Merlie Reeves calls out to friends and relatives driving by her Salem home on Friday, May 1, to celebrate her 90th birthday. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)
With his car lights flashing red and blue, Salem Police Chief Jerry Moore joined a parade of vehicles Friday going by the home of friend Merlie Rhoten Reeves to celebrate her 90th birthday.
“This is so overwhelming,” Reeves said as she walked from her lawn Friday afternoon to reach into the chief’s car to give him a hug. “I can’t believe all of this.”
The chief, along with more than 50 friends, family members and loved ones, drove with their headlights on by Reeves’ home on Southeast Leffelle Street near Bush’s Pasture Park tooting their horns, singing “Happy Birthday” and shouting “We love you.”
Their cars were decorated with balloons, signs and streamers. Each person was offered a cupcake with blue frosting, Reeves’ favorite color, as they went by her house.
“This certainly is a big party,” Reeves commented at one point as the long line of cars just kept coming. “This is just too much.”
Lizzie Cutler, parade organizer and longtime friend of the Reeves family, said, “I just can’t tell you enough how excited I am to have this celebration for Merlie. She is just awesome.
“We wanted to have party for Merlie but because of the COVID-19 virus we couldn’t. So my husband, Jerry Korson, suggested a parade instead,” Cutler said.
Cutler shared the idea using word of mouth, emails, Facebook and texts. Everyone was told to stage at the nearby St. Paul’s Episcopal Church parking lot.
While waiting in their cars for the parade to start, people were happy to roll down their windows to talk about their friend Merlie, who many knew through water aerobics, as a member of PEO, at Illahe Hills Country Club and further back as a Blue Bird and Camp Fire leader.
Nadine Heald said she and Reeves met as young mothers at St. Paul’s.
“She’s just so real in these days of artificiality,” she said. “If you know Merlie, she’s a friend for life.”
Pat and Faye Melius have known Reeves for 30 years. Their son grew up with Reeves’ grandson.
Laurie and Grubby Hain know Reeves through their water aerobics class. Grubby said he especially wanted to be on hand because he and Reeves share the same birthday.
Stuart and Mary Compton called the celebration a “most exciting time.”
When Dick and Susie Francois and their dog, Alex, arrived in front of Reeves’ house, Susie handed Reeves a box filled with 90 chocolate kisses.
One man joined in the parade, saying he didn’t know Reeves but he wanted to take part in such a fun celebration because the world is in such a gloomy state right now.
Reeves is a well-known figure in Salem because she has lived here for such a long time. She shared her story in an interview and in an earlier interview two years ago with Salem History Matters.
She was born at home on 23rd Street just off of State Street.
What now is considered the Rhoten family home was built in 1937 on Southeast High Street, across from what was then Leslie Junior High School and now is South Salem High School.
Clarence Smith designed the house that was built by Franz Joseph, and it was featured in the designer homes section of The Oregonian.
Reeves, who considered herself a tomboy growing up, often rode her horse over the empty hills of what is now the Candalaria neighborhood to the small community of Roberts on South River Road. She went to visit her grandfather, E.A. Rhoten, who operated a dairy and poultry farm.
Two of her other favorite memories include driving a hay truck with a trailer when she was 10 and going to the circus that set up on the field below the junior high school.
She and her friend Beverly Beakey peeled potatoes to gain admission to the circus, and then when the circus left they hunted for dropped coins.
Reeves also liked the Mickey Mouse Club meetings at the Elsinore Theater.
Cutler, a close friend of Reeves’ daughter Christie O’Brien since kindergarten, said Reeves’ husband, John, died three years ago, “so it’s been a difficult time for the whole family so to do a parade in Merlie’s honor is giving everyone a jolt of excitement, especially during these hard COVID-19 times.”
CORRECTION: A caption incorrectly listed the birthday celebrate as Merlie Rhoten. Her name is Merlie Reeves. Salem Reporter apologizes for the error.
RELATED COVERAGE:
PHOTOS: Merlie Reeves of Salem had quite a party as she hit 90
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