Smith: Old soldier’s gravestone comes home

It took a hellish fire and a cooling dose of human caring to get the broken and stolen headstone of a veteran of the War of 1812 returned to Santa Rosa’s Rural Cemetery.

John Ferguson is buried there beside his wife, Hannah Jackson Ferguson, kin to President Andrew Jackson. Evidently, about 30 years ago someone smacked and broke the tall headstone on Ferguson’s plot and carted about half of it off.

This past July, a wildfire outside of Redding damaged a house in the town of Igo and led to the discovery in the backyard of a large, partially blackened piece of a grave marker.

Word of the find reached Ron Jolliff of the Southwest Shasta County Historical Group. The woman whose house burned told him she’d found the stone decades ago at one of her rental properties in Santa Rosa and she took it with her to Igo.

Jolliff dug into Ancestry.com and linked John Ferguson (1794-1873) to Rochelle Rose-Schueler of Oregon. The war veteran’s fourth great-granddaughter drove to Shasta County to pick up the partial marker and return it to Santa Rosa.

Cemetery volunteer John Dennison now has Ferguson’s marker repaired and looking about as good as new.

AT BETHLEHEM TOWERS, the high-rise senior residence in Santa Rosa, 90-year-old Gerry Eagan mentioned that she’d love to climb a bit higher.

Ever since she swooned while watching Robert Redford treat Meryl Streep to a biplane ride above the Kenyan savanna in “Out of Africa,” Gerry has yearned to fly in a small plane over Sonoma County.

Hearing Gerry’s wish, Randi Sue Collins, manager of the Council on Aging dining site at the Towers, got on the phone.

Sunday at Sonoma Skypark, pilot Ron Price welcomed Gerry into his sweet, yellow, two-seat 1949 Piper Vagabond. He let her take the stick as they took in the North Bay from 3,000 feet.

Enthralled, Gerry said afterward that a friend had urged her to take in all the fall-altered colors of the grape vines.

“I really didn’t spot a vineyard,” she said, “but it was beautiful anyway.”

A GIANTS SURPRISE: Prior to their homecoming dance, a big group of Cardinal Newman High students, 22 of them, ate and cheered the Giants on Saturday night at the Mary’s Pizza in downtown Santa Rosa.

The place was still packed with fans of the orange ’n’ black when the teens asked for their bill. There wasn’t one.

A woman who’d asked to remain anonymous had so enjoyed watching the kids savor the pizza and the moment and pull for the Giants that she’d pick up their entire tab.

DAVE WAS READY for the big truck to arrive from Friedman’s last Friday with a pallet of bagged soil conditioner.

Dave Hillberg, 26 and quite autistic, didn’t care about the mulch. He’s intrigued by the truck and its piggybacked forklift.

He watched for it as his mom, Marylou, phoned Friedman’s to make sure the truck was on its way to her place in Sebastopol. Bad news: the delivery hadn’t been scheduled.

Anyone familiar with autism understands how Marylou struggled to convey what a deep disappointment a no-show would be to her son.

A half hour later, Dave’s eyes grew as big as the headlights on that magnificent Friedman’s truck.

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THIS ISN’T PLAY-ACTING: It breaks the hearts of leaders of 6th Street Playhouse to announce the cancellation of four productions scheduled for the new season at the downtown Santa Rosa venue’s secondary Studio Theatre.

Craig Miller, 6th Street’s executive artistic director, cites “desperate financial times” as the cause of the cuts.

“We are currently facing a deficit that can only be overcome by a temporary cancellation of the Studio season and a refocusing of our current staff on development and fundraising efforts,” Miller said in a statement.

The eliminated productions are 4,000 Miles, Lucky Me, Empty Nesters and Assassins. Patrons who had already purchased tickets for those shows may donate the cost to 6th Street, exchange the tickets for those to productions in the main GK Hardt Theatre or request a refund.

Miller and Joy Thomas, general manager of the Playhouse, said reducing the number of productions for the current season will not resolve the financial crisis. Thomas urges that patrons and supporters of live theater consider making a tax-deductible donation of any amount.

There also are opportunities for major contributions, including a naming sponsorship for what is now the Studio Theater.

The cancellation of the four shows leaves 10 productions in the lineup of the current season at 6th Street. Seven of them, including Clybourne Park, Bonnie & Clyde and The Graduate, will appear in the GK Hardt Theatre.

Thomas and Miller said the Studio Theatre will not go entirely dark. Plans are in the making for cabarets in the space and for special programming that will involve community collaborations and will help make 6th Street stronger.

Chris Smith is at 707-521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com.