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Obituary
Published in Toledo Blade on June 14, 2012
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SAMBERG Rita Joan (Zieman) Rita Joan (Zieman) Samberg, 88, passed away on June 13, 2012 at Kingston Residence in Perrysburg, Ohio. She was born on December 10, 1923 in Perrysburg, Ohio. She is survived by her loving husband of 66 years, Harold; children, Mary (Robert) Miller, Karen Malcolm, John (Sue) Samberg, Fred Samberg and Peter (Penni) Samberg; sister, Marcia (John) Harpen; nine grandchildren; twelve great-grandchildren; as well as numerous nieces, nephews and cousins. Her friendship with Harold Samberg began in fourth grade at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Elementary School and continued on through high school. Rita attended Central Catholic High School, graduating in 1941. Shortly after the high school years, her future husband enlisted in the United States Air Force and soon left for active duty as a pilot. Shot down and taken prisoner, Rita waited patiently for news of his well-being and eventual return in 1945. Rita is best known for her volunteer work with the St. Patrick of Heatherdowns Altar-Rosary Society and Funeral Choir, Co-Chair of CCHS Class of ’41 Reunion, St. Vincent Hospital, The Toledo Lucas County Library and McAuley High School. Rita and Harold enjoyed many vacations at their home on Lake Emma Michigan. She was always ready to participate in activities suggested by her children and grandchildren and she enjoyed playing bridge and an occasional trip with her girlfriends. Rita will always be remembered for her pleasant, sunny disposition and devotion to her family. It was her family’s privilege to have her as our wife, mother and grandmother and we will miss her more than we can say. The Family would like to thank the Staff at Kingston of Perrysburg for their special care for Rita. Friends may visit the Newcomer Funeral Home on Heatherdowns Blvd. from 2-8:00 p.m. on Friday, June 15, 2012 with a Rosary Service beginning at 7:00 p.m. Funeral Mass will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, June 16, 2012 at St. Patrick of Heatherdowns Catholic Church. Prayers at the funeral home will begin at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday. In lieu of flowers, donations in Rita’s memory are asked to be made to the
TOERNE Aileen 2/25/1927 – 6/1/2012 Aileen Toerne died at the age of 85 on Friday, June 1, 2012, surrounded by loving family. She was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, she was youngest child of Kenneth and Genevieve Betts. She had eleven children, the oldest was a girl, then a boy, then a girl, then a boy, then a girl, then a boy, then a girl, then a boy, then a girl, then twin boys. She called it quits when they started coming in pairs. She was an extraordinary mother. It was her claim to fame, and she loved it! Shortly after their wedding, Richard and Aileen moved from Fort Wayne to Ohio and the family called Maumee home for over fifty years. She was a proud stay at home mom who created many lasting memories for her children. She was a great cook, and holiday dinners were her specialty. She and Richard loved the holidays and the Toerne home in Maumee was the site of huge family gatherings on Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Memorial Day, July 4th, birthdays, graduations, you name it! She embraced her role as mother, (and mother-in-law), grandmother, and great-grandmother, and the parties just kept getting bigger and bigger. There was always room for another plate at Aileen’s table, and you better save room for dessert! She lived her life to serve others and family always came first with Aileen. She and Richard had a love for travel and new experiences that started when they visited Cuba in the fifties. It continued with many cross country drives in later years, as they visited their children and grandchildren across the country. A talented seamstress and a member of the Maumee Sewing Club, Aileen enjoyed sitting at her sewing machine and was known for lovely prom, bridesmaid, and wedding dresses (as well as lots of fashionable doll clothes!). She was also a proud member and officer of the Maumee Mother’s Club. She was an active member of St Joseph’s Catholic Church during her years in Maumee, and had served as president of their Altar and Rosary society. Aileen also served the church as a Lector and Eucharistic Minister. Aileen loved to dance with her husband Richard and she spent many a Saturday dancing the night away with friends from the Cadence Club which she and Richard helped to establish. She is survived by her children, Lynne Toerne of Santa Cruz, CA, Rick (Snow) of Scottsdale, AZ, Suzen Toerne, Steve (Cindy), Beth Basilius (Dwight) of Santa Cruz, CA, Kevin (Sara), Lisa Basting (Chris), David (Lynne), Judy FitzGibbons (James) of Trumbull, CT, Thomas (Kelly), and Tim (Laurie). She is also survived by thirty one grandchildren, and twenty one great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her loving husband, Richard; her parents; her brother, Neal Betts, and sister, Marion Thome. Family and friends may call at the Maison-Dardenne-Walker Funeral Home, 501 Conant St. Maumee, on Thursday, June 7, 2012, from 3:00-8:00 p.m. with a scripture service at 7:00 p.m. Funeral services will begin in the funeral home on Friday at 9:00 a.m., followed by the Funeral Mass at 9:30 a.m. at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Maumee. The family would like to thank all the caregivers at Perrysburg Care and Rehab Center for their years of kindness and gentle compassion and suggests that in lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Aileen’s memory to the SPRINGFIELD — It’s a tiny gem tucked against the outside edge of Springfield.
It’s an acre of land with huge shade trees, a cozy 1928 house, a barn for two alpacas and seven cashmere goats, flocks of laying hens and pullets, an incubator of baby chicks and a tiny rescue Chihuahua named Olivia, who wears an equally teeny turquoise sundress when she’s not dressed up in her itty-bitty University of Oregon T-shirt or one of her other party outfits.
Owner Pam Basilius calls the place just north of Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend her “microfarm,” and she delights in sharing it with others who want or need to experience a bit of rural life.
She also calls it “A Peaceful Sanctuary LLC,” because in addition to being home, it’s a way of bringing in extra money on top of her bookkeeping business to help keep her dream afloat.
She’s holding an open house today and Monday to share her love of her farm with the community.
“I want to make memories for kids that they won’t forget — helping with farm chores, collecting eggs, seeing baby chicks that just hatched and watching the goats and alpacas,” Basilius said. “I grew up in Toledo, Ohio, in the city, and I wanted a farm my entire life, ever since I was a little kid.”
Basilius, 57, stayed in Toledo 45 years without a farm, but as a substitute she grew a big garden and rescued stray dogs and cats. She came to Oregon 12 years ago on a whim after somebody told her about Eugene, re-established her bookkeeping service and bought her tiny farm. She started renting out her renovated two-bedroom bungalow as a “vacation rental by owner,” these days commonly known as a VRBO.
Entering the house, with its warmly colored walls and red-and-white kitchen, is like stepping into a way-back machine set for the 1930s. Both bedrooms have antique furniture, the bedsteads covered in cozy patchwork quilts. The floors are dark, wide planks and the dining table overlooks a yard filled with shrubs and flowers. Much of the art work, as well as some of the furniture, has been created by local crafts people.
The house comes “complete with everything,” Basilius said, from fresh-ground coffee to eggs laid by her own hens. When she rents out the house — “I probably spend only about a week a month in my own home,” she said — she bunks with a friend a few doors away.
Her guests have included the entire Austin, Texas-based Asylum Street Spankers band and comedian Dick Smothers of The Smothers Brothers fame. Smothers has rented Basilius’ house often enough while visiting his son in Eugene that the two have become close friends.
Despite its diminutive size and dollhouse-like perfection, the farm is hardly a plaything. Basilius designed her own henhouse, which features a row of nesting boxes that open to the outside for easy egg collection, as well as a slanted tile floor under the roosts that lets the chicken droppings roll down into a trough for easy disposal. The house also has a hens-only door that opens automatically at sunup and closes at dusk after the birds have gone in for the night.
She rents out her goats for weed and lawn control and plans to sell wool from Opus and Regalo, her recently acquired alpacas. “I also will sell their ‘poo’ to people who want it for their gardens, because it is special fertilizer,” she said. “Alpacas take 50 hours to process their food into pellets, so the manure is never ‘hot’ and can be put right on the garden. They’re amazingly eco-friendly animals.”
She sells organically produced eggs laid by her hens and also sells baby chicks and laying hens.
Her tidy homestead has become something of a tourist attraction for local Lane Transit District riders. “One day, the bus stopped at the corner, and I heard the driver say, ‘And to your right, see the alpacas and goats.’ I found that very amusing,” Basilius said.
The only cloud on Basilius’ horizon is the possibility that PeaceHealth, owner of the nearby medical center, still might try to acquire — through purchase or condemnation — her property and that of two of her neighbors to put a road through that connects International Way, at the front corner of Basilius’ property, and RiverBend Drive behind it.
The threat first arose 10 years ago and flared again in 2008. At that time, Springfield mayor Christine Lundberg, who won re-election this week to another term in office, said she believed “that there’s a satisfactory solution in every problem.”
For Basilius, that would ideally mean one of two options: drop the plan to build a new road altogether, leaving her microfarm as-is; or for PeaceHealth to move her house farther back on her property and augment it with adjacent land not needed for the road project.
“In 2008, they said they would make a decision in four years, and that’s about now,” Basilius said. “I hope they’ll just leave us alone. I love this little place and all I’ve done to make it what it is. I’m just so happy here.”
“I love this little place and all I’ve done to make it what it is. ”
— PAM BASILIUS, OWNS SMALL FARM
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