by Elletta & Jim Kennison
A family home can be long time in the making and the following is a narrative of how steadfast persistence and dedicated friendship can lead to the creation of a wonderful home for our extended family on the central Oregon coast.
In 1962 Dr. Milo Ross was president of George Fox College in Newberg, Oregon. At that time the College student population was very small, and the faculty and staff were receiving minimal salaries.
In an effort to provide additional compensation for their dedication to the College and its students, Milo and his wife Alice developed a plan to create a vacation get-away facility near the Newport oceanfront which they would make available to faculty and staff free of charge.
Milo learned to enjoy the Oregon coast at an early age when his mother would take him by train every summer from their home in Salem to Newport and go by taxi to a small cottage in Newport’s Nye Beach neighborhood.
To facilitate their plan Milo and Alice contracted a Newport real estate agent to alert them of any available building lots meeting their criteria. They drove down several times from Newberg to inspect the recommended possibilities, but none proved to be the location or size they had hoped to find.
But then one day Milo received a phone call from the realtor that resulted in what was to become an answer to Milo and Alice’s prayers. The realtor explained that he and his wife owned a ten-acre parcel of land just north of Newport and their plan was to sub-divide that property into individual building lots and sell them over a period of time.
However, the realtor was offered the opportunity of becoming a partner in a large real estate company in California. His acceptance required that he assume the position immediately, therefore he was eager to sell his ten-acre parcel before moving.
Milo and the realtor had established a friendly relationship and the realtor was very supportive of Milo’s reason for wanting to have a vacation get-away near the ocean. As a result, the realtor made Milo a remarkable offer. The ten-acres consisted of a stretch of property that extended from the ocean beach eastward to US highway 101.
The asking price was $4,500 in 1961.
Taking advantage of the realtor’s plan to subdivide the property into building lots and sell individually, Milo quickly raised enough cash to more than cover the price of the acreage and to also purchase all the building supplies for the construction of what Milo and Alice called “the cabin”.
To keep the building costs as low as possible Milo designed the cabin and did most of the construction himself in sections over a period of years. However, the cabin became useable for family and small numbers of Geroge Fox faculty and staff at the beginning and increased as additions were completed.
Over the years that followed, the cabin became a very special location for family and friends to gather for Thanksgiving weekends, sometimes attracting dozens from around the country, most of whom stayed in nearby motels allowing the older folks to reside in the cabin.
After Milo retired from George Fox in 1969 he and Alice enjoyed much time at the cabin with family and friends. Sadly in 1979 Milo unexpectedly died from a heart attack. Although Alice was determined to keep the cabin available for continued use by family and friends, she and Milo had made a financial pledge to the George Fox Foundation to buy a pipe organ that would be a center piece in the Milo C. Ross Center on campus. Selling the cabin was the only means she had to fulfill her pledge.
Fortunately, very soon after Alice placed the cabin on the market to be sold in 1986, her daughter Elletta and I were informed of what Alice was planning and immediately stepped in and bought the cabin so Alice could fulfill her pledge and, more importantly, keep the cabin in the family.
By 1992 the cabin had become so popular, we scheduled the cabin for almost daily use. When Elletta and I approached retirement, we included a plan to live full time in the cabin. We soon realized it would be necessary to build a large addition for our use and family and friends could continue to enjoy the beautiful vacation location at the beach.
We gave the addition, twice the size of the cabin the title of “LODGE” The main entrance to the cabin and the lodge join the two structures together.r.
We shared many happy times over the years and as Elletta and I entered the phase in life referred to as “senior citizens” we realized the day would probably come when we would need to relocate to a retirement home where care would be provided to meet our anticipated needs.
The challenge then became to develop a strategy to assure the wonderful structure with its wonderful memories would always remain in the Milo and Alice family over the generations to come. We achieved this through thoughtful discussion and planning with Wade and Stephanie Wheeler. Wade, the grandson of Alice and step grandson of Milo, plan to continue Milo and Alice’s legacy of the cabin as a a family place. Wade and Stephanie, however, wanted to give this historic location and setting a new name celebrating MILO AND ALICE ROSS’S VISION: MARVISTA (which in Spanish means Seaview).
We reached an agreement with the Wheelers, who live in Seattle, that Elletta and I would sell the Wheelers the property, but we would continue to live in the lodge until, if or when, Elletta and needed to relocate.
Elletta and I continue to live in our lodge to this day and still enjoy sharing the cabin with family and friends.
A poem from Jim Kennison – click here
