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Shady Cove folk invited to dinner By MELISSA MARTIN Dinners planned around valley Here are some other community Thanksgiving dinners planned for today and Thursday around the valley: GOSPEL MISSION -- Dinner will be served between 12:30 and 5 p.m. today at the mission, 125 W. Jackson St., Medford. CARING FRIENDS -- Caring Friends and Ashland's HQ National Guard will sponsor Ashland's eighth annual free Community Thanksgiving Dinner from noon to 4 p.m. Thanksgiving Day in the National Guard Armory, 1420 E. Main St., Ashland. Free child care will be available. For more information, call Marty Bryant at 482-9634. THE BRIDGE -- A free Thanksgiving Dinner will be offered from 1 to 4 p.m. Thanksgiving Day at The Bridge, 317 E. Main St., Medford. The dinner is sponsored by World of Life Christian Fellowship. For more information, call 944-3113. SALVATION ARMY -- Dinner will be served from noon to 2 p.m. Thursday at the Salvation Army Community Center, 304 Beatty, Medford. Volunteers are needed; phone Jim Strom at 773-7005 or 773-6965. SHADY COVE -- The owner of a successful Oakland, Calif., shipping company will spend his Thanksgiving Day serving turkey and dressing to senior citizens in Shady Cove. Ron Boehm is opening his restaurant to the town Thursday, offering a discounted Thanksgiving meal for Shady Cove residents who are 55 years or older. The meals will be served at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. at the newly remodeled Two Pines Restaurant, 21331 Highway 62, Shady Cove. The cost is $3.95 for seniors and children 10 and under; $10.95 for adults. "There's too many people who are alone for the holidays," says Boehm, owner of Transbox Systems. "We have the ability to take care of it so we've invited all the senior citizens to come and have dinner with us." Boehm, his wife, Charlotte, and her 93-year-old mother, Lois Walker, wife of the late Medford dentist Paul Walker, will be serving and greeting about 200 people on Thanksgiving Day. "For some of the people in Shady Cove, their kids used to live in the valley, but because of different economic situations, they had to leave, yet their parents are still here," says Don Gatlin, a Shady Cove minister who will help greet folks at the Two Pines. "Ron is giving them a vehicle to get acquainted with other people," Gatlin says. Boehm owns homes in Shady Cove and Oakland, where his shipping company is located. Transbox Systems is a $25-million-a-year package delivery and courier firm that services 6,000 drop boxes, ships 40,000 packages a night and employs 550 workers. Boehm handed out 100 tickets for free Thanksgiving meals to churches in Shady Cove. Trail Christian Fellowship will use its tickets for any last-minute needs that come up since the church already prepared and handed out 20 Thanksgiving Day meals, says Chris White, one of the pastors. "He's a generous person and definitely has a heart for people who are down and out," White says. He noted Boehm's charity work in the past starting Walker Study Center, a residential alcohol treatment center in Shady Cove. Gatlin, too, can testify to Boehm's generosity. "When I said I wanted to start a Southern Baptist Church in this town, Ron said, `Good, I'll supply you with everything you need,"' Gatlin says. Boehm is supplying the meeting house (the Two Pines theater next to the restaurant), chairs, pulpit, and a piano for the services that will begin Dec. 5. He even gave the preacher a part-time job. Anne Edney, a secretary at Trail Christian Fellowship near Shady Cove, has her own story of Boehm's generosity. He bought round-trip tickets to Australia so she could see her mother before she died. "It was my mother's last wish to see me before she died; I hadn't seen her in 12 years," says the Rockingham native. "I had only met Ron Boehm and talked to him for about five minutes when he arranged all this for us. It was incredible. "I was able to see my mother and visit with her and she went on to live five years after that." Gatlin says Boehm's Thanksgiving dinner at the Two Pines will help prevent many Shady Cove seniors from having a lonely holiday. "I've invited several people that I know are on limited incomes and one gentleman said, `I was planning to spend Thanksgiving Day by myself.' I said, `Why don't you come down and be with a bunch of other people who were planning to do the same thing. We can have a feast."' Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA