The Grants Pass Sister City Committee culminated a year of 20th anniversary events by hosting a delegation from our Russian sister city in Siberia, Rubtsovsk.

The five-member delegation arrived November 15 and left on Thanksgiving Day, November 25.  They lived with families, visited many businesses and organizations in the Rogue Valley, and celebrated the 20th Anniversary at a sister city gala held at Countryside Village Retirement.

Mark Kellenbeck, a member of the first official delegation to Rubtsovsk, in 1990, headed the organizing committee.  Marina Kaiser Rhodes, who interpreted for the first exchange visit and many subsequent ones, served as interpreter for this group.

The delegation itinerary in Grants Pass included visits to various county and city offices, including the police and fire departments, and a meeting with the Grants Pass City Council.  On the first day of their visit, they walked through downtown Grants Pass, visiting several businesses and learning the history of our town from Mollie Means.  Principal Ernie Baldwin provided a tour of Grants Pass High School, and Marin Seybold led a tour of Rinehart Volunteer Park.  The delegation visited several businesses in the area, including Fire Mountain Gems, Duro-Last Roofing, SOTAR Rafts, Apland’s Auto Body, the Bear Hotel and the Taprock Northwest Grill.  Delegates also visited medical facilities:  in addition to tours at Three Rivers Community Hospital and the Rogue Valley Medical Center, they visited a private physician’s office, the Grants Pass Clinic, and Valley Immediate Care. 

As is usual for visiting sister city delegations, one day was set aside for a trip to the Oregon Coast and the Redwoods—very unusual sights for people who live in the Eurasian interior.  Several delegates and their host families attended the Sunday services of the
Russian Orthodox Church in Wimer.

The delegation consisted of three people who had formerly visited Grants Pass., and two who visited for the first time.  Sergei Izotov, a recently retired engineer, was the first president of the Rubtsovsk Sister City Committee when it was formed in 1990.  He was a member of the original rafting group who helped form the sister city organizations.  Tanya Bokova, who had visited Grants Pass in 1995, also represented her husband Genady, also a member of the original rafting delegation.  Tanya is a recently retired journalist for the city of Rubtsovsk, and Genady, a former newspaper editor, now works for the city administration.  The third returnee was Vadim Mirko, a surgeon at the Rubtsovsk Cancer Hospital, who visited Grants Pass for the first time in 2007 as a member of an Open World delegation.  Open World brings young Russian leaders to the United States to meet with their colleagues.

Father Mikhail Kizyun, priest of the Rubtsovsk Orthodox Russian Church for the past twenty years, visited the United States and Grants Pass for the first time.  He was hosted by members of the local Orthodox Church in Wimer, and co-officiated at the Sunday service with Father Cardoza there.  The delegation leader was Vasily Kurganski, Director of the Rubtsovsk Cancer Hospital.  He was formerly a deputy mayor of Rubtsovsk, and was instrumental there in arranging for the receipt of the donated medical equipment from the two older hospitals in Grants Pass when Three Rivers Community Hospital was completed in 2001.

Earlier in 2010, Kitty Waud, Grants Pass Sister City President, her granddaughter Sarah Cavinee,  Barbara Muir, and Nancy Hitchcock visited Rubtsovsk and attended a 20th Anniversary Celebration there with many former delegates and friends of sister city.  The two 20th anniversary celebrations bode well for continued friendships between the citizens of Grants Pass and Rubtsovsk. 

-by Nancy Hitchcock

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