RJ: my correspondence with Dr. Alderman's daughter MaryAlice
I knew nothing about this event until I found the article in the Seaside Signal some years ago when I was doing some research, and of course I copied it and have it in my files. But we left Seaside not because of any kickback from his diagnosis, but rather because all of us kids seemed to have colds all the time. I have joked that we "molded" at the coast. But my mom's family had homesteaded near Helix in Eastern Oregon, the four small towns nearby needed a general practitioner, so in 1952, we packed up and moved. And thrived. I don't think my dad would have been influenced into making some kind of diagnosis that wasn't real. He was a pretty upfront guy. And I do remember once when my sister and I had been going to the Lutheran Bible School and for some reason we had it in our heads that Catholics were certainly not to be trusted, yadayadayada. And my mom and dad sat us down and talked to us about prejudice (pre-judge without knowing everything) and let us know that this was wrong and told us all the nice people we knew who were Catholic. Just an example of how they operated. So to answer your question, I don't remember ever hearing about it when it happened (I was a child), and pretty sure we didn't leave town because of it. He was quite the hero when we first moved there (also a story in the Seaside Signal) after saving a logger's life by going up into the mountains, where a Mr. Henry had impaled himself on the gear shift, my dad had it cut off, took him to Astoria, the nearest hospital at the time, and removed it. Mr. Henry's wife had been told he died. But after my dad operated, Mr. Henry lived to a ripe old age. One of my favorite stories. (MaryAlice Alderman Ridgway)
On Friday, July 19, 2024 at 03:04:29 PM PDT, Kit Ketcham <lilyloosy4@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi, MaryAlice,
I've been reading a blog post by a musician who lives in Seaside and plays music around the area, RJ Marx. I'm always interested in music, and RJ's specialty is jazz. So he was posting a local Seaside-related mystery, of a black jazz musician who got sick in Seaside after a possible poisoning which might have been related to him and his band being refused service in Seaside restaurants.
This occurred in 1945, not long before you and your family moved to Athena where your Dad was an important person in our small town, and our only doc as far I knew. My family was pretty new in town and it was comforting to have other newbies who were also trying to fit in. And your family was such a wonderful addition to the community.
I'm wondering if you and your family were affected by the African American fellow's unfortunate death (coronary occlusion). Do you have memories of that time? You would have been very young---3 or 4. It must have been tough for your dad to be in that position of either judging that the musician had been poisoned OR that he had died of a fairly common cardiac event.
I made a comment on the post. If you read it, you might have more to add. RJ is a fine guy and a great musician; he has also been the editor of the Seaside spinoff of The Astorian.
RJ, I"m struck by this paragraph:"An autopsy performed by Dr. Alton Alderman in Astoria — about 15 miles north of Seaside — disclosed that Lunceford died of coronary occlusion." Dr. Alderman was our family doctor in Athena OR (near Pendleton) after he and his family of 4 kids and his wife moved in about 1952 or so. I am still friends with his daughter MaryAlice who lives in Pendleton. I'm wondering if the incident with Mr Lunceford caused the Aldermans to leave Seaside and move to NE Oregon. It might have made Seaside a painful place to live, if there were repercussions about the diagnosis. CAD (coronary occlusion) is not uncommon, according to my understanding, but it might have caused more tension. The Alderman family was a wonderful addition to our tiny town and Dr. A was a fine doctor who diagnosed my own mild heart murmur when I was a kid and told my parents just to watch over me, that it was probably nothing, though I did develop a very mild atrial fibrillation in my older years. I'm going to send your blog post to Mary Alice and see if she can shed light. Thanks for this informative post about a local mystery! Love to you and Eve.
Kit thank you for this most interesting comment, do you think that Dr. Alderman might really suffered from some kind of repercussions or change in societal attitude because he did the autopsy on Lunceford?
The Aldermans were, as I recall, a fairly progressive family, keen on education and community service. Certainly the two daughters I knew best (Sue and MaryAlice) were raised in a loving and welcoming family. I'll be interested in hearing from MaryAlice--she would have been 4 or 5 (as was I) when this occurred, not too young to notice discrimination, if it seemed to occur. If there was dissension about the "natural causes" result of an autopsy that was performed, it might have made it hard to stay in Seaside if this mystery was never satisfactorily solved. I'll let you know what she tells me.
RJ: my correspondence with Dr. Alderman's daughter MaryAlice
I knew nothing about this event until I found the article in the Seaside Signal some years ago when I was doing some research, and of course I copied it and have it in my files. But we left Seaside not because of any kickback from his diagnosis, but rather because all of us kids seemed to have colds all the time. I have joked that we "molded" at the coast. But my mom's family had homesteaded near Helix in Eastern Oregon, the four small towns nearby needed a general practitioner, so in 1952, we packed up and moved. And thrived. I don't think my dad would have been influenced into making some kind of diagnosis that wasn't real. He was a pretty upfront guy. And I do remember once when my sister and I had been going to the Lutheran Bible School and for some reason we had it in our heads that Catholics were certainly not to be trusted, yadayadayada. And my mom and dad sat us down and talked to us about prejudice (pre-judge without knowing everything) and let us know that this was wrong and told us all the nice people we knew who were Catholic. Just an example of how they operated. So to answer your question, I don't remember ever hearing about it when it happened (I was a child), and pretty sure we didn't leave town because of it. He was quite the hero when we first moved there (also a story in the Seaside Signal) after saving a logger's life by going up into the mountains, where a Mr. Henry had impaled himself on the gear shift, my dad had it cut off, took him to Astoria, the nearest hospital at the time, and removed it. Mr. Henry's wife had been told he died. But after my dad operated, Mr. Henry lived to a ripe old age. One of my favorite stories. (MaryAlice Alderman Ridgway)
On Friday, July 19, 2024 at 03:04:29 PM PDT, Kit Ketcham <lilyloosy4@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi, MaryAlice,
I've been reading a blog post by a musician who lives in Seaside and plays music around the area, RJ Marx. I'm always interested in music, and RJ's specialty is jazz. So he was posting a local Seaside-related mystery, of a black jazz musician who got sick in Seaside after a possible poisoning which might have been related to him and his band being refused service in Seaside restaurants.
Here's a link to the article and I'm sending it because your dad performed an autopsy on the dead guy and is named in the article: https://open.substack.com/pub/rjmarx/p/77-years-later-bandleaders-death?r=2xl07&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&comments=true
This occurred in 1945, not long before you and your family moved to Athena where your Dad was an important person in our small town, and our only doc as far I knew. My family was pretty new in town and it was comforting to have other newbies who were also trying to fit in. And your family was such a wonderful addition to the community.
I'm wondering if you and your family were affected by the African American fellow's unfortunate death (coronary occlusion). Do you have memories of that time? You would have been very young---3 or 4. It must have been tough for your dad to be in that position of either judging that the musician had been poisoned OR that he had died of a fairly common cardiac event.
I made a comment on the post. If you read it, you might have more to add. RJ is a fine guy and a great musician; he has also been the editor of the Seaside spinoff of The Astorian.
I'd love to know what you think.
Love,
Kit
RJ, I"m struck by this paragraph:"An autopsy performed by Dr. Alton Alderman in Astoria — about 15 miles north of Seaside — disclosed that Lunceford died of coronary occlusion." Dr. Alderman was our family doctor in Athena OR (near Pendleton) after he and his family of 4 kids and his wife moved in about 1952 or so. I am still friends with his daughter MaryAlice who lives in Pendleton. I'm wondering if the incident with Mr Lunceford caused the Aldermans to leave Seaside and move to NE Oregon. It might have made Seaside a painful place to live, if there were repercussions about the diagnosis. CAD (coronary occlusion) is not uncommon, according to my understanding, but it might have caused more tension. The Alderman family was a wonderful addition to our tiny town and Dr. A was a fine doctor who diagnosed my own mild heart murmur when I was a kid and told my parents just to watch over me, that it was probably nothing, though I did develop a very mild atrial fibrillation in my older years. I'm going to send your blog post to Mary Alice and see if she can shed light. Thanks for this informative post about a local mystery! Love to you and Eve.
Kit thank you for this most interesting comment, do you think that Dr. Alderman might really suffered from some kind of repercussions or change in societal attitude because he did the autopsy on Lunceford?
The Aldermans were, as I recall, a fairly progressive family, keen on education and community service. Certainly the two daughters I knew best (Sue and MaryAlice) were raised in a loving and welcoming family. I'll be interested in hearing from MaryAlice--she would have been 4 or 5 (as was I) when this occurred, not too young to notice discrimination, if it seemed to occur. If there was dissension about the "natural causes" result of an autopsy that was performed, it might have made it hard to stay in Seaside if this mystery was never satisfactorily solved. I'll let you know what she tells me.