Published locally by longtime Coos County dairy farmer, historian, and former commissioner Gordon Ross, Yester Years is a collection of humorous and homespun stories documenting the trials, eccentricities, and daily realities of early rural life in southwest Oregon. Drawing heavily on family lore, handed-down anecdotes, and personal recollections of the Ross Slough and Coos Bay regions, the book captures a vanishing landscape where neighbors survived through grit, improvisation, and close-knit community cooperation. Through lighthearted and unpretentious prose, the text preserves the rich oral history of pioneers, farmers, and loggers who shaped the rugged frontier. A keen insight drawn from the work is how regional humor functions as an essential survival mechanism; by chronicling the absurdities and hardships of frontier isolation with witty storytelling, the narrative reveals that laughter was just as vital as physical labor in subduing an unforgiving wilderness.

Biographies, Coos County (Or.) Biography, Coos County (Or.) Social life and customs, Farm life, Farm life Oregon Coos County, Manners and customs, Oregon Coos County, Ross, Gordon

Some material previously published in Coos County RSVP Volunteer

Some material previously published in Coos County RSVP Volunteer