Scott Swanson
Of The New Era
Retired Lebanon dentist Dick Yahn wasn’t enjoying his 2003 50th Anniversary Chevrolet Corvette as much as he thought he should.
So he decided to give it away.
Yahn, 76, said he is donating the Corvette, which has about 1,500 miles on it and is in mint condition, to the Lebanon Community Hospital Foundation. The sports car is deep red with a tan leather interior. It has appeared in a number of local parades, including the Sportsman’s Holiday in Sweet Home and the Lebanon Strawberry Festival.
It will be raffled off and tickets are available for $25 each. Primasing Motors is co-sponsoring the raffle. The winning ticket will be drawn Dec. 16 at the hospital.
Yahn said he’s had “some second thoughts” since making his decision, but he’s not really not sorry about giving the car away.
“I’ve always supported the hospital from the time I moved to the valley,” he said. “I was on the board and my wife was involved with the auxiliary for a long time.”
He said the hospital is important “not only to Lebanon and Sweet Home, but to the whole valley” and that he’s impressed with the healing garden and the new education center, which provides training for hospital and other local medical personnel.
“I thought this would be a good way to give them a little boost,” he said.
Betty Koehn, director of the LCH Foundation, called Yahn’s gift “a reminder of how fortunate we are to have such tremendous support from the community.”
“Dr. Yahn’s incredibly generous gift is truly unique and it’s creating quite a bit of excitement around the hospital,” she said. “What a wonderful way to demonstrate support for the hospital.”
Yahn, who retired in 1991, said lot’s of people have said he’s “nuts.”
He said he’s doing it in memory of his wife Aileen, who died in 2000.
“I’m alone now and it’s not much fun to go on trips or anything by yourself,” he said. “I guess the fact that I had it and had fun with it for a little while ? that’s all I need.”
For more information or to purchase tickets, contact the LCH Foundation at 451-6303.