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An anonymous runner leaves a prize ribbon at ‘Pre’s Rock.' A private donation from the Shirley family and money from the city of Eugene
with be used to purchase the1.5acre area around the rock to prevent it from being developed and convert it into a city park.
Pre
Continued from Page 1
“Who would have thought 24
years ago that we would be
standing here today?” Cliff
Shirley said. “We are. That’s very
important.”
At Friday’s ceremony, Shirley
signed a deal with Eugene City
Manager Jim Johnson to make
the $120,000 payment in install
ments. Shirley paid the first
$12,000 Friday.
“There are some people that
just talk about things, and there
are some people that do things,”
said Kathy Herrmann of the Ore
gon Track Club.
The guest list reads like a
Who’s Who of Oregon Track and
Field. Nike CEO Phil Knight was
slated to attend, as was former
Oregon track coach Bill Bower
man, but neither were present.
Pre's parents, Ray and Elfriede,
and his sister Neta, were also in
attendance.
"We know he is still an inspi
ration for many," Elfriede Pre
fontaine said. “We know this
way Steve will be remembered."
The Prefontaine family still re
ceives phone calls, letters and
visits from people all over the
country, she said.
“It’s great,” said Pre’s friend
and coach Bill Dellinger. “I
think that piece of land up
there, it’s appropriate that be a
park dedicated to Pre. I would
have hated to see that land de
veloped.”
Larry Norris of the Oregon
Track Club agreed.
“This is probably the best
thing that could have happened
for everybody," he said.
Cliff Shirley presented several
intricate trophies of Pre at the cer
emony. Only 12 of the approxi
mately 20-inch tall statues were
made.
Before the ceremony, trophies
were given to: Pre’s parents; Tom
Cruise, producer on the most re
cent Pre movie “Without Limits”;
Pre’s Marshfield High School
track coach; and the Southwest
Oregon Youth Association.
At the ceremony, Shirley pre
sented trophies to the city,
Knight, Bowerman, Dellinger
and the Oregon Track Club.
The city’s purchase of Pre’s
park should become official in
the next several weeks, said city
spokesman Eric Jones.
Janitors
Continued from Page 1
mix with wild animals, ocean
waves and golden sunsets. Along
the edge of the supply shelf are Far
Side cartoons, pictures of friends
and placards that read, “Direct
Your Future Now” and “Start
Each Day with a Smile.”
When retirement comes in
about five years, Bob will be 55.
He plans to travel. The Himalayas
and Nepal, Yucatan jungles and
Mayan ruins in Mexico, a ferry up
the inland passage of Alaska and
New England in the fall are all on
his list. Maybe he will return to
Switzerland where he once gazed
on the Jungfrau, Matterhorn and
Eiger mountains during a month
vacation between graduating from
the University and returning to get
his janitorial job in 1973.
Bob works alone. He likes it that
way. No music, although his idols
are folk singers. Sometimes he is
on autopilot while working, some
times he is dreaming. He loves ad
venture fantasy books and reads
them at a rate of two per week. He
likes that impossible and magical
things are accomplished.
“Sometimes I dream about be
ing the rich guy out saving the poor
and creating world peace,” Bob
says. And sometimes he worries.
Bob’s biggest obstacle was grad
uating from college.
“It took me six years,” he said.
“There were many classes I almost
flunked and I had to drop because
I didn’t study well or I was bored
or I just didn’t get it.”
When he found a love for histo
ry, grades turned to A’s and B’s,
and his biggest challenge — get
ting a degree, became his biggest
accomplishment.
He never considered using his
degree to teach. Bob does not like
being in front of people. He con
sidered becoming a librarian, but
found the necessary computer
skills a bit much.
Work at the University brought
Bob the security of good benefits
and weekends free for adventure.
Occasionally he climbs a mountain.
He has climbed the Three Sisters,
Mount Washington, Diamond Peak
and Thielson near Diamond Lake.
Bob enjoys his work but wastes
no time getting it done. He leaves
the closet with buckets filled and
push-cart loaded, heading to the
bathrooms. Cleaning toilets is his
least favorite part of the job.
“They are not exactly my cup of
tea,” he said and laughed. The
grossest thing he has had to do is
clean feces scrawled on the wall.
Bathrooms done, he sweeps
along his way, darting in and out
of molecular biology and chem
istry labs, emptying trash cans,
cleaning door handles, erasing
blackboards and vacuuming car
peted areas.
But for Janitor Bob the secret to
life is not in the janitor’s key box or
on the top of mountains.
“Just enjoy life, whateveryou do
— working or whatever,” Bob said.
“And don’t let things get to you.
Enjoy nature, birds, waterfalls and
music, but enjoy life—be happy. ”
University bench, head on a pil
low, looking up at the stars.
When her half-hour lunch is
n warm nights, at
three in the morning,
Frannie can be found
laying on her favorite
over, she leaves her bench under
the crab apple tree and goes back
to work with the detail crew.
Frannie Mays was recently pro
moted to lead worker of the five
woman janitorial (Tew. They spend
about four weeks in a building be
fore moving on to the next. Their job
includes cleaning things many peo
plewill never notice or appreciate.
Frannie once cleaned the bot
tom of a mat that rolling chairs rest
on. It just looked a little too dirty,
she said. The next day the mat’s
owner, a professor, called Fran
nie’s supervisor—to complain.
She was missing a pair of ear
rings, and Frannie was the sus
pect. Two hours later the profes
sor called back. She found the
earrings, but she never noticed the
mat. It bothered Frannie, but not
for long. She was too busy.
Frannie’s supervisor describes
her as a hard worker and “a real
go-getter.” That may be an under
statement.
Forty hours a week on the
graveyard shift and a second job
waitressing on weekend nights
leaves the 35-year-old Frannie
saying she is fortunate.
“Jobs have always accommo
dated me,” Frannie said. “They
have always fit my hours, my
needs and wants.”
Frannie’s wants and needs re
volve around having days and
evenings free to spend with the joy
ofher life, her 8-year-old son Joseph.
“I don’t know why I got blessed
with such a wonderful son, but I
did,” Frannie said.
When graveyard ends at 7:30
a.m. she rushes home, wakes
Joseph, gets him fed and dressed,
takes her shower, and then takes
him to school. Then it is home
again for four to six hours of sleep
before picking him up from school.
Frannie does not want to miss any
opportunity to be with her son.
She coached his soccer team to a
6-1-1 record last year; she volun
teers at his school, and together they
pass afternoons and weekends hav
ing adventures. They go to movies,
climb the Butte and go out to eat.
During tire summer, they go to the
McKenzie River every weekend.
Last week, they went to the Glo
betrotters game and in the last two
years they have not missed a
Ducks Club Sports hockey game.
“We get down and pound on the
glass,” said Frannie, whose love
for sports will carry over into play
ing league softball this summer.
Frannie admits she is a “worka
holic.” The longest she has gone
without having at least two jobs at
once was six months. And she has
often worked three jobs at a time.
The best part about her year and
a half at the University, has been
working with her best friend
“Glow" and being on a fun crew.
The worst part is cleaning bath
rooms, especially the men’s.
Frannie thinks she is becoming
more nocturnal. The nights bring
her peace and time to let her imag
ination free. There’s nothing as
beautiful as snow at night, Fran
nie says. Last week she fed a rac
coon by hand for the first time.
"I reallygrooved on that,’’Fran
nie said. Then she gets quiet and
looks out the open window where
a warm midnight breeze is blow
ing in.
“Listen now — it is so quiet out
there. ” And then she smiles.
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