Sunday, December 30, 2012

Obituary For Gail W. Caperna


Gail W. Caperna   July 2, 1922 - December 13, 2012



 A Storytelling Guild Founder has passed on.

More than 90 years ago this last July Gail Caperna was welcomed into this world. In mid-December she bid us all a fond good-bye with her son and daughter, and dear friends Shanna and Veronica beside her.

We have lost (one of) our matriarch(s).
Words can't describe this woman, this powerhouse: storyteller and puppeteer for countless libraries, co-founder of the Jacksonville Children's Festival, charter member of the Jackson County Storytelling Guild, 20-year Girl Scout leader, oldest recipient of a BS degree in Theater Arts at Southern Oregon University at age 75, an extraordinary costumer for the SOU Theater Dept. and OSF, and teacher of creative dramatics when, walking with a cane at age 82, she toted bags of magical props and costumes to classrooms of children in local schools.


She had a remarkable creative influence on her four children. Reading defined her life and we revere the eclectic treasure trove of knowledge, through books, that she has left us. Her three grandchildren are especially grateful for knowing Jody in The Yearling, Sterling in Rascal, or May Belle in Bridge to Teribithia, characters experiencing rites of passage-often in nature-and now threatened in our postmodern, digital world. This knowledge, disappearing as our elders leave us, will be passed on to her four great-grandchildren and to all who treasure books and storytelling.


Full of curiosity, she wrote about everything she did and was a published poet. With her children and grandchildren, you could find her at a Yaqui Indian ceremony in Mexico, a fashion show in Italy, on a boat on Lake Meade, inspiring children with the Little Moon Theater at the Jacksonville Children's Festival, or hunting in the Wallowa Mountains.


Nature was a powerful source of her inspiration. Growing up on the coast in Bandon, Ore., she survived the 1936 fire that destroyed the entire town and her family home. An Oregon tomboy, she traveled with her father, Clark, a cattle buyer, and listened to his endless yarns and recitation of Robert Service poems. In the late 1930s she moved to California and worked as executive secretary to the Commander of the Mare Island Naval Base where she met her husband, Ron. She then returned to Oregon, settled in Medford, and began an art gallery in Jacksonville, full of watercolors of the coast, misty landscapes, fishing boats, and the Oregon woods she loved so much.

Obituary taken from Mail Tribune, 12/30/2012

Monday, October 22, 2012

Remembering names from the past


FROM MY HEART

Recently
 I gave a talk for members of my P.E.O. Chapter about my years as the creator of Fred The Litter Critter artwork.  I let the audience know that I was confessing an on-going love affair that had lasted for 46 years.... and his name is FRED.  It was a fun time for me as I passed around original drawings and printed materials from Festivals past.  I ended my talk by showing  my T-shirt quilts (2) that were made by my friend Anne Duncan.  She used the T-shirt fronts from all of my collection of shirts dating back to 1982.  There were no T-shirts before that time or I would have three quilts instead of two!'

It was a perfect time to pass around a sheet of paper to have those in the audience who had worked in some capacity at Children's Festival some time during the passed 46 years.  Of the 23 people attending this meeting there were 11 people who have worked with me at the festival.   Here's a list of those who were there to "sign in":

Mary Jo Bergstrom, Macaroni necklaces, Mother Gooseland
Carol Holst, Southern Oregon Historical Society's history booth
Robin Dressler
Valerie Root, Stage, l982-l986
Dottie Palamara, Face Painting Booth
Marjorie Overland, Kite Booth, 1981, Strolling Artists & Performers,  1982-1983 Festival Co-Director, 1984-l985 Properties
Bette Haberlach, Mother Gooseland chair,  Festival Co-Director
Peggy Tomlins, Festival Co-Director, Festival Properties, Festival Special Session
Carolyn Barrett, Festival Co-Director, Festival Properties.
Becky Versteeg, Festival Co-Director, Festival Properties, Festival Special Session.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

CHILDREN'S FESTIVAL 2012 NOW IN THE HISTORY BOOKS

Karen Dailey, Judy Gambee, Queen Cecile McKee, Pat Blair & Cameron McCandless
Teen Volunteers, Sophie, Sascha, Miranda, Maia & Kaitlyn

STAGE PERFORMERS DOING DANCES FROM HAWAII
Queen Cecile in the Central Point 4th of July Parade

Monday, June 11, 2012

A NEW QUEEN IS SELECTED!


2012 Queen Cecile McKee





The Queen for the 2012 Children's Festival was crowned June 10th in a special ceremony held in her honor at a Queen's Tea which was presented by the reigning 2011 Queen, Cameron McCandless.   The Tea, held at Holmes Park in Medford begins Queen Cecile's year long reign.  Storytelling Guild members, Children's Festival Volunteers and their children attended the Tea and consumed tea, lemonade, cookies, tea sandwiches, tea bisbuits and cupcakes.   After the coronation ceremony was completed the newly crowned queen led the children present in her first "Queen's Parade" around the park.

She will officiate over all Storytelling Guild programs and Children's Festival activities for he 2012/2013 season.   This honor is bestowed upon a deserving member of the Storytelling Guild who has been active in all phases of the Storytelling Guild's many community activities.  She is recognized for her long and dedicated work on behalf of children in the Rogue Valley Community.

Fifteen past Children's Festival Queens were present to honor the new queen and to say
"welcome" to the " Children's Festival Queen's Society" ,  A select group of 44 women who have
served as Children's Festival Queen over the last 46 years.

Past Festival Queens Surround Queen Cecile for her first official photograph.

They are:  Ilma McKern, Pat Blair, Judy Gambee, Lynn Kellogg, Peggy Tomlins, Marilyn Gradwell,  Andrea Mobley, Linda Higgins, Janice Cox, Sue Roberts Dalke, Diane Newland, Karin Dailey, Cameron McCandless, Terrie Kirkpatrick, Darla Foley, and Susie Wright.

Children's Festival T-Shirt Designs, 1982 to 2014

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