Spoon stirs questions

NORTH BEND – When Roxanne Hudson (Shepley) discovered a souvenir spoon in amongst some of her favorite memorabilia, it stirred up a lot of questions for her.

Hudson said she suspected her father, Russell F. Shepley, left the spoon behind without telling her, on his last visit to her home in North Bend before he passed away seven years ago.

"Was it from my father? Or someone further back?" Hudson wondered aloud. "Is there any way of finding out the date and year of when the spoon had been issued?"

The spoon depicts a high school, with the words "High School" written above and "Ritzville, Wash.," below it.

A search online found a similar sterling silver spoon depicting "Central High School" in Ritzville, dating circa 1900.

Hudson's grandfather, Eugene F. Shepley was born in Ritzville in 1894, graduating high school before enlisting in the Navy in 1913.

"If the spoons are circa 1900, I'm thinking it was my grandfather's," said Hudson.

Her father Russell was born in 1922, and also graduated from Ritzville.

Central High School was built in 1890. Ritzville High School, according to the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation, was built in 1910, with wings added to either side in 1927.

"My grandfather owned the old Meyers Shepley store on Main, and their house near it had "Shepley" embossed on the bottom step," Hudson said. "There's still a lot there that has the Shepley Meyers name on it. In the old barber shop, he had pictures of my father and grandfather, but it's been quite a few years since I have been to Ritzville."

If anyone has any information about these mysterious souvenir spoons, please contact [email protected].