Gates Family Connection with the Wildfires in the West

          When I began writing this article, the Black Butte wildfire's containment percentage was only in single digits. By early this week, it was 100% contained. 

            The Black Butte Wildfire burned over 22,000 acres of Malheur National Forest located in the central section of the eastern side of Oregon. The office of the Malheur National Forest’s supervisor can be found in John Day, Oregon. The beautiful area connects directly to all descendants of our maternal great-grandmother, Nettie Venator Tripp Black. 

Entrance to the Malheur National Forest 

According to the obituary of Nettie Venator Black, she was born in John Day City, Grant County, Oregon, on June 8, 1872. The town had only begun 10 years earlier in 1862. By the time Great-grandma Nettie was 10, the town dropped the word “City” from its name and is known as John Day to the present. The town’s population as of the last census is around 1,700 people. A curious bit of trivia from that region of Oregon – Pendleton, Oregon, the home of the beautiful Pendleton blankets, is situated only 87 miles north of Great-grandma Nettie’s birthplace.

Nettie Ann Venator Tripp Black - 1905
Great-grandma looks glum. Remember
smiling was inappropriate for those
born in the 19th century.

We seldom realize the ties we have with far-flung places. Often, we live for years without knowing of the connection! 

Over two months ago, I began delving into the Venator family in the Northwest during the late 19^th century. Not being a news hound, I heard enough updates to remain informed. More and more the news filled with fires ravaging the West. I investigated more closely Great-Grandma Nettie’s link to the devastated areas of Oregon.

I can’t help but wonder what drew some of the Venators to Kansas from Oregon. Perhaps the news of the opening of Oklahoma Territory or the opening of Cherokee Strip beckoned these ancestors struck with wanderlust. We descendants may never know, but my pondering brought Abram from the Bible to mind.

The patriarch, Abram, may have been judged by his neighbors in Ur and later Haran, to be the victim of being bitten by the travel bug. Some may have whispered behind his back that he was dragging Sarai into the unknown due to his itchy foot. Reading the account from the Bible clears up all speculating about Abram’s reason for relocating. Genesis 12:1 states: Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you.”

The recording of Abram’s response can be found in later in Genesis 12, in verse 4. It reads, So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him…

May we have Abram’s attitude of obedience. It may not mean relocating to an unknown country, but let’s obey without questioning, stalling, or debating with God.

These lines from hymns are easy to sing but usually harder to do:

What He says we will do, Where He sends we will go…from Trust and Obey

Where He leads me, I will follow…from Where He Leads Me

Anywhere with Jesus I can safely go…from Anywhere With Jesus

I’ll go where You want me to go, dear Lord, Over mountain, or plain, or sea;

I’ll say what You want me to say, dear Lord, I’ll be what you want me to be.

From I’ll Go Where You Want Me to Go

Photograph of the Scenery in the Malheur National Forest

The Second Week of September 20 Years Ago

            For about a year, Dad had anticipated this week in September. The 305^th Bomb Group Reunion organizational committee had chosen Tulsa, Oklahoma, to host the 2001 reunion. This would be the first time I could attend. Mother, Angie, and Ben had accompanied Dad in 1994, when Kansas City hosted the World War II bomb group yearly get-together.  He had attended an earlier reunion in St. Louis with his brother and his wife, Jess and Vesta.

            We all looked forward to seeing Fred and Dorothy Rabo from Chico, California. Fred and Dad were the only two who were still living who began training in Muroc, California, in their original ten-man crew and finished as a Pathfinder crew over German-occupied Europe. Fred piloted the B-17F Flying Fortress, with Fred Gilbert, as co-pilot, that transported Dad and the original crew across the Atlantic Ocean in 1942. In combat, Dad always manned the upper turret position. He usually stood between Fred and the co-pilot until they flew into enemy territory. (To learn more about Fred Rabo and Dad's friendship and combat missions, go to: https://bernadeanjgates.blogspot.com/2017/02/neither-of-them-got-over-march-6-1944.html ).

            Two days before we planned to arrive in Tulsa, everything turned upside down with the two attacks on the Twin Towers in New York City, the attack on the Pentagon, and the fourth attack thwarted by brave passengers on Flight 93. It was a tumultuous time unlike any I had seen as an American.

            With almost all air travel stopped, we feared Fred and Dorothy could not fly in from California. Probably neither could Fred Gilbert, Dad’s original co-pilot, make it from Washington. 

Standing - Fred Rabo, pilot, Fred 
Gilbert, co-pilot; Kneeling; Dad 
(Edmund Gates, Jr.),  upper turret 
gunner, Charles Petterson, ball turret
gunner. Less than three months later,
Charles Petterson flew with another
crew that went down in the North Sea 
and the entire crew was lost. Dad told
in his military memoirs, Okie Over
Europe,, of the impact of
Petterson's death. In the background
was Target for Tonight, the B-17F that 
Fred flew Dad and their crew over the
  Atlantic Ocean.

            Despite all the turmoil, sadness, uncertainty, the 305^th Bomb Group Reunion wasn’t cancelled. Angie, Ben, and I had requested time away from work on Thursday afternoon and Friday.

            We arrived, checked in, and upon arriving at the Welcome Reception learned Fred and Dorothy nor Fred Gilbert would be able to attend. Dad met with Ian, a writer from Chelveston, England, and showed his photos that Angie had put into an album as a Christmas gift during one of her “lean” college years. Dad had been based in Ian's hometown at Chelveston Air Base near Bedford, England, from January through April of 1943, until Fred Rabo, Tom Kon, and Dad became members of a Pathfinder crew.

            Ian had formed a fast friendship with Stan, a ground crew member of the 305^th Bomb Group. Stan had been able to fly into Chicago just before all flights in the United States were grounded. He was stranded there, until finally he hopped a Greyhound bus that took the long way ‘round to get him to Tulsa. With Stan’s health issues, his delayed arrival had Ian, his younger English friend, quite worried.

            We were disappointed because we so anticipated spending time with Fred and Dorothy. Yet the four of us being together with Dad as he recalled one of the most dangerous times in his life seemed so appropriate for that week twenty years ago. Dad would say, “We fought the battles over there so they would never come here.”

            Spending time with my family during one of the most turbulent weeks in the history of our country brought perspective. In my journal entry for September 13, 2001, I had written a quote from Bobby Simma, our principal at Woodland Elementary School at that time. After leading us in singing our National Anthem and “God Bless America,” he reminded the students, “Be grateful for each day we have because nothing is guaranteed.” (For a photo of the students I taught during the difficult days of September 2001, access this blog at:  https://bernadeanjgates.blogspot.com/2016/09/911-15-years-ago.html ).

                In light of Mr. Simma's admonition, I recalled a phrase from the prophet, Amos, who had been sent by God to the ancient nation of Israel. My father would characterize these people of old as fooling themselves. In no way were they mindful that they had no guarantee of another day. They were spiritually indifferent to God and to His truth. They had no interest in living by His principles in their daily lives. In response to their apathy toward God's message, Amos gives the warning from the Creator of all, Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!"

Geraldine Rice Forbes and Charles Welch,
former pastor, visit during the 100th
Anniversary of the Founding of the
Ralston Baptist Church (1997)

               AFTERTHOUGHT:  In my journal entry from September 12, 2001, I noticed a statement from Geraldine Rice Forbes that she made during our Wednesday night Bible study the night after the attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. She stated emphatically, "God is trying to get America to repent." Geraldine died eleven years ago last week. Yet her words ring true today. 

Necessity of a Hat and Helmet

        My sister and brother-in-law planned to come fix the lawn mower and four-wheeler. Mother wanted to prepare a roast to delight my brother-in-law’s palate. I headed to the old freezer to retrieve the much-desired roast and grabbed a bag of broccoli, too. With my hands full, I exited the freezer room. As I pulled the stubborn door closed, I was hit by something above my eye that immediately began hurting. As I made my way across the lawn, I held the bag of frozen broccoli to my eye.

Eye Swollen from Bite

          Upon setting down the frozen items on the counter, I notified Mother of the bite. That side of my face began to throb like a headache. I applied a Benadryl gel for bites and stings. The discomfort lessened. The next day, my brother-in-law diagnosed it as a “gnat bite” with the advice to keep taking my daily allergy medicine. On Sunday, my friend, Vonda Goad, pronounced it a “buffalo gnat bite” sympathizing with me since she had the same type of bite.

          I heard myself say several times, “I wouldn’t have gotten bitten if I had been wearing my hat.” The updated sunbonnet that I wear would have protected me from the bite.

Posing in my 21st Century Sunbonnet on my 
2021 Birthday

          Reflecting upon the importance of wearing my hat, I recalled the passage in Ephesians 6 when the Apostle Paul described the armor of God. I focused on the helmet of salvation. Jesus bought salvation through His sacrificial death on the cross. 

           Thoughts and influences of Satan’s kingdom of darkness bombard the unprotected mind. A person’s own sinful inclinations are influenced by a constant barrage of the world’s every-changing standards and false ideologies.  Yet how wonderful when a transformation begins upon the person receiving Jesus. The helmet of salvation initiates immediately the renewal of the mind of the new believer and warding off the salvo of Satan.

          The Grace to You website delineates two specific ways the enemy of God attacks the minds of believers with discouragement and doubt. Since John 3:16 promises everlasting life to whomever believes in God’s Son, Jesus, we cannot lose our salvation, but discouragement and doubt can render us ineffective in serving Him and showing His love to others.

          The function of the helmet of salvation is heightened by the Word of God or Sword of the Spirit, the only offensive weapon in battling the Wicked One. Maintaining an attitude of prayer endows the believer with strength and power for boldly sharing Jesus with others.

          The command from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians in Ephesians 6:17-19 remains essential to our growth–

Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God;

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints –

And for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel.