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Finding a home in Keno
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| H&N photo by Todd E. Swenson Marie and Joe DeGrande have lived in Keno for more than 60 years. |
Marie and Joe DeGrande have plenty of stories after 62 years in Keno
By STEVE KADEL
H&N Staff Writer
Keno isn’t the kind of place you’d expect to find a Hollywood film star, but that’s what happened to Marie DeGrande.
The year was 1948 and Clark Gable, who played Rhett Butler in the 1939 movie “Gone with the Wind,” was in town on a hunting vacation.
DeGrande, a waitress at a Keno restaurant, served Gable his breakfast. The actor was partial to bacon and eggs, toast and applesauce.
“I curled his bacon and he said ‘That’s just the way I like it,’ ” DeGrande recalled. “He was just an ordinary guy, just one of the boys. He gave me a $1 tip. I should have framed it, but we needed it.”
DeGrande and her husband, Joe, said Gable wanted to buy their dog, a pointer.
“He said we could name our price,” Marie said. “We didn’t have two nickels to rub together, but we wouldn’t sell our dog.”
Meeting Gable was one of the highlights of the DeGrandes’ life in Keno. Their tenure in the small town on the shoulder of the Cascades began 62 years ago when they moved from Vancouver, Wash., to be near Joe’s sister.
They were married nine years earlier — March 10, 1937 — at the Vancouver Justice of the Peace for $5.
“He’s Italian and I’m Swedish,” Marie said.
“When we got married, (friends) put up a big sign that said ‘It will never last.’ That was 71 years ago.”
The couple started life in Oregon living in what Marie called “a one-room shack.”
Over the years, Joe built on several more rooms to make it the comfortable home it is now.
He was always handy with tools, and the DeGrandes ran the Keno Garage for 32 years. Joe worked on vehicles and Marie helped with paperwork and ordering parts.
The job occasionally called for long hours, because Joe advertised 24-hour-a-day towing service.
Joe said his ability with tools “just comes naturally. My dad was the same way. He could do anything he wanted with tools.”
Despite being retired for a long time, Joe still has his collection of tools from the garage days.
“He’s got tools that people today don’t even know about,” Marie said.
Their two families lived nearby in Vancouver when Marie and Joe were growing up. Marie worked in the DeGrandes’ garden prior to their marriage. She pulled weeds for 15 cents a row. Joe spotted her one day and was immediately smitten.
Joe’s father came to this country in 1907, being processed through Ellis Island. His mother made the same journey from Italy by herself in 1914.
Joe worked in a Vancouver plywood mill before being drafted during World War II.
“I asked for the Navy, but they stuck me in the Marines,” he said. “I wanted to get into the Navy in a machine shop.”
He served only four months and two days, and was destined for action in Japan until the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki effectively ended the war.
Joe became Keno’s first fire chief in 1974, and held the position for a couple of years.
He remembers the town as being a bit tough back in those days. For example, the Greyhound bus that routinely went from Keno to Medford was blocked one evening when a scuffle at a local dance hall spilled onto the street, turning into a brawl.
Although getting on in years — he’ll be 93 in October and she’ll be 90 in September — the couple still lives an independent life.
“We do everything for ourselves except drive,” Marie said.
Joe has had two open-heart surgeries, but still gets around, although he sometimes uses a cane or walker.
“The doctor says I’m in good shape for my age,” he said.
Fortunately, daughter Kathleen Kite lives nearby and does shopping for her parents along with bringing wood in the winter.
Joe has had to give up gardening, one of his
pleasures.
“I get down, and I can’t get up again,” he said.
But he still serves as a National Weather Service observer, recording each day’s high and low temperatures and the precipitation. He copies the daily numbers into a monthly journal and mails it to Medford at the end of the month.
The DeGrandes don’t question their decision to have lived in Keno for so long, even though such longevity is rare in this era of mobility.
“This town has been pretty good to us,” Joe said.
The year was 1948 and Clark Gable, who played Rhett Butler in the 1939 movie “Gone with the Wind,” was in town on a hunting vacation.
DeGrande, a waitress at a Keno restaurant, served Gable his breakfast. The actor was partial to bacon and eggs, toast and applesauce.
“I curled his bacon and he said ‘That’s just the way I like it,’ ” DeGrande recalled. “He was just an ordinary guy, just one of the boys. He gave me a $1 tip. I should have framed it, but we needed it.”
DeGrande and her husband, Joe, said Gable wanted to buy their dog, a pointer.
“He said we could name our price,” Marie said. “We didn’t have two nickels to rub together, but we wouldn’t sell our dog.”
Moved from Vancouver
Meeting Gable was one of the highlights of the DeGrandes’ life in Keno. Their tenure in the small town on the shoulder of the Cascades began 62 years ago when they moved from Vancouver, Wash., to be near Joe’s sister.
They were married nine years earlier — March 10, 1937 — at the Vancouver Justice of the Peace for $5.
“He’s Italian and I’m Swedish,” Marie said.
“When we got married, (friends) put up a big sign that said ‘It will never last.’ That was 71 years ago.”
The couple started life in Oregon living in what Marie called “a one-room shack.”
Over the years, Joe built on several more rooms to make it the comfortable home it is now.
He was always handy with tools, and the DeGrandes ran the Keno Garage for 32 years. Joe worked on vehicles and Marie helped with paperwork and ordering parts.
The job occasionally called for long hours, because Joe advertised 24-hour-a-day towing service.
Joe said his ability with tools “just comes naturally. My dad was the same way. He could do anything he wanted with tools.”
Despite being retired for a long time, Joe still has his collection of tools from the garage days.
“He’s got tools that people today don’t even know about,” Marie said.
Their two families lived nearby in Vancouver when Marie and Joe were growing up. Marie worked in the DeGrandes’ garden prior to their marriage. She pulled weeds for 15 cents a row. Joe spotted her one day and was immediately smitten.
Coming to America
Joe’s father came to this country in 1907, being processed through Ellis Island. His mother made the same journey from Italy by herself in 1914.
Joe worked in a Vancouver plywood mill before being drafted during World War II.
“I asked for the Navy, but they stuck me in the Marines,” he said. “I wanted to get into the Navy in a machine shop.”
He served only four months and two days, and was destined for action in Japan until the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki effectively ended the war.
Joe became Keno’s first fire chief in 1974, and held the position for a couple of years.
He remembers the town as being a bit tough back in those days. For example, the Greyhound bus that routinely went from Keno to Medford was blocked one evening when a scuffle at a local dance hall spilled onto the street, turning into a brawl.
Independent living
Although getting on in years — he’ll be 93 in October and she’ll be 90 in September — the couple still lives an independent life.
“We do everything for ourselves except drive,” Marie said.
Joe has had two open-heart surgeries, but still gets around, although he sometimes uses a cane or walker.
“The doctor says I’m in good shape for my age,” he said.
Fortunately, daughter Kathleen Kite lives nearby and does shopping for her parents along with bringing wood in the winter.
Joe has had to give up gardening, one of his
pleasures.
“I get down, and I can’t get up again,” he said.
Weather man
But he still serves as a National Weather Service observer, recording each day’s high and low temperatures and the precipitation. He copies the daily numbers into a monthly journal and mails it to Medford at the end of the month.
The DeGrandes don’t question their decision to have lived in Keno for so long, even though such longevity is rare in this era of mobility.
“This town has been pretty good to us,” Joe said.
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