The McNary Newsletter

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THE VIEW at McNary Golf Club - Featured supporter
ON THE GREENS - McNary Golf Club is the central hub of activities on the course and beyond
YOUR HEALTH - Start with grains for breakfast
NEIGHBORS - The stories and goings on in McNary Estates neighborhood
HUMOR ME - A lighter side of life perspective
IN THE COMMUNITY - Rotary Club's outdoor exercise station project
MC NARY HOA NEWS - Garage Sale scheduled for Aug 16

Ribbon-Cutting for The View at McNary
"A Featured Supporter of The McNary Newsletter"
By Mark Piercy, McNary Golf Club Member

The Keizer Chamber of Commerce Greeters celebrated the opening of “The View at McNary” restaurant with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday morning, April 27. On hand for the event were 30 local business owners, Ann Tolbert, Manager of The View, and several Chamber Officers and Directors, including Interim Executive Director Mark Callier, past President Jonathan Thompson, President Elect Bob Shackelford, and Secretary Jane Lowery. Treasurer Director James Hutches served as emcee. McNary Golf Club opened in 1962 and converted to a Nonprofit Member Owned Corporation in 1993. In the long history and various iterations of the restaurant at the Golf Club this is the first time the restaurant is owned by the Golf Club and its Member/Owners. The Club’s Board of Directors approved the purchase of the restaurant earlier this year and hired Ann Tolbert as Manager. After undergoing some updating and remodeling the restaurant was reopened April 2. The name “The View at McNary” was the winning entry from a list of names submitted by the Members in a “name the restaurant contest.” The restaurant provides 4 seating areas: main dining, bar dining, patio, and banquet room. With exception of the banquet room, all seating areas feature astounding views of the golf course. A lottery room is located off the bar seating area. In her opening remarks Ann acknowledged the many Members who volunteered for so many tasks in preparing the facility and the ensuing excitement around the launch. She also spoke of the challenges related to Covid-19 restrictions. She finished by answering questions from the crowd. The View at McNary is in the McNary Golf Club Clubhouse, 165 McNary Estates Dr N, Keizer, OR. Hours are 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Mon -Thu, 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Fri, 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Sat and 8:00 a.m. to 8: 00 p.m. Sun. In the event of more restrictive Covid-19 rules the outdoor patio is tented and heated.

Joining The View at McNary Golf Club this month are fellow advertising supporters: Rebecca Donaldson Eleete Real Estate, Boucher Jewelers, Roof Rite, The Swancutt, Perkins & Cygrymus Group, Nose Tails & Paws, Premium NW Landscape, John's Waterproofing Company, Thomas Painting, Rick & Ande Hoffman-HomeSmart, Valley Roofing, Willamette Lutheran Retirement Community, Budget Blinds, Tom Hempel Testing, R Bauer Insurance Inc, and Troy Renshaw - HomeSmart Reality Group

ON THE GREENS

McNary Golf Club members hit the course without traditional clubs but with rakes and gloves. They happily gathered up the remaining debris from the winter ice storm to help make the course as pristine as its reputation.

McNary Men's Club
McNary Men’s Golf Club (MMGC) is very active and offers members the opportunity to compete in "Ball in the Hat" events SEVEN DAYS A WEEK (unless a tournament is going on). Daily games are generally $2-5. Other larger “sweeps” pay-out tournaments are conducted under a variety of formats once a month. Sweeps are pro-shop credit that can be used for merchandise. In addition, opportunities are offered to compete in tournaments organized by the OGA.

Their goal at MMGC is to accommodate, connect and have fun playing with guys who like to golf. Bring your clubs and whatever game you have and LET’S PLAY GOLF! If you have an established GHIN handicap then step right in. If not, we will help you get one going. We play year-round and in most conditions. The only thing that stops us is below freezing weather or flooding. Our greens crew does a great job of keeping the course in general and especially the greens in shape year round.

You do not have to be a member of McNary Golf Club (Course) to be a member of MMGC. Of course you will have to pay greens fees on the days that you play. MMGC Membership is $30 per year. We have an additional "Hole-in-One" pot for $5. You will need to establish a GHIN Handicap and you can join GHIN for $35 through the pro-shop if you don't have one from another location.

The Men's Club is hosting the 2-Man Team Championship (Formerly known as the Ryder Cup):
• May 15-16, 2021
• Tee Times Starting at 8:00am Both days
• 4, 9 hole formats (Scramble, Best Ball, Chapman, Modified Scotch Ball)
• Pick your own partner (max handicap differential of 7)
• $25 Entry Fee with Optional Gross and Net Skins
• Sign up in the Pro Shop (deadline is 5/13/21)

McNary Ladies Golf Association
Tuesday morning play is underway with the McNary Ladies Golf Association. The first 18 hole group usually begins around with a tee time around 8:30 AM. Play continues every 8 minutes with groups of 4 players who have randomly signed up. For normal Tuesday this year there are close to 30 ladies teeing off for a morning and early afternoon of golf and friendly competition. Here are April's winners:

April 13 - Odd Holes
Nancy Boyer
Carole Prall
Linda Stevens
Mary Jones
Shirley Howard
Glenda Klein
Sandy Guess
Barb Wilson

April 20 - Low Gross/ Net
Low Gross A group 0-24HCP: Carole Prall - 89
Low Net A group: Susan Austermiller - 73
Low Gross B group 25-42 HCP: Barb Eggiman - 103
Low Net B group: Diane Rinks - 80
Low Gross C group 33-54 HCP: Sandy Guess - 107
Low Net C group: Judi Humphrey- 79

April 27- Low Gross / Net
A - Low Gross - Carol Prall 91
      Low Net - Mary Ann Zelinski 71
B - Low Gross - Gayle Smith 98
      Low Net - Trish Hibler 75
C - Low Gross - Bette Dempsey - 103
      Low Net - Barb Wilson - 73

Random photos capture the MLGA 18 hole players on a sunny day having fun on and off the course. The MLGA 9-Hole group and the Social Group have also gotten off to great start. We'll report on their May activities in the June issue of The McNary Newsletter.

YOUR HEALTH
Information from Kaiser Permanente Thrive

When a bad mood strikes, there are plenty of options to help you feel better. Meditating, exercising, and reframing negative thoughts are activities that can support your mental health. Another way to fight a bad mood — eating healthy Including a mix of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats, complex carbs, and protein in your diet can not only improve your physical health — your mental health can benefit as well. While you may be tempted to reach for a tub of ice cream after a difficult day, foods that are high in sugar, refined carbs, or trans fats may end up making you feel worse.

One step is to start your day with whole grains

A simple way to start your day is to swap out refined carbs, like white bread and sugar-sweetened cereals, with whole grains such as wheat bread and quinoa. Many whole grains contain tryptophan, an amino acid that aids in the production of brain chemicals that promote well-being, like serotonin. And breakfast is the perfect time to add them to your day. Starting your morning with a bowl of steel-cut oatmeal, which contains fiber, will keep you full and can prevent your energy from crashing before lunch. You can even dress up breakfast with fruits such as raspberries, or pumpkin seeds, for an added boost.

NEIGHBORS
Now You Know…
By Mark Piercy, McNary Estates Resident

Karen & Vic Backlund

Educator, Coach, or Mentor? Which commands the greater influence over our youth? They are not mutually inclusive. Just because you are good at one does not make you good at another. What if you are good at all three? In the right mix, the influence multiplier goes way up. This is what the subject of our article devoted his professional life to…. teaching, coaching, and mentoring.
His story begins in Bandon, Oregon, where he attended all 12 of his primary school years, excelling in 3 sports and earning 11 Tiger Letters. From there he advanced to Willamette University where he continued to hone his athletic skills at the collegiate level displaying his prowess in Bearcat Baseball, Basketball, and Football. He tallied another 10 Letters. He was selected to 5 All-Conference 1^st Teams in 3 different sports, perhaps the only Bearcat to ever do so. But, most importantly he accomplished this while graduating with a lofty 3.81 GPA. This is no small feat. This successful juggling act required hard work, dedication, and perseverance; traits learned from all his role models, including his parents, and a myriad of coaches. He picked up the best from each of them, not knowing he would find them useful later. He adds “I encountered many coaches with varying strengths of character and determination. I took away the dedication to hard work, competitiveness, fairness, and desire to excel.” He put an exclamation point on his collegiate career as a charter member of the University’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1991.
It was baseball that was most ingrained in his DNA, growing up around the Saw Dust League which featured teams in Coos Bay, Drain, Medford, Grants Pass, and Roseburg, among others. In fact, his Dad was General Manager of the team playing out of hometown Bandon. It seemed inevitable when he ascended to professional baseball, the dream of every aspiring little leaguer, as a catcher. Uncle Sam only allowed him to play two years though in the Dodger organization before summoning him to military duty. Enlistment in the U.S. Army Reserves meant 6 months of active duty and 5½ years of reserve duty. Enlistment in the U.S. Army Reserves meant 6 months of active duty and 5½ years of reserve duty. He bid farewell to the Dodgers.

Professional baseball behind him he sought to teach and coach, doing so at North Salem H.S. from 1961-65. He found his home though at McNary High in 1965 where he was head baseball coach, a position he held until 1998…33 years! He taught Advanced American History and American Government. During his tenure he managed to fit in coaching football and basketball, including 7 years as head basketball coach. He started the girls golf team at McNary and coached both the girls and boys golf teams for 2 years. Among his many coaching achievements were winning the 1989 and 1992 baseball state championships along with runner-up finishes in 1983 and 1984. Models of consistency, he and his baseballers were crowned Valley League Conference Champions 7 times and made 16 appearances in the state playoffs. His career record at McNary stands at 457-234. That success earned him many accolades including Valley League Coach of the Year 5 times; an honor bestowed by his peers; U.S. Western Region Coach of the year 2 times, and runner-up in the National High School Coaches Association poll twice. To top it off, in 1989 he received both the Golden Diamond Award from Baseball U.S.A. and the National High School Coaching Award from Scholastic Coach. His coaching extended to the collegiate level where he assisted Western Oregon University Basketball Coach Jim Boutin for three years. His successful coaching career has been validated with inductions into the Oregon State High School Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame, the McNary High School Hall of Fame, the NAIA Hall of Fame, and Western Oregon’s Athletic Hall of Fame as an assistant.

There is no reconciling the number of mentor-mentee relationships he nurtured throughout his 37-year teaching and coaching career just as there is no way to qualify or quantify how many young people he put on or kept on the correct path when their roads were about to fork. He might tell you that he merely passed down the positive influence he received. It is much more than that. He was equipped with the many tools and principles revealed to him by his own many teachers, coaches, and mentors. The relationships he forged were tempered by his Christian faith. He fostered a climate of “winning is important; but it is not most important.” Class and character come easy when winning. The challenge is demonstrating those traits while losing. Treating others with respect was recognized. Maintaining perspective was emphasized. “When things are going badly remember that Jesus suffered a lot more than you. He died on the cross that you could be eternally saved.”
He shares this story: A mentally challenged kid clamored to be our foul ball shagger. I agreed. He was remarkable at it, climbing the screen in front of the school building like the proverbial monkey. He was an amazing hustler. So meaningful was his job to him that he became distraught when someone else retrieved a foul ball and would not surrender it to him. In this symbiotic relationship the players learned compassion and in return he felt a part of the team. All benefitted. Ball shagger Kent performed his duties faithfully for several years.

Many of his charges went onto to play collegiately. Eleven had the opportunity to play professionally including Chris Barker, Tim Gower, Mark Hammer, Lee Langley, and Eric Schaffner. His own son, Brett, was a 1992 Pittsburgh Pirate draftee. Some continue to enjoy golf at McNary to this day, such as Gib Gilmore, Spencer Hueneke, Jeff McDonnell, and Rick Watson. Others became elementary and high school teachers and coaches, like Larry Keeker, math teacher and Head Celtic Baseball Coach. The baton is passed on. The connections are real and lasting. They are many. He throws out names like they played for him yesterday, though he is a robust 84.

He does not accept full credit for his coaching success. He acknowledges a supportive partner who willingly acquiesced personal time with her husband. Afterall she was a teacher herself who shares his affinity for sports. She traded up her teaching career for one raising their family. He and Karen, celebrating 61 years of marriage, are 15-year residents of McNary Estates. Karen can often be seen exercising their Schnauzer, Chester. They share a son and daughter and 5 grandchildren. They are also members of McNary Golf Club since 2000. Karen does not golf anymore but once served on the Club’s Board of Directors. He, however, still prowls the fairways and greens, just as he once did along the sidelines and dugout, nearly every weekday morning with his longtime friend, fellow coaching titan Jim Boutin. He is as much a fixture on the golf course as he was a fixture on McNary High School’s Backlund Field, aptly named in his honor. And I almost forgot to include Legislator. Following his 37-year career teaching and coaching he was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives three times. As if his contribution to society was not already fulfilled. Now you know…Vic Backlund…Educator, Coach, Mentor, and Legislator. More succinctly…Influencer Extraordinaire!

HUMOR ME
Written By: Mary A Smith

I have no idea why it was called a pitch pipe. It certainly didn’t resemble a pipe…rather, it was a small, circular, gleaming piece of beauty—a sleek, black and silver instrument my music teacher used to find the correct note for the songs we sang in my First Grade class in Elmira, New York. I was 6 years old.

Oh, to have a pitch pipe of my own! I watched, enviously, each time she took it out of her desk drawer. Lifting it to her lips, the pitch pipe emitted the most wonderfully soft, muted, almost magical,

sounds. And, it’s size—small enough to carry around in, say, one’s pocket (the kind in my school dresses). I wanted that pitch pipe!

It was so simple, I couldn’t believe it. Walking quickly to my teacher’s desk one day when everyone was dismissed for recess, I hurriedly opened the drawer, retrieved it and hid it in—yes, the pocket of my dress. I ran outside to join my classmates and teacher.

Throughout the remainder of the day, I reached into my pocket often to caress that smooth, sleek pitch pipe, savoring each touch. When the bell rang, I hurried from the school yard and down the short block to my house, brazenly lifting the pitch pipe (mine at last!) to my lips.

My mother barely questioned me (“where did you get that, Mary Alice?”) She was busy with my two little sisters and believed my answer, clearly a lie. I convinced her a friend had given it to me.

The story might have ended there, but for my foolishness (a trademark of first graders). I actually took my new treasure to school the following day! What was I thinking? Tucking the pitch pipe into the pocket of my dress, off I went, certain no one knew of my “crime” of the previous day.

And, they might not have known, but for another recess with games of hopping, jumping…out fell the pitch pipe onto the ground. Snatching it up from the playground, I quickly stuffed it into my pocket, this time covering it with a handkerchief. Alas, I soon discovered I’D been discovered…

Recess over, we returned to the classroom, only to be somberly informed by our teacher that “someone has taken my pitch pipe” (another teacher who was monitoring us, ratted on me!) I began to squirm, as I realized my teacher might be about to expose me as a thief! Ordering the class to stand up next to our desks, she strongly advised “the person who stole my pitch pipe needs to confess—NOW” (stole!—that seemed like such a harsh way to put it). I stood next to my desk, red faced, hand firmly clutching my treasure, now wrapped in a hanky in my pocket, and admitted nothing!

All these years later, I still recall the humiliation and embarrassment I felt when my teacher called out my name in front of the whole world (well, my world, anyway). I was dizzy with fright as I heard her say, “Mary Alice Edwards, please come to the front of the class!” And with those terrifying words, my sin was revealed to all my classmates.

Strangely, I seem to have “blocked” any consequences that followed…I do remember feeling ashamed (especially for being exposed to my classmates). Oh, well, I did have to stay after school to clean the blackboards.

I certainly also remember that pitch pipe, though. Its sleek sliver and black case, the mellow sounds…maybe it’s time I had one of my very own. I may be 80, but I’m sure feeling a lot like a 6-year old right now.

IN THE COMMUNITY
The Rotary Club of Keizer

Volunteers from the Rotary Club of Keizer prepare the ground for an outdoor exercise pad at Keizer Rapids Park. Photo by Gregory Dean Photography

Improving the health of Keizer by creating areas to exercise in our neighborhood parks is the idea behind this Rotary Club of Keizer project. The ambitious goal of this project is to create exercise areas and install exercise equipment in five neighborhood parks: Keizer Rapids; Clagget Creek; Wallace House; Meadows and Country Glen. These parks were selected based on geographic location and current park infrastructure. They have good proximity to neighborhoods and dispersion throughout the city. Additionally the ability for the park to support exercise equipment with the appropriate structures like walking paths was considered. All of the parks have had upgraded walkways within the last year.mRegular exercise is necessary for a healthy lifestyle. This project will benefit the entire city of Keizer and anyone who visits our parks.

MC NARY HOA NEWS
22^th Annual
McNary Estates Garage Sale
Saturday, August 21, 2021 8:00am – 4:00pm

Planning is underway for the 22^th Annual McNary Estates Garage Sale. If you would like to participate by holding a sale at this year’s event, please complete the form below and mail or deliver the form and the $20 fee payment to:

McNary Estates HOA

c/o Patty Scruggs

519 Snead Drive, N
Keizer OR 97303

You must be registered to participate, and registration forms must be received by Monday, August 16, in order to be included on the map of sale sites which is distributed to all attendees.

Please remember that this event is a “neighborhood garage sale.” Homeowners may not sell cooked foods or any commercial items or products of any kind. Loud music, entertainment, and collection drives for other than the authorized Marion/Polk Food Share are not permitted. Also, just to be safe, we need to organize our individual sale sites to spread people out as much as possible, and require all to wear masks.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This year, once again, there will be no organized pick up of left over items. You will need to make your own arrangements to get things picked up by 7 pm.

If you can volunteer as a Block Captain (and we really need Block Captains!), or if you have any questions, please contact Pam Getty, Garage Sale Chair, 503-362-7979, or by email at tompam2000@comcast.net.

The McNary Newsletter is separate but supported by the McNary Home Owners Association. Our goals are community and neighborhood driven. Contact Tom Dieker for your advertising interest at 503.949.0891 (tomdieker@comcast.net (mailto:tomdieker@comcast.net) ) or Christine Dieker for news and content suggestions at 503-949-6099 (diekerchristine@gmail.com (mailto:diekerchristine@gmail.com). Contributing writers and photographers:

Mary Smith
Susan May
Mark Piercy

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