Trip Report
J. Haversham Collingsworth, mystery passenger, joined the Thundering Seas trip! A group of 32 left South Eugene High School parking lot on Thursday, May 26, 1988, bound for Thundering Seas, the Oregon State School for Goldsmiths, at Depoe Bay. Baxter Shaw was our driver. As the group was preparing to leave, a young man bounded across the parking lot and onto the bus and left Janice Pattison speechless. It was her son Curry from Los Angeles. Wanting to surprise his mother, he had kept his identity a secret until several nights before the trip when he had to tell the leader but swore her to secrecy. (Thinking this was some kind of joke, the leader was not going to let him go so he had to reveal his true identity.)
After this exciting start, the bus traveled to Newport via Corvallis and north to South Point Street, a short distance from Depoe Bay, stopping first at Beverly Beach Park for a rest stop. We drove to the end of the street where the school is located in an addition to a big beach home owned by Mrs. Delphine Kreilsheimer. She has contributed a great deal of money and gives her entire time to running the school in spite of being around 72 years old. Her lecture as well as her demonstrations of how the jewelry is made was of great interest to the group. Several students working at the school also gave demonstrations and answered questions. Students come from many parts of the country and instruction is on a highly individual basis. Students get credit through Oregon State University. "Del" as she is known to the students then invited us into her living room. The house is perched on a rocky ledge sixty feet above the Pacific Ocean thus being known as "Thundering Seas." She has collected items from all over the world, many of them Oriental since her husband was an engineer and they traveled extensively. There was much interest in her collections and travels. Money is being assembled and much has already been raised for a new and such larger school to be built at Agate Beach.
As it was lunch time, we returned to Beverly Beach State Park and the weather cooperated. It had been a somewhat cloudy but wars windless day but just as we finished lunch, it started to rain and the rest of the day was stormy and rainy. We drove to Newport and through Nye Beach where Grace Smith gave us some history of the area and pointed out some of the historical buildings. Everyone was interested in the old Gilmore Hotel which is now a bed and breakfast establishment with every room decorated and dedicated to an author. We drove to the Marine Science Center and looked at the exhibits and some saw a slide show. We drove home along the coast to Florence and then to Eugene arriving home about 5:30. Thundering Seas participants were: Rita Baxter, Margaret Baldwin, Emer Capron, Ingrid Carmichael, Bernie Claypool, Clair Cooley, Vina de Brokert, Jeannette Deletas, Virginia DeMers, Bill & Marge Eaton, Minnie Foskett, Jan Gund, Beattie Hill, Lillian Johnson, Ainsley Jorgenson, Illa Morris, Lois Morse, Janice and Kurry Pattison, Hazel Peck, Lois Schreiner, Mary Sheehan, Grace Smith, Ethel & Robin Steussy, Mildred Weatherby, Bob Wilson, Freda & Harold Young, Mildred Detling and Bette Hack (leader).
