How does place figure into your favorite memories?
Pat Dunwoodie Berry fondly remembers her childhood in Randolph. Sincere thanks to Pat and her son, Mike, for sharing her memories at this year’s Randolph Club Picnic.
Farm
Pat lived in the Randolph area when her father owned a dairy farm situated on the north bank of the Coquille River, between 1938-1941.
She remembers, “One of my chores was to help with the lambs and calves, sticking my fingers in a bucket of milk for them to suck my fingers, to get them used to drinking milk from a source other than their mother. Alice, my pet lamb played hide and seek with me in the barn, hiding in a stall and jumping out when I got near.”
One of the hired men, Paul Colgrove, drove the milk cans from the barn to the creamery in Bandon, taking the ferry across the river. She says, “I got to ride along on lucky days.”
School
The farm sat about two miles west of Randolph School where Pat attended first grade: “I started school there—a one room schoolhouse, near the top of the hill at Randolph. One teacher (Mr. Powell, I think) and 9-10 kids, elementary grades. I think my father took me up to Randolph and dropped me off to walk up the hill to the school.”
“The picture in my mind is two buildings. Looking uphill and to the left, from the river side of the area was a smallish square white building; downhill and to the left from that was the school building; it was larger and all white also. I called the teacher Mr. Pal but didn’t think that was his real name.”
On a return visit to Coos County four years ago, she learned that her teacher was Powell Lancaster, who taught at Randolph during the 1938-39 school term.
Quintessential Randolph!
Pat also panned for gold at a small creek near her home and explored Whiskey Run beach where she found fossilized rocks.
Although not panning for precious metal, I am trying to deepen my sense of the community that developed in Randolph and discovered a treasure when I met Pat. I appreciate her willingness to share her memories with me — and you.
Sources
Berry, Patsy Joan Dunwoodie. I Remember (unpublished notes), 2019.
Photos of North Bank Road, c. 1938, Courtesy of the Berry Family.
Photo of Pat Dunwoodie Berry, 2023, by author.