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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 2022
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Plant
Continued from Page 1A
In that master plan, the new water
treatment facility is estimated to cost
$5.8 million.
Silverton’s drinking water is curent-
ly piped in to the two existing water
treatment plants on the block from the
Abiqua Creek and Silver Creek.
The older of the water treatment
plants was built in the 1950s, Gottge-
treau said. It is only used in the sum-
mer when usage of water in the city is
highest.
“This new plant will be entirely in-
side,” city engineer Bart Stepp said. “All
the pumps and everything will be en-
tirely located inside.”
APPEAL TRIBUNE
The council also awarded the con-
tract for constructing the planned civic
center to Corp Inc. Construction of Sa-
lem for $14,750,000.
Initial plans are that it would be
built at 401 N. Water Street, the site of
the former Eugene Field School, which
the city purchased for $1 million and
demolished.
The building would have space for
the Police Department and may in-
clude city hall offices, council cham-
bers and municipal court.
The city previously contracted with
Mackenzie Engineering for $467,879
for design of the facility.
It is financing the construction
through Government Capital, a lender.
Bill Poehler covers Marion County
for the Statesman Journal. Contact
him at bpoehler@StatesmanJour-
nal.com.
Other council business
Sisters
Continued from Page 1A
“Nothing like today.”
A seed of faith
The Rausch family, the sisters said,
was a spiritual clan. Faith ran deep with
roots going back to their grandfather
who received a publication sent to Ger-
man Catholics, one that mentioned the
Queen of Angels Monastery in Mt. An-
gel.
A seed had been planted, one that
grew in time, watered by a family with
an abiding faith. It blossomed in high
school as each of the sisters remem-
bered an affinity, if not a meaningful
connection, to the sisters who taught
Saturday classes during the summer.
“I so enjoyed them and looked for-
ward to seeing them each Saturday,”
Christine said. “I wanted to make a dif-
ference, like they were doing.”
Taking a lifelong vow as a sister was
not so unusual in the late 1940s and
early 1950s. It was a respected profes-
sion, one that brought approval from
friends and family.
Unlike her two sisters, Regina was
not fully convinced she wanted to com-
mit to one job, even one that was more of
a calling. Seventy years ago, however,
choices for independent, career-mind-
ed women were few.
“Today, women can be doctors and
lawyers and anything they want,” Regi-
na said. “Back then, women could be a
secretary or work in a restaurant. Or
teaching or nursing. None of those ap-
pealed to me.”
She thought about the sisterhood,
prayed on it. Even after she took a train,
bus and taxi to the monastery’s front
door in 1953 when she was 18, she wasn’t
as confident as she hoped to be. Her fa-
ther told her that if it didn’t work out,
she’d always be welcome back home, a
thought that comforted her as she set-
tled in.
Within weeks, her future was clear.
“I loved the monastery, the small
town,” Regina said. “More than anything
I loved being part of a community. I nev-
er looked back.”
A comforting routine
Each of the three embraced the rou-
tine.
Then, as now, days start at 7:30 a.m.
when sisters gather for morning pray-
ers, singing and reciting that day’s se-
lections (as they do during all group
prayers). Mass follows at 8 a.m. with
breakfast a half-hour later. The noon
prayers precede lunch before the sisters
return to their duties, gathering again
for the 5 p.m. evening prayer before din-
ner.
The three credit the stress-free na-
ture of a planned day for their relatively
good health and longevity. The regular-
ity settled their hearts and spirit, cen-
tering them on tasks ahead.
And their tasks kept them busy.
Dorothy oversaw the monastery’s
laundry operations, a huge undertaking
when more than 100 sisters made the
monastery home. Christine, who
earned a bachelor’s degree in education
from Mt. Angel College and a master’s in
religious education at Seattle Univer-
sity, was a teacher as well as a director
for adult religious education. Regina
spent 45 years as a teacher, taking great
pride in helping students reach their po-
tential.
A favorite time, said Christine, oc-
Water is a key element in Silverton's character, and a key focus of the city's
infrastructure developments. JUSTIN MUCH | SILVERTON APPEAL TRIBUNE
curred in the wake of the Second Vati-
can Council in the early 1960s when, as
she put it, “the Catholic church opened
the windows to let in some fresh air.”
Among the many changes was that
sisters no longer were required to wear
the stiff habits, a uniform often associ-
ated with stern, knuckle-rapping nuns
that policed schoolrooms.
“I felt that there was a wall between
me and my students,” Christine said. “I
wasn’t connecting with them like I’d
hoped to because they saw me not as a
person but as an authoritarian figure.
When we were allowed to dress in reg-
ular clothes, I found it it wasn’t me, it
was the habit. It made a huge differ-
ence.”
The sister sisters were not so busy as
to miss how the monastery, and their
livelihoods, changed over the years.
Fewer women arrived each year. Num-
bers dwindled as did interest in the sis-
terhood. If the world didn’t quite turn
away from God, women did turn away
from lifetime commitments to a reli-
gious career.
The world changes, but faith
remains
Dorothy, Christine and Regina are
quick to lament a world that looks al-
most nothing like it did in the 1950s and
60s. Where people once were united on
various causes and beliefs, they tend to
look for differences to enhance division.
It was common for men and women to
make commitments and stick to it,
whether it was to jobs or a marriage.
And don’t get them started on tech,
especially Regina.
“There’s always something demand-
ing their attention,” she said. “I was at a
family picnic once and I remembered
how much we loved being outside as
Community
About this story
Continued from Page 1A
destroyed 700 homes and incinerated
forests in the span of about 12 hours.
The wildfires burned 400,000 acres —
the third-largest fire since 1900 in Ore-
gon. When help came pouring in, Chau-
ran turned the focus on others. She
helped launch a fund that would sup-
port local wildfire survivors in the recov-
ery, cleanup and rebuilding of their
communities.
Nearly $4 million has been donated
to the Santiam Wildfire Relief Fund to
date.
“I grew up in this community. I raised
my kids in this community,” Chauran
said from the construction site of their
nearly-finished new home. “So when we
came through and first saw our house, it
wasn’t about us. We looked around and
saw all the houses that were gone, and I
started putting faces to them, knowing
this was going to take years. We didn’t
want those people to leave.”
Chauran — pronounced Shuh-ron —
said the fund wouldn’t have been pos-
sible without the efforts of Deana
Freres, a friend and neighbor who lost
her vacation home during the wildfires.
Freres took Chauran’s idea, connected
with the local hospital’s nonprofit, and
had the fund up and running within 24
hours.
The fund has served 1,201 families to
date, according to its website.
Chauran, a senior accountant for the
city of Molalla, is most proud that every
penny donated stays in the Santiam
Canyon.
“Rural communities are the best,” she
said, “and they’re worth saving.”
The Statesman Journal did a Q&A in-
terview with Oregon’s honoree. It has
been edited and condensed.
Question: How do you overcome
adversity?
Answer: We challenge them head-
on, we don’t make excuses, and we ac-
cept responsibility for our actions. And I
have faith in this family. I know that it
might take us longer, but we can over-
come just about anything life throws at
us.
Q: What helped you survive after
losing your house in the wildfires?
A: Surviving a wildfire was some-
kids. Kids no more than five were look-
ing at their iPads or whatever, caught up
in games and movies and ignoring the
beauty that was right there in front of
them.”
Today the Benedictine Queen of An-
gels Monastery has just 19 members,
and the newest arrival will soon cele-
brate 25 years as a sister. It may only be
a matter of time before that number
dwindles to zero, and the monastery be-
comes a relic of the past.
There is no way of restoring those
numbers among people who may have
lost faith in the sisterhood, if not in the
sisters themselves. But the sisters re-
main steadfast in their faith in people.
“We may never have the numbers we
once did,” Christine said. “It will be up to
laypeople to carry on the beliefs and
faith we built our lives on. I’m hopeful
about that, more hopeful than worried.”
Asked if they’d had any regrets, Do-
rothy, Christine and Regina shook their
heads without a second’s hesitation.
They’ve taken pride and delight in what
they’ve done over the years, leading
hundreds of people down spiritual
paths toward God and better lives.
That doesn’t count the joy they’ve ex-
perienced among the sisters of the mon-
astery. Not just the group prayers, but
the dances and parties and laughter
that are the brick and mortar of their fel-
lowship.
For Christine, she is as sure of her
commitment as she was 70 years ago,
walking through the front door as a 20-
year-old and greeted with a smile by an
elderly sister unstable on her feet.
Christine will bear that smile, too,
should another young woman arrive
someday with a suitcase and desire to
serve.
Cindy Chauran lost her home in Gates
to the 2020 Labor Day wildfires, but
didn't give in to despair. Along with
friends, she started a non-profit to help
families affected by the fires and so far
has helped 1,201 families.
Cindy Chauran poses for a portrait in her partially built home in Gates.
BRIAN HAYES / STATESMAN JOURNAL
thing I don’t think we ever thought we
would have to go through. Our friends
and family are what got us through it.
They brought us clothes, they brought
food, they brought homemade meals
and gift cards. They’re the ones that lift-
ed us up and gave us a boost so we could
figure out what our next plan was.
Q: Where did you find strength?
A: I find my strength from him (point-
ing to husband Bryan). He’s the one that
keeps us all safe and makes sure we
have what we need. I’ve had some pretty
crazy ideas throughout the years, and he
always supports me and never ques-
tions them. When I was 40, I told him I
wanted to get my bachelor’s degree.
He’s like, ‘OK. What do you need me to
do?’ Then when I got cancer, he never
left my side. I’m pretty tough, but with-
out his support, there’s no way that we
would do what we do.
Q: Where did you draw inspiration?
A: My family. Bryan and I have always
said it’s us against the world, that as
long as we were all safe and we were all
together, then there wasn’t anything
that we can’t do. And I have the most
amazing network of family and friends,
work families past and present, and
they don’t allow us to fail. And the peo-
ple in this community, they’re some of
the most prideful and inspirational peo-
ple you’ll ever meet. It was pretty inspir-
ing to go through this with them.
Q: Is there a guiding principle or
mantra you tell yourself?
A: In 1999, I started a coffee shop
when my son Gabe was born because I
didn’t want to go back to work. I remem-
ber an elderly gentleman who used to
come through the coffee shop every day,
and I’d always ask him, ‘How are you do-
ing?’ And he would always tell me, ‘Any
day I get out of bed and my boots hit the
ground is a good day.’ Bryan and I used
to always laugh at that because we
thought, you know, life is just that sim-
ple. You can be happy, or you can choose
to not be happy. We choose to look at the
positive.
Q: Who has been the biggest influ-
ence on your life? What lessons did
that person teach you?
A: There’s been a lot of influencing
people in my life. I would start with my
parents, who were high school sweet-
hearts. They’ve been married for 54
years. That’s pretty inspiring. My mom
and sister both had cancer and won. My
older sister has MS, and on her worst
day she never complains. That’s pretty
inspiring. When I had cancer, we had
prayer groups that this community
started that I found out later stretched
all the way around the world, and that
was pretty inspiring. We have some
friends who we’ve known all of our lives
that live here, too. They are always try-
ing to help us. Bryan and I keep telling
them we’re fine, we’re OK. And he got
angry at us one time. He said to us,
‘Don’t take my gift away.’ And then Bry-
an and I thought to ourselves, you know
what, it’s not what somebody’s giving
you, the gesture is the gift. We give
thanks with grace now.
Q: What are the most important
lessons you’ve learned in life?
A: I think with lessons come mis-
takes, and I wouldn’t change any of
them because I’ve learned something
from them. My kids, I’ve told them my
entire life that life is not fair. My young-
est used to hate it when I would tell him
that. He’d complain about something
and I’d say, ‘Well, life’s not fair.’ And
what we also told them was you can
control your reaction. Life will knock
you down, but how you respond, you
can control that.
Q: What is your proudest moment?
A: It’s hard to say because there have
been so many in my life. My children are
my most precious gift. Seeing them
happy, have babies, follow their dreams,
and feel confident to go tackle the world,
I’m pretty proud about that. But if I had
to say two moments, one is definitely
becoming a grandma (Dec. 27) and the
other one when our son graduated
(March 4) from the Marines, for him to
follow his dream since he was 4 years
old.
Q: What advice would you give your
younger self?
A: To slow down and appreciate the
little things in the small moments, be-
cause we have found that those mean
the most. And to give thanks with grace.
Capi Lynn is a 33-year veteran re-
porter and columnist at the Statesman
Journal. She can be reached at 503-399-
6710 or clynn@StatesmanJournal.com,
or follow her on Twitter @CapiLynn and
Facebook @CapiLynnSJ.