Oregon by Choice
Darla Neiman
Coos Bay, Oregon
I didn’t want to come to Oregon but I had no choice. It was 1952 and I was sixteen and you went with your parents.
We came to the Coos Bay Area from Washington state-having been born in Texas and raised there until I was fourteen. As we drove across the McCullough Bridge I thought “this looks like it might be an o.k. place.” In touring later I thought “what a grand place-right on the water ways.” The sign said “The Largest Lumber Exporting Place in The World.” Weyerhauser Mill seemed to stretch from Coos Bay to North Bend. Georgia Pacific, Coos Head, Al Pierce and other mills were going strong.
After graduating from North Bend High I got married and we stayed in Coos Bay. We had four children. The mills started closing. Our grown children moved away but stayed in Oregon. We love it here in Coos Bay because of the climate-the greenery, ocean, and bay. Oregon is a beautiful state. We have our plots at Sunset Cemetary overlooking the slough where my husband fished for many years. So we don’t plan on leaving until then. Not by birth but by choice we will stay in Oregon.
