The unsinkable Orella Chadwick

She is tall and slender and moves across the room with gentle grace.

If you haven’t been told, you wouldn’t know that she is 90 years old, celebrated on April 25 of this year.

Her name is Orella Chadwick and she was making a visit to La Grande over Memorial Day to visit her family graves before hurrying to Portland to fly to Florida for a weekend occasion with family there. Then it would be back to Tillamook to her farm acreage and activities in that community.

It is her early life as part of La Grande that takes our attention as we think about the “old” and not so old days of La Grande and Union County.

It was my interest in Zuber Hall, where I used to attend the dances as a teenager, that drew me to Orella in 2004, for I had learned that she had founded Orella’s Garden, a restaurant, in that hall. Thinking that she would be a good prospect for the history of that building, a letter was directed her way. What became of that simple request was a friendship from the start that has only grown stronger over the ensuing years.

It is best to let her tell you her memories as she wrote them to me, for my story ended up not being so much about Zuber Hall but about Orella herself:

“I was born a Holloway. My first association with Zuber Hall was when I was a student at EOU (1936-8); I sometimes went to the dances on Saturday nights; they had huge crowds and great music... the charge, if my memory serves me, was 10 cents. Of course, that makes sense because, as full-time students, any extra money we earned was baby-sitting. If we were finished before midnight, we received 25 cents, after midnight 50 cents. An ice cream cone was 5 cents... those depression years and prices — tuition $21 a quarter.

“I taught one year, married Everett Holmes in 1938. If you were married and your husband had a job, you weren’t eligible to have a teaching contract. We had a son, Gary, and were living in La Grande when Pearl Harbor was bombed. In March of 1944 Everett went to war and was sent to the Pacific Theater. I borrowed $500 from Arch Parker, First National Bank, I think. We didn’t even have enough money to have a checking account, but he said he knew I would pay it back even if I had to mop floors to do it! He didn’t know me or that I would pay it back, but it was really considerate of him to loan it and a good ploy.

“I bought the Jones’ Grocery Store at 2614 N. Fourth St. across from Riveria School. I had bought only their $1,300 inventory at the time. After a year or so I bought the building from Wadham’s and Co., probably a financial institution from a foreclosure. Long hours but we made a good living even in wartime with rationing. Last time I was by there it was a Deli. It was obvious from the beginning that this was my project and had nothing to do with Everett.

“My friend Carmen (Gregory) Robinson had a grocery store at 1612 Second Street and a son, Skip. Our sons were the same age and had great times playing together. When we closed our stores at 8:00, we sometimes went to the movie, taking them with us, or on Saturday nights we would drive to Cove where they had roller-skating.

“Now you are wondering what all this has to do with the Zuber. Well, I am coming to that. I was so uncoordinated that just skating that little while one night a week wasn’t getting me anywhere. It was frustrating because I had been a tomboy and athletic. I should be able to do this easily. I saw an ad for 100 pairs of roller skates in Seattle, bought them over the phone and combined a trip to pick them up with a visit to my parents who lived in Seattle. I bought Zuber Hall for $6,000 from, I think, a Dorothy Ziegler.

“Now, mind you, these were street skates so had steel rollers and I had to buy wooden rollers and convert them. This Carmen and I would do after we closed our grocery stores. I don’t remember that they were even having dances at the Zuber at that time, but the times were pretty sobering and so many of our men were at war, maybe even the musicians.

“I can’t remember when we actually started skating at the Zuber, but it had to be sometime in 1945. We had great crowds and a faithful following — at first!

“By Spring 1946, the war was over. Everett survived the war but not our marriage. Carmen and I both sold our grocery stores and decided we were going to see the country. We left our sons with her sister because school was in session. She and her husband also ran the skating rink for me. On this trip, we ate in so many different and unique restaurants that we had the idea to turn the Zuber into a Dine and Dance... and did!

“Mind you, I knew nothing about the restaurant business, but Carmen had had considerable experience before she bought her store. I remodeled and put in a concession counter and kitchen in the rooms along the east side of the hall.

“I must have contacted Ken Lillard, a great ambassador for KLBM, about advertising for our new venture, a dine and dance. We had to have a name before we could do any advertising and it was Ken and my partner Carmen who thought it should be called Orella’s Garden because Carmen and I had decided on a garden setting. I had to admit that it did sound personal and charming and different.

“We bought different size tables and flowered tablecloths to help with the garden theme. Mel Loree was the contractor who had Mel Elder make the Orella’s Garden sign for me and put it in place.

“Carmen insisted on everything being first class and she knew how to make it so. We served breakfast, lunch and dinner. We soon had all the service clubs for lunch, the Knife & Fork Club in the evening and Business & Professional Women, Chamber banquets. We had a day cook and I made the pies. Carmen and I made the salads, an evening fry cook for steaks and hamburgers. It was the best eating place around and it wasn’t just Carmen and I that thought so.

“Radio KLBM had a program over the air at the restaurant called “Somebody’s Gotta Win,” but I don’t remember what they won. It was only on Saturday nights, I think, and Ken Lillard would interview the diners.

“I hired Billy Howell and his Vets Band, mostly made up of college students. Carl Helm Jr. defended Orella’s Garden against the state because they were insisting I pay unemployment tax on the Vets Band, made up of unemployed students playing for a few extra dollars and their love of music.

He won and set a landmark case so no one could ever be sued for such a cause again. I see Billy every couple of years, as we are both graduates of Imbler High School and they have a reunion every other year.

“Dick Lindsey and his Old-Time Band played Thursday nights. He had a tenor singer that was known then as Lloyd Doss. When I booked Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, Lloyd asked if I could get him an audition with Bob. I did and he was hired and went on to be part of the Sons of the Pioneers for many years. We also hired other bands with names such as Hot Lips, Henry Bussey, Jack Teagarden, Smiley and His Sage Riders, The Aristocrats, Glen Houle’s Band sponsored by the VFW and an All-Veterans Band sponsored by the La Grande Junior Chamber.

“In our ‘spare time’ Carmen and I dug dirt out of an unfinished part of the basement. By this time my brother had come home from the war and was living with me until he found a place for his family. He helped some when he wasn’t working and his friend would come by to visit and get to work, too!

We made this into a cozy private place where small parties could be held.

This was where Lloyd auditioned for Bob Wills.

Mrs. George Cochran gave me a copy of a cookbook published by St. Peter’s Guild in 1924 with recipes contributed by many noted Union County people. I have sometimes found recipes there that I couldn’t find anywhere else. I bought my first car after the war from Cy Parker, the third one that came to La Grande, a two-door green Buick LaSabre. My first electric range was the fifth one to come into Bohnenkamps after the War. All of these people were faithful diners at Orella’s Garden.

“So, what happened to this thriving business? Well, winter came! The old oil furnace in the basement couldn’t warm the place. It was enough for dancers and skaters, but not for sit-down dining. I replaced it with gas and rockwooled (insulated) the walls. By the time this was all done, most of our dining business was gone. We cut out the breakfasts and just had one chef. We still managed to get some big banquets. One of these was Sen. Wayne Morse and the governor, whose name now escapes me. We learned one hard lesson about ‘reservations.’ I think it was the Chamber or Farm Bureau or a combination that made reservations for 400-500 people and ordered turkey with all the trimmings. President Truman had proclaimed the week of Thanksgiving as Farm-City Week and celebrations were in order all over the United States. As I remember it, about 175 showed up. We served turkey to service clubs in every imaginable form for weeks! Did we come out financially? I don’t know. Sometimes it was better that way.

“Carmen and I both remarried and started second families. Virgil [Chadwick] and I had both been raised on farms and knew that was where we wanted to raise our family. We now had Gary, Matilda ‘Tilda’ Rae, Diana Kay and Virgie Gay. We gave up on the Zuber/Orella’s Garden and in 1952 moved to a dairy farm in Tillamook. In actuality, dairying is even more steady and confining than a restaurant, but at least you can have your family with you and they can learn responsibility and how to work. In fact, it was four and a half years before we would return to La Grande for even a visit and the Zuber/Orella’s Garden had burned(?) to the ground, maybe between 1952/6.

“My ties to the area are still strong. My husband and his family are buried in Cove. My parents and two brothers are buried in Summerville, thus my trips up there in May each year.’’

— Orella