Grants Pass Sister City Exchange Program Highlights, 1990-present
Summer, 1990
The first official delegation from Grants Pass visits Rubtsovsk. Mayors Candace Bartow and Lev Korshunov sign the Sister City agreement. Others in this delegation are Ron Brown, Channel 12 TV news reporter; Bruce Bartow, county planning director; Alayne Switzer, librarian; Mark Kellenbeck, businessman; Vera Quimby, retired teacher; high-school student body presidents Mike Yunker and Jeff Lippert; and student Emilie Bartow.
Spring, 1991
Three Grants Pass students, Ricco Patterson, Brian Shelander, and Gordon Mehterian, accompanied by Judo Patterson, take food aid to Rubtsovsk. Rubtsovsk students Jana and Alexei live in Grants Pass for two months, attend GPHS, and visit many local classrooms. Cindy Patterson and Glen Lewman take a hiking/rafting trip with Rubtsovsk friends and meet with Rubtsovsk leaders to plan their first official visit to Grants Pass
Summer, 1991
Grants Pass river rafters join Rubtsovsk rafters on the Katoun River. They make friendships with doctors, elected officials, students, and businessmen. Participants are Mark Kellenbeck, Jeff Anderson, Tom Bange, Eugene LaRosa, Len and Pat Ramp, Greg Taylor, Kelly Taylor, and Tom Satterthwaite.
August 20, 1991
The first official delegation from Rubtsovsk arrives in Grants Pass on the second day of the attempted coup d’etat. It was a tense few days. Participants were Mayor Korshunov, and representatives of the education system, trade unions, and factories.
Spring, 1992
Grants Pass community raises funds for medical supplies and food. Rubtsovsk Sister City Committee distributes 17 crates delivered by Cindy Patterson.
May, 1992
Grants Pass delegation helps celebrate Rubtsovsk’s 100th anniversary: Bruce Marks, Dick Bamford, Joe Kauzlarich, Vera Quimby, and Bobbi Kidder. Bobbi begins a drama project, “Hands Across the Ocean.”
August, 1992
“Teachers’ Exchange” of 14 (also including a doctor, a student, a homemaker, a city administrator, and two businessmen) establish many friendships with Rubtsovsk educators. Participants: Gwen Jacobsen, Mary Edwards, Mary Ann Kightlinger, Nancy Hitchcock, Edith Young, Marla Flaherty, Joe Cirina, Mark Kellenbeck, Dotti Tryk, Dick and Anita Stryker, Bernie, Darlene, and Ryan Hill.
September, 1992
Eight Rubtsovsk businesspeople visit Grants Pass businesses: Semyon, Sasha, Lubov, Vitaly, Sasha, Olga, and Marina. Tanya of “Hands Across the Ocean” comes to plan exchange.
October, 1992
Six students from three area high schools, accompanied by retired teacher Carl Rhodes, visit Rubtsovsk schools: Amy Jo Medina, Brian Shelander, Gennifer Martel, Jesse Sartain, Janette Ehlig, and Monty Olsen
March, 1993
Three Rubtsovsk teachers—Tamara Zharkova, Ludmila Petric, and Marina Kovolyova—spend a month in Grants Pass, participating in local school classrooms.
May, 1993
Eight Rubtsovsk citizens, primarily educators, comprise an “official” delegation to Grants Pass. Bearing hundreds of pen-pal letters and youth artwork, they visit many schools and organizations. Valentina Tibekina, head of the Rubtsovsk schools, was accompanied by Irina Volgina, Nadezhda Ribina, Alexander Nikolaev, Lyubov Kosinova, Victoria Agrizkova, Elena Minina, and Lyubov Nazarenka.
August, 1993
“Hands Across the Ocean” troupe from Grants Pass performs with their counterparts in Rubtsovsk. Included are Bobbi Kidder, Loraine Sherman, and Samae Horner. Ron Brown of Channel 12 accompanied the group and produced a new video of Rubtsovsk.
September, 1993
Carl Rhodes of Grants Pass lives for three months in Rubtsovsk, teaching about Native American cultures in schools.
October, 1993
Rubtsovsk “Hands Across the Ocean” troupe of five performs at RCC. Members include Vladimir Volkov and Andrei Loskutov.
1994
Several Grants Pass people make special trips to our Sister City in 1994. Mike Rogers of NVHS lives and studies Russian in Rubtsovsk for a semester. His American parents, Steve and Serena Rogers, visit his Russian family. Cindy and Jenna Patterson take donated supplies to the Rubtsovsk Institute for the Blind. Social worker Bob Morse spends four months sharing family and youth therapy techniques with colleagues. Carl Rogers returns to teach about the American West in the pedagogical institute. Several Rubtsovsk citizens visit friends in Grants Pass during these two years, strengthening existing friendships and making new friends.
January, 1994
Gwen Jacobsen organizes a month-long show of Rubtsovsk children’s art at Grants Pass Museum of Art.
May, 1994
Second “Educational Delegation” visits Grants Pass. Educators Ivan Korushev, Victor Brunner, Galina Kolosova, and Rifor Valentin accompany Valentina Vesnina, assistant chief of the Rubtsovsk schools.
February, 1995
Yuri Ovidenko, founder of the first independent Rubtsovsk TV station, is a guest of Channel 12 in Medford.
May, 1995
The third “Educational Delegation” comes to Grants Pass. We host Vitali Yushkevich, Ludmila Trunova, Mariya Tyshkevich, Mariya Pestereva, and Lyubov Yamishchikova.
Winter, 1996
Mike Rogers returns to Rubtsovsk to help plan thematic youth exchange.
July, 1996
Five high-school students and teacher help establish “English Language & Culture Center” in Rubtsovsk city library. Teacher Barbara Paulson accompanies Jason Spears, Breana Verser, Emily Baumgardner, Dana Ponte, and Jared Hooper on the first thematic youth exchange.
August, 1996
Ten Americans take a three-week trans-Russia trip from Khabarovsk to St. Petersburg. Two Rubtsovsk friends, Tamara Zharkova and Marina Kaiser, help plan the train trip across Siberia, and they meet and accompany the Americans. They spend five days in Rubtsovsk before touring Moscow and St. Petersburg. From Grants Pass were Kathryn Brooks, Inis Joiner, Ruth Pepple, Vera Quimby, Christina Swanson, Nancy Hitchcock, and Dick & Anita Strycker. From Idaho came Hilda Goddard and Marjorie Carey to meet their Rubtsovsk cousins for the first time.
Winter, 1996-1997
Sister Cities International awards grant for thematic youth exchange. Carl Rhodes returns to teach in Rubtsovsk and to help plan youth exchange.
April & May, 1997
The Rubtsovsk youth delegation of 17 youth and two teachers establishes a “Russian Language & Cultural Center” at the Josephine County Library. Small groups visit school classrooms throughout the county to tell about their home. Over thirty Josephine County families open their homes to these young people.
July, 1997
Five high-school students and two retired teachers participate in the Thematic Youth Exchange to Rubtsovsk, adding more books to the Cultural Center at the library. Students Michael Brune, Jared Hooper, Emily Pesek, Crystal Garcia, and Charissa Bogdanov were accompanied by Ruth Pepple and Nancy Hitchcock.
October, 1997
Mayor Gordon Anderson and Larry and Linda Halstead are guests of Rubtsovsk Deputy Mayor Alexander Popov. They visit dental clinics, and meet with several priests and pastors to form ties between the churches in Rubtsovsk and in Grants Pass.
July, 1998
Sister Cities International awards “Best Youth Program for Small Cities” to Grants Pass and Rubtsovsk at the annual convention.
September, 1998 to February, 1999
Olesya Borzenko studies at Grants Pass High School for one semester. She is the first secondary student from Rubtsovsk to be a full-time Grants Pass student.
August, 2000
Tenth-Anniversary Grants Pass five-member delegation spends one week in Rubtsovsk, kick-starting exchanges after 1998 Russian economic disaster. Members: Karen Paxton, Ruth Pepple, Joanne Stumpf, Don & Carolyn Rice. Karen visits several hospitals.
May-June, 2001
Rev. Clay and Jeri Johnson visit Bokov family in Rubtsovsk. They had hosted Gena Bokov in Grants Pass in 1990.
June, 2001
Rubtsovsk eight-member delegation visits Grants Pass for three weeks. It includes five directors of the large tractor factory, one small businessman, and the directors of the Rubtsovsk branches of the state bank and state university.
July-August, 2001
Vitaly Yamshchikov, university student, spends two months in Grants Pass, attends ESL classes at RCC. His mother Luba, who came in 1993, visits for two weeks.
September, 2001
Alexei Volkov, member of 1997 youth exchange, visits host family in Grants Pass.
May, 2002
Gwen Jacobsen, Nancy Hitchcock, and Carolyn Rice, retired English teachers and former sister city delegates, work with English language students and teachers in several Rubtsovsk universities and institutes.
September, 2002
Lena Lukyanova, member of 1997 youth exchange, visits friends in Grants Pass.
January-June, 2003
Inna Vasilevna and Nadya Lovrova, secondary students selected by Rubtsovsk Sister City Committee, study spring semester at Grants Pass High School, under Sister Cities International J-1 visa program.
May-June, 2004
Heart-to-Heart Medical Delegation to Rubtsovsk: Rita and Tom Turek, Kitty Waud, Nancy Miller, Cindy Patterson, and Ron Brown. They visit Hospital #1 to see equipment donated by Three Rivers Community Hospital and shipped by Grants Pass Sister City Committee.
May, 2005
Heart-to-Heart Medical Delegation to Grants Pass: Elena Frolova, Elena Nefedova, Lyuda Dmitrieva, and Anastasia Poperechnaya.
April, 2006
Public Safety Delegation to Rubtsovsk: Brian Robinson, Brian Pike, Tony Strickland, Clay and Huong Johnson.
June, 2006
Grants Pass youth delegation to Rubtsovsk: Tamara, Garrett, Breanne, Emily, and Lianna, accompanied by Ruth Pepple and Rachel Parker.
October, 2006
Open World social services delegation to Grants Pass: Vladimir Lazarev, Marina Kryukova, Yelena Purichi, Yelena Saidova, with facilitator Marina Doroshchenko.
March, 2007
Rubtsovsk youth delegation to Grants Pass: Natasha Vorona, Natasha Kobzeva, Galina Kutdusova, and Victoria Kovalyova, accompanied by Natalia Chernukha.
May, 2007
Rubtsovsk university teachers to Grants Pass: English-language teachers Lyudmila Starchenko and Irina Yazykova, Professor of Russian Culture Svetlana Sevastyanova, and son, business student Nikita Sevastyanov.
October, 2007
Open World healthcare delegation to Grants Pass: Irina Abramova, Vadim Mirko, Tamara Sakhabutdinova, Tatiana Tsareva, with facilitator Yelizaveta Pyanzina.
May 2009
Open World education delegation to Grants Pass: Olga Lyamina, Tatiana Chmir, Tatiana Denisenko, Elena Leontyeva, and Tamara Voronova, with facilitator Kseniya Zemlyanova.
April 2010
Grants Pass 20th Anniversary Delegation to Rubtsovsk: Sister City Committee President Kitty Waud and granddaughter Sara Cavinee, Barbara Southerland Muir, and Nancy Hitchcock.
November 2010
Rubtsovsk 20th Anniversary Delegation to Grants Pass: Returnees Tatiana Bokova, Sergei Izotov, and Vadim Mirko are joined by first-time guests Vasily Kurganski and Father Mikhail Kizyun.
October 2011
Open World accountable-governance theme delegation to Grants Pass: Yelena Arinkina, Tatyana Bukanovich, Irina Puryga, Yevgeniy Sesin, and Aleksandr Vartanov.
September 2012
Brian Robinson returns to Rubtsovsk with son Steve Takis, son-in-law Brad Whitham, and friends Brian Pike and Richard Easter.
March 2013
Open World healthcare delegation to Grants Pass: Andrei Kalinin, Anzhelika Kalinina, Leyla Mikailova, Yuliya Mishina, and Olga Pavlova.
April 2013
Rubtsovsk educators to Grants Pass: Lyuda Starchenko and Alexei Mishcherin.
September 2013
Grants Pass delegation to Rubtsovsk: Margaret Bradford, Denise McElney, Kori Bieber, Genna DePuy, and Lena Walker.
Summer 2014
Two Rubtsovsk youth attend RCC summer classes part-time and live with several different host families: Ivan Lysenko and Valeria Vartanova.
Fall 2015
Open World young entrepreneurs’ delegation to Grants Pass: Olga Baraksanova, Olga Bykova, Aleksey Gilmanov, Tatyana Kokotovskaya, and Maksim Sudnitsin.
Fall 2016
Grants Pass delegation to Rubtsovsk: Cherryl Walker and Marty Hill.
March 2017
Seven secondary students from Lingvo Language School, accompanied by Svetlana Ivanova, school owner/director, visit Grants Pass for two weeks, spending three days each at Hidden Valley H.S. and Grants Pass H.S. Iulia Alekseeva, Konstantin Malakhov, Roman Kosulin, Liubov Potapenko, Daria Rybina, Olga Surkova, and Dmitriy Vartanov.
October 2018
Open World delegation on theme “Existing Partnerships: Healthcare” to Grants Pass: Oleg Skorykh, Irina Ukolova, Mariya Khrebtova, Dmitriy Zhuravchenko, and Semyon Mirko.
June 2019
Five Russian delegates participating in the Open World Program spent June 14 through June 22, in the Rogue Valley meeting local non-profit and service organizations. The visiting delegates were Irina Sergeyevna Kungurova, Head of the Students’ Center, The Rubtsovsk Institute, subsidiary of Altai State University, Alina Yevgenyevna Murumbayeva, Specialist in HR and Extra-Curricular Department, The Rubtsovsk Industrial Institute, subsidiary of Altai State Technical University, Yuliya Vladislavovna Osipenko, Deputy Director, Rubtsovsk Office of Cultural Affairs, Andrey Vladimirovich Pervodchuk, President, “Rubtsovsk Molodoy” Altai Regional Community-Focused Social Entity, and Natalya Sergeyevna Zorina, Associate Professor, Department of Applied Mathematics, The Rubtsovsk Industrial Institute, subsidiary of Altai State Technical University. Accompanying the delegates will be facilitator Natalya Viktorovna Bayrak. https://youtu.be/w2HUigcjjlU
Grants Pass Sister City Committee president David Owens visited Rubtsovsk June 9-11, 2019 and meets with Rubtsovsk Sister City President Ludmilla Starchenko as well as the five delegates about to visit Grants Pass. Maria Reutova from Moscow, formerly of Rogue River, also visits to translate and assist. https://youtu.be/CTQAnawiIFU
September 2020
During the pandemic shutdowns when we were not able to travel and meet in person. That did not stop us from meeting online!
30th anniversary online zoom meeting between Grants Pass and Rubtsovsk sister cities with congratulatory speakers and music shared in honor of the long relationship between cities since September 3, 1990. https://youtu.be/sl6wBDW8ceA
February 19, 2021
A virtual meeting hosted by Open World with translators and presenters from Grants Pass and Rubtsovsk on the subject of youth parks and the idea of each city creating a sister city bear to be placed in a park along with plaques about sister city. Speakers on public art, city trees and parks spoke from both cities. https://youtu.be/4rc51FUs4Os