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jarvises proud of Finnish ancestry, long-time
Ray Stout
Staff Writer
(Editor's note: The follow-
ing story was written just prior
to Larry Jarvis' untimely death
Nov. 11 at the age of 82. The
story is a true testimony to the
life of one of Long Valley's pio-
neers, and his death only gives
more impetus for the
Perspectives series that appears
periodically in The Long Valley
Advocate. We think it's impor-
tant to record the reflections,
remembrances and opinions of
those who've walked this valley
long before most of us who live
here now. Here is the latest in
that series.)
Somewhere amid their 151 acres
(:,f pasture land north of Lake Fork,
Larry and Thelma Jarvis' white
bodge Caravan sits
p,rked just across
tl_:e gravel lane from
tyke red iron pitcher-
piimp behind the big
white house.
0.t the black
f,aming around the
license plate nun-
bered "191 l" — the
year he was born in
Rock Springs, Wyo.
— and featuring the
bluebird perched on
the blooming syringa
are the words
"Finnish American"
After arriving.
here when he was
six, his was one of
the Finnish families
which the harsh win-
ters didn't send flee-
ing to the west side_
of Oregon's Blue Mountains.
Despite their having to build a new
house on the site in `29 and a new
barn in `30, Raino Lawrence Jarvis
has known no other home.
"Been in the same place ever
since," he says, barely intelligible
but with no trace of Baltic accent.
"I've seen a lot of changes. A lot
of changes."
His father had come to the
United States in 1884, following
parry's grandfather by eight years.
He supported himself and wife by
working in the Coca -cola bottling
residency
works in southern Colorado and
in the Wyoming coal mines, soon
fathering the three boys and a
daughter. He died when Larry was
12, leaving the family to operate
the 160-acre parcel of land.
Larry was the only kid who
stayed on the farm. Bill, the old-
est, became an attorney and rep-
resented the irrigation district when
Cascade Dam was put in. Axel put
in about 40 years with the Forest
Service and Government Services
Administration. Tekla, the only
daughter, taught grade school in
the local area.
"I'm the only one left, the
youngest and the orneriest," he
says, chuckling.
They raised cattle until 1924,
when the new irrigation system
encouraged them to switch to alsike,
potatoes, peas or grain.
which was downtown where K &
L Jewelry and Gifts is now. For
20 years, she was superintendent
of the hot -lunch program for the
schools before retiring in 1978.
Though he's one of the longest -
lived Finns remaining, Larry's
family wasn't one of the earliest
to settle in the valley. Most of the
Finnish families who homestead-
ed here did so in 1904, he said.
One of their accomplishments
is the Finnish Church out on Fann-
To-Market Road two miles south-
east of Lake Fork, built in 1917.
When Larry and Vern Heikkila
had the siding replaced in the `70s,
Gus Maki, the president of the
Finnish organization of patrons,
"heard a lot of guff about it" for
the financial commitments they
made, said Larry.
family
When the last of the harvest-
ing died out after World War II,
however, they, like most farmers,
went back to cattle.
They credit people such as J.
B. Whig _ey, Carl Bevers and Nealy
McBride, all of them private cit-
izens, with getting the irrigation
system put in place. "After it was
all organized, everybody wanted
to join," said Thelma, 77.
In `44, he married Thelma. She
had grown up in Emmett, where
her family had moved from McCall
before she retumed two years before
her marriage. She went to work
for C. C. Anderson's Mercantile,
The Jarvis
Old or new, however, the church
has long been invigorated by the
women. "The Finnish ladies kept
it a-goin'," said Thelma, by turn-
ing out sock after sock, pillow-
cases, embroidery and more. In
fact, she said, a recent sale brought
in over $1,000, which will be used
to pay their electricity bills and
taxes.
"Some of the older ladies still
make sweaters and things, but that's
kind of dying out" because many
of their children don't have as great
an interest, she said.
Also to the Finns' credit is the
community hall they built in 1930.
"Used to have quite a bit of music
there. Danced three times a week,"
said Larry.
The building burned in the late
`40s. 'To have our wedding dance,
we had to go to McCall," said
Thelma.
"No, it hadn't burnt yet," Larry
corrected her.
"Why did we go to McCall,
then?"
"The clubs there put it up. They
sponsored it."
But not all the clubs' activities
were so virtuous. "There were 14
or 15 clubs in McCall during the
Depression," said Thelma.
"Gambling was wide open."
"There were quite a few boot-
leggers" before the repeal of
Prohibition, said Lary. "The sher-
iff was after them. He'd catch a
few of them. Some got shot. In
Donnelly, one guy got shot while
they were trying to raid his still."
Speak-easies? "Boise had them
— quite a few of them," he said.
But no secrets in McCall, where
alcohol sale was "wide open."
Once alcohol started becoming
available in the barrooms, how-
ever, bootlegging died down as
everyone would head for the bars
in Donnelly or McCall. There were
dances to boot, in Donnelly and
in the big dance hall at Roseberry.
A frequent performer at those
dances was Sansoo Strutters, a
band headed by a Boise woman,
they said.
Larry remembers when his clos-
est neighbor was a half mile awav
and when the house first got its
electric power. The first electric
company, West Coast, was bought
out by Idaho Power, which recent-
ly gave him a $20 credit on his
electric account for being the
longest -living customer on their
books.
"They looked back, and they
couldn't find anyone who'd been
here longer than Larry," said
Thelma.
It was indeed a long time ago
when the coal they burned in their
basement furnace sold in Donnelly
for $9.50 per ton. "It was so dirty,"
said Thelma.
"This gas heat now — nice and
clean," said Larry.
. 06g• ✓a lie y Ad v0 c.+Te ,. c. i 5-i 993
Star News - December 15, 1993
Od P4 e & of
Though the people in town knew Finland, so why teach `em?"'he The Jarvises said the valley has
a Finn when they saw one,Larry said. undergone too much subdividing.
said, his father both spoke and Whether they speak Finn or While many farmers have sold out
wrote English fluently.Likewise, not,however,Thelma is thankful to developers,the Jarvis farm has
Larry is well-respected as a speak- her daughters are alive and healthy. given up only nine acres,on the
er of Finnish,said Thelma. "When I hear someone complain east side of the highway.Nowadays,
"Someone who talks Finn he about the hospital or the doctors, Larry and Thelma only use their
really likes to get together with," I tell them, `Listen, you should land to rent cattle pasture in the
she said."They really like to talk have lived here when we didn't summer.
with Larry because he can answer have no hospital —didn't have It was 1925 when Larry's fain-
in Finn. no doctors—and we had to go ily got their first car.That was also
"There's not many around all the way to Council." when he first went to Boise,where
though who can still talk in Finn." Such was the case one night in he had never been in the horse-
They said it's sad the language `46,when their second daughter and-buggy.
is going out."It even is forme," Sharon was born in the car at 2 The county road running by
said Thelma. a.m.on a snowy February morn- their farm became a highway in
ing. She is also thankful for Sue 1929,he said.It was paved in about
She said that while Larry's Kerr,who acted as midwife. `32.
mother spoke only"really broken" "The county had good equip-
English,most Finns didn't speak Next spring,Larry and Thelma ment and good men," he said.
any.Listening to her husband and would have recognized their gold- Before there were so many peo-
mother-in-law,she soon came to en anniversary,50 years together ple,said Thelma,the county would
understand and speak a little bit in the same house in the same val- plow the driveways of residences 4
of Finnish,but her ability passed ley. "That's a long time with the their snowplows passed while clear-
on with her mother-in-law, she same woman,"he said,chuckling ing the highway.
said. at his wife.
They tried to get his mother to
teach the language to their four - "That's a long time with the
daughters, said Larry. "But she same man,"said Thelma,leaning
said, `They'll never go back to toward him with a laugh.