Time, as we count it, began anew on Friday.

Earlier civilizations celebrated new years on different days, yet always recognizing the recurring cycle of life. It might stretch credibility, but one story says that ancient Babylonians, living in what now is modern day Iraq, celebrated their new year in the spring with a unique 11-day festival:

“The King was stripped of his clothes and banished,” the story goes. “For a few days, the people could do as they pleased. Upon the return of the King ... in grand procession and wearing fine robes ... the Babylonians went back to work and behaved in proper fashion once more. Thus, each new year, did the people make a fresh start to their lives.”

How things have changed. Today, President Obama goes to Hawaii for a holiday vacation, and Americans won’t behave any better when he returns.

The world’s annual celebration day moved to Jan. 1 with the Julian calendar in 46 B.C. but wasn’t generally recognized as New Year’s Day until the Gregorian calendar was introduced in the 1500s. Centuries of changing traditions, both religious and pagan, have led to the revelry of Times Square, and millions of soon-to-be-broken New Year’s resolutions in households across the land.

Whatever the specific traditions, New Year’s Day generally is a time to consider events of the past 12 months while looking forward to challenges and opportunities in the coming year. At precisely that point, this column makes an unexpected transition from light-hearted holiday trivia to a more melancholy remembrance of those who left us in 2009.

Our newspaper published more than 500 obituaries in 2009. They ranged from brief recitals of basic biographic milestones to rich and absorbing stories about fascinating people. Whether famous or little-known, all of those people are survived by families and friends who will remember 2009 as a year of loss.

I’ll mention just a few people, including many I knew personally. I don’t mean to elevate them over others who left equal or greater voids in their worlds of friends and families. This selected group is representative of a broader celebration of lives, and I hope you don’t take offense when I miss someone you would add to this list.

Clarice Pearson died at age 110, five years after having a successful hip replacement. Another woman with that lyrical first name, Clarice Pence of Sheridan, left this world after fostering hundreds of children over the past 30 years.
Larry Pekkola of Carlton lived in the same house for 89 years except for his years in college and service. Rodney Sitton of Carlton suffered a tragic death that made statewide news.

Some grand women left us in 2009. Each of them, and many others, deserve more than just a mention, so I suggest taking a few minutes to re-read some obituaries from our online archives.

We have lost Jean Dale and Hanni Koch, Dorothy Gunness and Anita Rogers, Betty Mills and Shirley McDaniel, Betty Jean Myers and Olga Jedan, Virginia Strayer and Barbara Knutson, Mary Ann Sears and Betty Kay Compton, Marie Asplund and Opal Hart, Harriet Baisch and Helen Braxton.

Edwina Meitzen, Dayton mayor and publisher, died in 2009. So did much-loved local teacher, Ursula Dye. We lost Norma Hebert of Sheridan, who called her interesting life “one heck of a ride,” and Marium Trumbo-Jones, whose July tribute was perhaps the most eloquent obituary of the year.

Linfield College was the second home for three men who died in 2009 — professor Win Dolan, professor Elmer Million and administrator Ken Williams.

Linfield was one of many local institutions and civil groups to benefit from the gifts of men such as Ray Kauer and John Jankowski, Bill Hurl and Jon Triest.

Past personal relationships came to my mind with the deaths of former neighbors Webb Alexander, Lionel Engel and Dr. Ken Van Zyl, teacher Roy Butchart and press plant manager Homer Etherton.

Some well-known business leaders died in 2009, including Harvey Westby, who started Diane’s Foods, Willamina Lumber manager Oz Crenshaw, floor man Jim Fjelland, auto dealer extraordinaire “Burky” Burkhart, insurance man John Engel, HP manager Mike Hafner, long-time Penney’s manager Dean Aker and electrician Mike Griswold.

Many accomplished people, drawn to the McMinnville area after leading interesting careers and lives elsewhere, add diversity and spice to our local community. A few of the many who left us in 2009 were the Rev. Robert Emrick, Bill Duncan, Marv Norman, Bob Steens and Jean Dills.

Tragic deaths, as usual, were headlined stories last year. Two that come to mind were Kalie Mosgrove, 13, and Heather Ann Snyder, 16, who died in separate accidents on Highway 18 at or near the Lafayette Highway intersection.

Other names that caught my eye in reviewing the year’s obituaries included former Lafayette mayor Lotis Hanks, Turkey Rama head cook Bill Bach, chef Ramon Simbeck, decorated WWII veteran Gene Blasingame, the Rev. Marion Ravan and Sheridan teacher Robert Belieu, who formed the West Valley Marching Band.

That seems an appropriate finish line for this column, as we let 2009 march out. We now welcome a new year and a new decade, but not without remembering some of the people who lived good and gracious lives among us.

Happy New Year to all.