january3 2019
VERNONIA’S
volume13 issue1
free
reflecting the spirit of our community
Eleanor Thompson is Turning 102!
By Scott Laird
One of Vernonia’s best
treasures is getting ready to
celebrate another birthday this
month.
Eleanor
Thompson
will turn 102 years old on Janu-
ary 30.
I recently visited with
Eleanor to hear a little of her
life story as she gets ready to
commemorate another trip
around the sun.
“I never thought I’d
live this long!” says Eleanor
with a laugh. “But I’m so
thankful that I still have my
mind.” She continues to live in
Vernonia in her own home on North Street, the house
she has lived in since 1952. Her mind is still sharp and
quick, and she loves to laugh, but she has started to use
a walker to get around because she has trouble with
her balance. Her three daughters and a granddaughter,
who all live in Vernonia, come over every Saturday to
help with the housekeeping. She pays her own bills,
plays Bridge every Monday with her pals Ilene Grady
and Sally Harrison, along with daughter Jan Bernardi,
and meets with the Vernonia Seniors at the Legion Hall
to play Penuchle every Friday.
Eleanor says she loves to watch sports on tele-
vision, especially football and basketball – her favor-
ites are watching the Seahawks and “I like watching
Kansas City – they have that young quarterback who’s
only 23, he’s really a wiz!” and any college sports.
She says a friend who still takes the Oregonian calls
her every morning at 8:30 after checking the TV sched-
ule to let Eleanor know which games will be on and at
what time so she can be sure to tune in.
Eleanor was born in North Dakota, part of a
large family. Apparently living to ripe old age runs in
the family – she has a sister who will turn 104 this year
and a brother who will turn 95. She remembers riding
a horse bareback to get to the little one-room school
house where they had a barn for the students’ horses.
“The horses would spend all day in the barn, and one
time my horse got all foxy and started bucking and I
inside
6
odfw news
8
food support
for students
8
vhs winter
sports report
ended up in a snowbank and I
had to walk home.”
She says with a sly smile that
she was “very young” when
she got married to Bob Thomp-
son, and that’s all she’ll say
on that matter. She and Bob
moved to Vernonia in 1939,
80 years ago. “I’m really a
long-time resident!” she says.
Their first home had no hot
water and no indoor plumbing.
Their third home was up at the
cemetery where they served
as caretakers, earning $30 a
month and free rent for opening
and closing graves, and mow-
ing and watering the lawn. She
says Bob was paid $10 to dig a
small grave and $20 for a larger grave with a cement
liner. Bob got a job at the local Chevy Dealership,
working as a “grease monkey” – she says Bob earned
$75 a week when he only made $45 back in North Da-
kota. “We thought we were in pig heaven!” She says
with the raise she was able to buy a clothes washing
machine. Later they operated a Union 76 service sta-
tion for 25 years.
She remembers wooden sidewalks in Verno-
nia, along with seven service stations and three auto
dealerships, a Ford, Chevy, and Dodge/Plymouth.
“And of course the mill was going. The whistle would
blow every morning at 8, and every night at 5:00.”
They raised three daughters, Deloris (Dede)
Webb, Joyce Weller, and Jan. They bought a school
bus and Eleanor drove the Stoney Point bus route. For
many years she delivered the mail between Vernonia
and Mist and also delivered the mail in Timber. She be-
longed to a bowling team and has been playing Bridge
since 1962. “All the people I played Bridge with have
passed away, so now I’m on my second generation, and
they’re all in their 70s.”
At the end of his life Bob spent almost 10 years
at home on dialysis with Eleanor caring for him; he
passed away in 1988.
In recent years Eleanor played drums in the
“Golden Oldies,” the musical band that played week-
continued on page 5
New Name Selected
for The Public
Health Foundation
of Columbia County
The Public Health Foundation of Columbia
County (TPHFCC) is announcing a change of name
for the organization. Since being founded in 2003,
TPHFCC has been a leading provider of public health
and wellness services to residents throughout Colum-
bia County. Effective January 1, 2019, TPHFCC will
officially become Columbia Health Services (CHS).
The new name was selected to help clarify
that Columbia Health Services is not a foundation, but
rather operates with funding from private foundations
and public agencies. In addition, the organization is
no longer the local public health authority, a title now
reserved for local governmental agencies. CHS will
continue to provide a wide range of clinical services,
including prevention and education programs.
Michael Carter, board president, reinforced
the importance of the name change: “For some time
the board of directors and staff have shared a concern
that our original name may cause some confusion
about the purpose and value of the organization to the
residents of Columbia County. The name Columbia
Health Services is more direct, succinct, and very
specific to the organization’s purpose and mission.”
Services offered by Columbia Health Servic-
es include primary care, women’s healthcare, repro-
ductive healthcare, prenatal care, immunizations, STI
testing and treatment, insurance application assis-
tance, prevention programs for suicide, alcohol, drug
and tobacco use, nurse home visiting, and the WIC
nutrition program. Besides the main office on Gable
Road in St. Helens, there are two primary care clinics
open to the general public: Sacagawea Health Center
in St. Helens and Rainier Health Center in Rainier.
CHS also operates school-based health centers in the
Vernonia, St. Helens, Rainier, and Clatskanie school
districts.
“We are taking great measures to assure all
of our partners, patients, and clients understand that
the name change will not impact our delivery of af-
fordable medical and wellness services,” stated CHS
Director, Sherrie Ford.
Salem Report
By State Representative Brad Witt
Greetings from Salem! Recently we spent
three days at the Capitol preparing for the Ses-
sion in January and trying to anticipate what
will be the hot topics this time around. The
last of the taskforces are reporting back to committees with
their findings, and some of this information will be pivotal as
we consider proposed legislation. Each taskforce or work-
group is comprised of both legislators, concerned citizens,
and research analysts, and their goal is to bring back the best
information available on a particular issue. They are invalu-
able to our work here.
On Wednesday, December 14, the House Transpor-
tation Policy Committee, of which I am a member, listened
to updates from the Department of Transportation and their
continuing efforts to ease the growing congestion in the
Portland Metro area. Especially problematic areas like I-5
through the Rose Quarter and segments of the 205 will see
the construction of auxiliary lanes, which should help speed
things up. And, as you may have heard, they are also still
investigating the use of tolls along these same corridors. We
also listened to a report from the Willamette Falls Heritage
Coalition that is coordinating the redevelopment of the for-
mer Blue Heron Paper Company site in Oregon City. For
the first time in 100 years there will be public access to this
cultural treasure marking the end of the Oregon Trail.
In House Agriculture and Natural Resources we
listened to an update from the State Forester regarding the
2018 fire season. This involved not only a report on progress
cleaning up after last year’s fires, but also smoke manage-
ment and programs to manage chronic diseases plaguing our
forests. The fires that ravaged both Oregon and California
over the past two years point to a need to be better prepared.
The bottom line is that we need to manage forest densities.
Many of our forests are overgrown and stocked with under-
brush and other highly flammable materials. These forest
restoration projects are something that we must begin plan-
ning for as soon as possible.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank ev-
eryone for their support and feedback on issues this year.
It is always gratifying to hear from you and I am eager to
once again begin working for the constituents of District 31.
Please know that if you are in the Capitol, you are always
welcome to stop by the office. Call ahead if you can, just to
make sure that I am not in Committee or otherwise sched-
uled.
Last but not least, I hope that you all have a New
Year filled with everything that you are hoping for!