trying to follow the schedule that we set that applies to everyone and comfortable walking shoes.
Carriage House at Mameres is going to open a little bit early so that depending on whether or not you want to go there first and get the booklet and be able to follow along that way. And look at the memorial station, which will have pictures of some of the people were telling stories about you can start that way. You can end up there or take a break there there'll be seating the Main Street. We have so excited that we I think that we have confirmed having a Kalapooya storyteller come and do that portion of it. We definitely wanted to at least have a land acknowledgement but preferred to have somebody there. Because I think of all the mysteries of Monmouth. It's that history that is that we've lost through the epidemics and through the removal to the reservations. So being able to highlight that as part of our living culture now is so important. Then we have the Chinese Laundry house murders is another one the boarding house fires. There's some old dad jokes that's not new to our generation. So there's some historic dad jokes there. The I don't want to spoil all spoilers, all the stories away.
But do you have a favorite Marilyn?
Well, one that stuck out to me particularly was concerning the railroad and it wasn't about the the tragedies or the labor that got imported in order to build the railroad. It was that first of all, there's no train track in Monmouth anymore. It used to run right down one side of the park. And there was a variety of different warehouses over the years. But the biggest one they had was on an old Sanborn map and it said it would hold 100,000 bushels of grain. So it was a pretty big place. Plus there was a a traveler's room and a baggage storage area and other amenities like that. But if you go way back in the history, which AMI found this and I'd never seen it before, it was the city of Monmouth that decided to basically sell bonds in order to raise the money to bring the railroad here, which that took a lot of dedication and a lot of willingness from people's pocketbooks to pay for that transportation for him to come in here.
It happens a lot that the Monmouth improvement society and different groups would ask people to literally invest in the community, not just of course, all their time and efforts that they were giving. But yeah, they would buy a bond and then get paid back and like 10 years with interest for having invested in the community. I just thought that is so cool.
Well, you both I am so excited for this event. I'm excited to be a storyteller and to tell the stories. What are your hopes for this that what do you think? What do you want people to take away from this?
I want them to volunteer next year. Okay, that's a good request.
What about you, Amy?
Yeah, I really want people anything that makes them inspired to look into their own history. I really wish that although I loved stories about my family when I was growing up and asked for them, I didn't know to ask follow up questions and write it down. You think you'll remember a story your grandfather has told you 47,000 times but you will not get all the details right? And, and I want them to trust them when we put out an event that they're gonna have a good time and show up to that in future.
I love that. Okay, I have a lot to wrap up here. So let's do it folks. You have heard it here October 6, and seventh two events and our two cities October 6 is history and mystery and mamas that event will begin at 7pm We do recommend that if you want one of the limited edition booklets that you go to mom Mears guesthouse first because there are only 75 and pret you can receive one of those for a small donation and that will give you a lot of the stories that you're not going to be able to hear because there's just too many For us to do that night. That being said, if you ever want to volunteer please reach out to us at the city of Monmouth we will point you in the right direction. Also there is the ghost walk in the city of independence. It's on October 7, which is a Saturday. You can show up in Independence do your own adventure. Here's some incredible stories from some great storytellers all around town. It is an event you do not want to miss. So we have these two back to back things for you and we want to make sure that you come and enjoy it. Please also note that our guests have their own personal projects if you want to check out Amy Lim COEs books, you can find her book at the University Press of Mississippi are also on Amazon. Mariela Morton has her books available on Amazon but also there are copies at the Heritage Museum and independence. Just know that those are limited edition copies. So if you get one of those you're getting one of the last first edition prints. A couple of other things going on in our community. Keep in mind that Western Oregon University's homecoming is October 20, through the 22nd There's all sorts of activities going on. Please check we wolves.com For more information on that. Also, the city of Monmouth is proud to be the host of the AARP Age Friendly Oregon Summit. It's happening at Western Oregon University on October 10. from nine to 5pm. Registration is free space is limited food will be provided. Please check the city of Mama's website or our calendar for more information on how to register. We wanted to also mention that the Heritage Museum and independence has an event on October 20. It is a fundraiser at the Valkyrie and it's going to be the showing of the silent film Nosferatu you are going to have music accompanied by Nathan Jr, a local musical talent and business owner and independence and we hope that you will join in that the tickets are $30 and they will include a free drink and a cute little charcuterie board and that event again is going to be at the Valkyrie on October 28 You can get your tickets at the independence Heritage Museum and online Otherwise everybody please come out and enjoy all the fall fun that we have scheduled for you like Amy mentioned, it is really important that you know that we put a great deal of effort into these events to make sure that they are fun for the entire family. They are also cost effective both of these events are absolutely 100% Free and donations are always accepted. Please take advantage of all of the efforts of your volunteers come on out of these things and do not hesitate to become a volunteer yourself one day. Thank you to my guests for being on today and we look forward to seeing you next month. Thank you so much.
Thank you for joining us for Monmouth monthly My name is Sabra Jewell. Our music is catching up by chill steady and we record it in the comments which is co working community independence Oregon. Please find us wherever you find podcasts rate review, tell a friend and we will see you next month.
