Age five and wistful

Senior break at the beach at 21

Joshua Tree, Assistant Hike Leader at age 45

Club Med Guadalupe at age 50

Tommie was Chair (following Bob Speik) of the Conservation Committee,
Secretary of the Board of Directors, News Editor and fly tier. Tommie and Bob
won the Flyfisher of the Year Award together for the year 1999.

A CHRISTMAS LETTER FROM THE SPEIK FAMILY

The year 2000 came and is almost gone, so it is time for the annual Robert Speik family newsletter. We want to wish all of our family and friends a very MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Our year has been most rewarding and several obstacles have been overcome. We have explained before about our commitments to Central Oregon Flyfishers, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, The Oregon Salmon Trout Enhancement Program and the distribution of trout eggs to schools all around Eastern Oregon, The Cascades Mountaineers – an Alpine climbing group that Bob co-founded and of which he is the President. These names can all be reduced to initials for further reference: COF – Tommie is the Secretary and Conservation chairman, ODFW, STEP and CM. Bob is also Vice- President and man of all answers of the Tillicum Village Homeowners Association and a member of the Oregon Recreational Trails Advisory Committee (ORTAC), appointed by the Governor.

Besides these organizations that can naturally generate opportunities for volunteer time, we have our adopted one and a half-year-old child MAX. Max is the chocolate dapple Dachshund puppy that we have been trying to understand since he came into our lives at ten weeks of age. He really has us well trained now and we understand the tone of each barking request – “ out, play with me, take me for a hike or walk, its time to go to bed etc.” However he does not come when he is called if outside, so he has some restrictions. He actually “flunked” a school-training course in socialization. He thinks that he is as large as all of the big dogs that he meets and they think that he is some kind of a ferret. He goes on all of our trips and activities and keeps us constantly amused.

In late May, Bob visited his Sister Betty in San Jose, CA and had a great time catching up on all of the news and reminiscences from Speik early years. The last day of this trip we had some startling news. Rick called to tell us that he was going to have a kidney removed – a malignancy had been found. Naturally we were upset but were very happy to learn that, after the surgery and many prayers, the doctors believed they removed all traces of the cancer and that he would be fine. That makes two separate cancer bouts for Rick and today he is in fine health.

We spent two separate weeks with the ODFW again this summer, Bob working and me camp tending, preparing food and cooking for large groups. One week we spent on the upper Silvies River and tributaries, and the second week was on the Middle Fork of the John Day River. The John Day trip was particularly rewarding because a Bull Trout was found in the upper section being sampled and that meant that the entire surrounding area would be protected by the endangered species act from logging, road building and so forth. You may read about this trip at coflyfishers.org.

We have also been fortunate enough to see many parts of Oregon by traveling to different areas for ORTAC meetings. The last one was in Astoria, along the northern coast, and we had never been to that part of the State. We drove home along the coast to Newport and then crossed inland to Bend.

Shortly after our annual trip around Eastern Oregon, we hosted the NOLS Wilderness First Aid Class for about eighteen people interested in back country hiking and Alpine Mountaineering. This was a two-day, all day event with classroom sessions and ending with proper rescue procedures for injured persons. This was a very important event for Bob and the Cascades Mountaineers safety program. Bob also writes accounts of tragedies in the local mountains for the American Alpine Club which are published in Accidents in North American Mountaineering.

All of the above brings us to December. We organized and entered a float, again this year, for COF in the Bend Christmas Parade. Then our thoughts turned to driving and towing our small trailer to Southern CA to be with our children for Christmas. Everything completely outfitted with new tires, batteries, food, presents and all conveniences, we started out on Friday morning, having waited to make certain that the spots of ice had become slush or the pavement was bare. We drove about ten miles south on Highway 97 when we passed an eighteen wheeler that was stopped in the outside lane. We returned towards the outside lane when we hit a patch of ice and a sudden wind gust caused the trailer to jackknife and spin the car and trailer 180 degrees where we came to a stop in the snow bank. No one was injured but the car (which we were able to drive home after some prying) is in the hospital for about a month. They will begin to work on it after finishing the cleanup of shattered glass from the rear window. Needless to say, we are not going to be able to spend Christmas with our children and grandkids this year. However we are very thankful that no one was hurt even though the trailer suffered minor injuries and the car has major ones. This type of accident could have happened anywhere along the way and we might not have been as fortunate.

All of these events took place along with work on the camping cookbook, potlucks, Bob teaching, meetings, Board meetings and Bob designing a web page for the Cascades Mountaineers Climbing Club at www.CascadesMountaineers.org. It really has been a good year and Max keeps us on our toes and smiling.

Have yourselves a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
--Tommie Speik (Bob Speik and Max too.)

A gift of recognition to Tommie Speik
from Central Oregon Flyfishers in 2002

Grandma and Jennie in 2003