Located about 4 miles SE of Lake Creek, a small community, is the Walch Wayside Memorial park and Lost Creek Covered Bridge. The wayside park is a privately-maintained park dedicated to a couple who homesteaded this area and left a major impression on family and friends and are memorialized here with a plaque and name of this park in their honor. Also near the Lost Creek Covered Bridge, the shortest and oldest covered bridge in Oregon, is a granite memorial dedicated to an individual who oversaw the restoration and preservation of the covered bridge this memorial resides next to. The memorial reads:
The Lake Creek Historical Society's website has an obituary on Ralph and it reads:
In December 2002, Lake Creek lost one of its modern day pioneers, Ralph Wehinger. He was a man of vision and boundless energy. His contributions to Jackson County and the State of Oregon were many.
Ralph saw the need to preserve our rich Lake Creek heritage and went to work. He formed the Lake Creek Historical Society, becoming the first president. Since LCHS needed a facility to call home. He negotiated with the Lake Creek Community Club for the old Community Hall. He also obtained a long-term lease from Cascade Ranch for the land upon which the building sits. He then found the funding necessary to renovate the building and bring it to modern standards, at the same time preserving the hall’s original character. Once completed, the hall’s name was changed to Pioneer Hall. It functions as LCHS offices and hosts community events. Article in the Lake Creek Letter Summer 2004 by Ron Walch
The Mail Tribune online edition contains an obituary as well and reads:
The celebration of the life of Ralph Elsman Wehinger will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 21, at Jackson County Roads and Parks Auditorium, 400 Antelope Road, White City.
Mr. Wehinger, 48, of Eagle Point, died Dec. 6, 2002, at his home.
Memorial contributions may be made to International Wildlife Recovery Center 10447 South Fork Little Butte Creek Road, Eagle Point, OR 97524.
He was born Aug. 20, 1954, in San Jose, Calif. He moved to the Rogue Valley in 1977 from San Jose. On Aug. 14, 1987, in Ashland, he married Laura Claflin, who survives.
Mr. Wehinger was the owner of the Eagle Point Clinic since 1978.
He was a member of the Honorary Council of the Republic of Korea and the Oregon Tree Farm Association. He was Oregon District Export Council chairman and was on the Vector Control Board and others.
Mr. Wehinger enjoyed the beach, gardening, travel and visiting family.
Survivors, in addition to his wife, include two sons, Nathan, Eagle Point, and Adam, Killeen, Texas; two daughters, Heather Solis and Chandra Smith, both San Jose; a brother, William, of Joseph; four sisters, Claudia Jackson, San Jose, Mary Stevenson, Capitola, Calif., Kim Wehinger, Valley Center, Calif., and Kay Wehinger, Lakeview; and three grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his father, John William Wehinger.
Arrangements: Rogue Valley Funeral Alternatives and Crematory.