"With the Peace Corps, I set up a program for elephant trainers at an elephant nature park in northeast Thailand," she said. "It's a rescue for abused elephants," she explained. "The trainers need to be able to communicate with tourists. So I developed a curriculum to teach them the English they'd need to know." In between her travels, Lynn and her sister Gail Orell, bought, remodeled and ran the Hersey House Bed & Breakfast in Ashland from 1984 to 1997. The cookbook they have written "Sumptuous Sustenance from the Savage Sisters" or "We Don't Do Dinner" is a compilation of recipes from their mother, friends and other recipes they developed using the fruit on the grounds of Hersey House. "We had plums, figs, five blueberry bushes, a Concord grape arbor and a raspberry patch," she said. "We developed the recipes around them." The signature dish at Hersey House was Gingerbread Pancakes with Lemony Lemon Curd (the recipes for these dishes are included with this story), it was developed by two of their friends, one of whom stars in the Ashland Shakespeare Festival.
Thailand RPCV Lynn Savage has written "Sumptuous Sustenance from the Savage Sisters" or "We Don't Do Dinner" is a compilation of recipes from their mother, friends and other recipes they developed using the fruit on the grounds of Hersey House
Home cooking
By Ron Jackimowicz, Cuisine Editor
Monday, August 24, 2009 | 1 comment(s)
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Caption: In town for her 50th reunion from Marshfield High School, Lynn Savage holds a cookbook she and her sister, Gail Orell, prepared called "Sumptuous Sustenance from The Savage Sisters," or "We Don't Do Dinner!" That's them on the cover. World Photo by Lou Sennick
Fifty years after graduating from Marshfield High School, Lynn Savage still has a soft spot in her heart for Coos Bay.
"I really, really like coming back to the town," Savage said last Friday as she prepared for her 50th high school reunion. "Coos Bay is a nice place, a beautiful area."
She talked about the nostalgia of coming back and seeing that the Egyptian Theatre and Little Theater on the Bay are still around, as well as many of the landmarks of her childhood.
The house where she grew up on South 11th Street that her parents bought in 1929 is still there.
"It still looks the same out front," she said. "I have a picture of granny-granny, grandma, my mother and my sister on the front stoop."
As a child, she remembers going out to the boat basin with her father and going clamming and her prom dinner was at Hilltop House in North Bend. Her first job out of high school was at the Timber Inn.
"As a kid, in August I had sleepovers," she said. "We'd sleep in the backyard to watch the shooting stars."
After high school, Lynn began teaching and English as a second language became the driving force in her career. She taught in Japan at a university for three years and then in California.
After getting her Masters in education from Columbia, she continued her work in the ESL field, and has developed curriculum to help teachers with their programs.
She's also done some very offbeat projects related to her ESL work.
"With the Peace Corps, I set up a program for elephant trainers at an elephant nature park in northeast Thailand," she said.
"It's a rescue for abused elephants," she explained. "The trainers need to be able to communicate with tourists. So I developed a curriculum to teach them the English they'd need to know."
In between her travels, Lynn and her sister Gail Orell, bought, remodeled and ran the Hersey House Bed & Breakfast in Ashland from 1984 to 1997.
The cookbook they have written "Sumptuous Sustenance from the Savage Sisters" or "We Don't Do Dinner" is a compilation of recipes from their mother, friends and other recipes they developed using the fruit on the grounds of Hersey House.
"We had plums, figs, five blueberry bushes, a Concord grape arbor and a raspberry patch," she said. "We developed the recipes around them."
The signature dish at Hersey House was Gingerbread Pancakes with Lemony Lemon Curd (the recipes for these dishes are included with this story), it was developed by two of their friends, one of whom stars in the Ashland Shakespeare Festival.
Hersey House was open around the festival schedule from mid-April through October and then closed down for the winter.
"The people were there for the theater," she said.
And they enjoyed some good food while they were there.
"The longer they lingered (after breakfast), the more successful we felt we were."
n n n
Lynn wrote back over the weekend to say that of a graduating class of 203 that there were about 130 people (spouses included) at this year's reunion.
That's quite a turnout.
Since she's only missed two reunions so far, Lynn's already looking forward to the next one.
"I'm so impressed with the volunteer work (my class) puts in," she said. "I'm sure there will be a 55th."
Next year I hope to meet Gail, who will be in town for 60th reunion.
