Page 8 - Mid Valley Times 7-11-19 E-edition

Learning more about history at the Reedley Museum
By Juanita Adame
Mid Valley Times
A visit to the Reedley Museum many years after moving to town taught Adrienne Chakerian, a native of Fullerton, more about the place she and her husband arrived at more than 50 years ago.
“When I moved here, I immediately went back to school. I went back to school and got my teaching credential,” Chakerian said on the afternoon of July 2. “So I was teaching every day of the year.”
Work kept her busy. Chakerian said she hardly had the time to go out and explore her new home.
“I didn’t know anything about Reedley, except that it was Mennonite,” she said.
It wasn’t until an invitation to visit the Reedley Museum that turned everything around for her.
“When I retired, Marvin Crum and his wife, they kept saying, ‘Come to the museum. Come to the museum.’ And I have learned so much about Reedley. I just appreciate it so much.”
Juanita Adame / Mid Valley Times
The Reedley Museum offers visitors a look at what the city has been and what it will be.
She now volunteers her time at the museum and said its something she truly enjoys.
According to the City of Reedley’s website, the museum opened in 1979 and is home to several Native American artifacts, antique farm equipment, and a variety of exhibits that focus on the cultural diversity of Reedley.
It is located in what was Reedley’s first City Hall building. In 1917, the building then housed the city’s administrative offices, police and fire departments and even the jail.
In March 2017 the city celebrated the 100-year anniversary of the Reedley City Hall and the museum.
The Reedley Historical Society was formed in 1976 and its members were dedicated to the collection, preservation, and promotion of the rich history of the Reedley district.
“Everything that comes in is donated, if it’s donated, we’re free to do what we want, if its loaned, they can take it back,” said Marvin Crum, a museum volunteer.
“That big engine in the back is loaned, the fire truck now that belongs to the fire department.”
Crum said they never know what relic or piece of history will be brought in, but if its a part of Reedley’s history, they will accept it.
“We are here on Tuesday mornings, and we are open from 9 a.m. to noon. Also we are open on Saturday mornings from 9 a.m. to noon,” Crum said. “I strongly believe, if anyone wants to understand the history of Reedley, it’s right here.”
Then-Mayor Anita Betancourt spoke about the importance of the museum, helping dedicate a plaque commemorating the 100th anniversary of Reedley's first City Hall on March 3, 2017.
The city's website said the historical society dedicated the occasion to the men and women who worked in the building for so many years. That group included city employees, and members of the police and fire departments and ambulance service. The plaque was mounted on the
See MUSEUMonpageA11
Aspiring bakers distribute cookies
By Mike Nemeth
Mid Valley Times
It was the last hallway in Golden Living Center on Ninth Street in Sanger. Jordan Van Hoorebeke, 10, and Hayden Tung, 6, had just about passed out all the cookies they’d brought for residents of the nursing care facility.
An older gentleman reclined on a special gurney outside his room. He looked asleep, or so far away in his own thoughts that a couple of kids dressed in bright bakers outfits and matching aprons wouldn’t startle him from his reverie. Even the cart, handmade by Steve Masaoka and painted bright pink, appeared as it it would be beyond notice.
Emma Wade, a certified nurse assistant, got a conspiratorial look as Jordan and Hayden looked her way for guidance. They had dutifully gone up to every resident who didn’t have a dietary limitation and asked if they wanted a cookie or cupcakes.
“Watch this,” Wade said. She picked up one of the
remaining cookies on the cart and waved it under the man’s nose. Maybe it was the fragrance. A significant percentage of the cookies had been baked by Jordan and Hayden sometime earlier and a portion were store-bought.
Maybe the man saw motion out of his periphery. But he roused. Slightly.
Then his expression changed to one of pure happiness. Wade had handed him one of the homemade cookies.
His day was made. Staff identified him only as “Mr. S.” Policy by management decreed that no faces be shown in photographs or people identified.
“Gracias,” Mr. S said.
Jordan appeared to have caught a little of his mood. Sometimes good feelings are contagious. “He said, ‘Thank you,’” she said, a smile of her own showing.
Jordan and Hayden began the process of distributing their baked goods a little after noon July 3. Steve and Linda Masaoka unloaded the pastry cart, and Jordan and Hayden loaded it up
Mike Nemeth / Mid Valley Times
Aspiring baker Hayden Tung, 6, hands out cookies to residents of Golden Living Center in Sanger. That's Jordan Van Hoorebeke right.
with plates of cookies cupcakes. When they and the aforementioned rolled into the front doors
of the Golden Living Center, residents looked up wondering who the new visitors were.
Soon they understood.
People who bring cookies have arrived. At first when Jordan offered a woman in a wheelchair a frosted cookie, the woman looked at her. Maybe she was confused. Maybe she was just surprised.
Others quickly accepted the sweets. “Thank you sooo much,” said a resident.
“These people get forgotten, you know,” Steve said. He then explained that he had friends in the center at one time. He said people don’t get by to visit like they should.
Another man who residents referred to as Mr. Rogers saw the kids when they rolled down his hallway. His eyes lit up. “Thank you,” he said quietly after getting his cookie. He stayed in his wheelchair in the hall to watch Jordan and Hayden repeat their cookie giveaway with his neighbors.
Hayden said he loves baking. Steve showed
pictures of the boy a couple years earlier around the stove helping out.
“I like baking cookies,” Hayden said. “Because it makes yummy goodies.”
Likewise, Jordan said she loves baking. She likes creating cakes and cookies. She said her favorites are chocolate cake and chocolate chip cookies.
Of her experience she said, “Fun. It was fun.”
And it was her first time doing anything like it. Would she do it again? “Probably,” she said.
Lillian Masaoka said she worked for years at a convalescent home in Fresno and knows their work was appreciated. Her delight watching her granddaughter hand out the treats could not be masked. She said Hayden, who frequently can be found in her kitchen, loves it.
“Whenever I bake a cake at the house, he’ll frost it,” she said.
The reporter can be contacted by email at nemethfeatures@gmail.com or at (559) 875-2511.
Sanger's Dyson designed EECU wins architectural award
Times staff
Dyson Janzen Architects of Fresno has won a Gold Award in the 2019 Muse Design Awards competition for its design of Educational Employees Credit Union financial center in Sanger, the company said.
The submission was one of more than 3,180 from 46 countries. The winning work was created by Arthur Dyson.
“I am honored and extremely grateful to accept such a prestigious award and do so on behalf of the staff at EECU that had
the vision and courage to move beyond the ordinary and explore alternative design approaches,” Dyson said in prepared remarks.
Last year, when the credit union at Bethel and Jensen avenues had its official opening, Dyson said he and his team wanted to create a structure that blended with its surroundings, let in lots of light and was pleasant to work in. In short, a “dynamic environment.”
“We’ve got a lot of lot of glass, but it’s up high,” he said, explaining that any operation in the business of managing and
loaning money is security conscious. “And the light entering in from above is reflected with that curved ceiling. So it’s easier to see.”
The building bears Dyson’s penchant for sweeping curves and unmistakable style. EECU executives staged a grand opening that drew many of Sanger’s dignitaries.
The EECU building is Dyson’s second along that stretch of Bethel. St. Mary’s Catholic Church a few blocks away on North and Bethel avenues is another
See AWARD on page A11
The Sanger branch of the EECU won an award for Fresno architect Art Dyson.
Dyson Janzen Architects