George was the son of Ebenezer Frissell from Vermont and his wife Parmelia Goodell Frissell out of Wisconsin. George married Melvilla in Wisconsin before moving to Oregon. The couple were affectionately known as Uncle and Auntie Frissell and they were loved by thousands of residents and tourist alike. George built the original Log Cabin Inn and Melvilla was the postmistress of McKenzie Bridge for years. Uncle and Auntie lived in a small log cabin they built just west of the Log Cabin Inn. where they “resided in their quiet way, welcoming their old friends with the open-heartedness that always characterized their management of the hostelry.” —George Frissell’s obituary.

Benjamin “Frank” Franklin Goodpasture was the only child of Thurston and Susan Swaggart Goodpasture. His mother had a son from a previous marriage, so he had a half-brother named Charles A. Swaggart. Frank Goodpasture raised cattle, sold meat, and later in life sold real estate and automobiles. Finally he retired to live with his family on their filbert orchard. During his lifetime, Frank Goodpasture served on the Eugene City Council sometime between 1911 and 1926. Mazzie Goodpasture was very active in her church and loved her family. The community named the Goodpasture Bridge after Frank and the Goodpasture family still runs their ranch and filbert orchard here on the McKenzie River.

Fred Behm was born in Wisconsin to immigrant parents in 1911 and he lived for 102 years. At twelve a tornado destroyed his family home, leaving them destitute, so even though he was only a boy, he rose to the challenge and started working full time by cutting wood and setting choker for a horse logger. When the depression hit, Fred followed the timber trade west and worked in logging camps in Idaho and Alaska. In 1939, he was headed back to Alaska after a visit home to Wisconsin and stopped in Blue River. He loved the town so much that he didn’t leave. Instead he bought a house, and a few years later he married Dorothy Snyder, bought more land on the Mckenzie and Blue River, and hired WWII veterans from Wisconsin to come out west and build his business. Fred served on numerous boards and community organizations and worked with children.

Manena Rosa Sparks came into this world on January 24th, 1905, born in Blue River, the town her grandfather founded. Her father Dexter Sparks named his daughter after his sister who died as an infant. Manena achieved a degree in Journalism from the University of Oregon and not only did she work as a Forest Service lookout for wildland fires for four years, she also acted as a lookout for Japanese fighters during WWII. She married Walker Edwin Schwering who died in 1974. An amateur historian, Manena wrote “The Way it Was,” a series of local history publications, for the Lane County Historical Society.

 

Frances O’Brien started lending books in 1929. Her library consisted of orange crates on her and her husband Orel’s front porch in Blue River. In the fall and winter she moved them into her kitchen cabinets and some under her bed. A teacher, she knew the value in reading and wanted to share her passion. In the 1970s, the community bought an old Forest Service unit and moved it to Blue River to fill with 3,700 books..After CBS reporter Charles Kuralt did a segment of his show “On the Road” at her small library, donations of books and money poured in and created a need to build a larger library.  The present library, renamed after Ms. O’Brien, was built with help from the Lion’s Club. Frances died in 1992.