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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015
AN APPRECIATION
Wendy was the bright
star in many hearts
I MPRESSIONS
Mark Lennihan/AP Photo
A jogger and bicyclist cross the Brooklyn Bridge in a
heavy fog, Wednesday, in New York. A weather pattern
partly linked with El Niño has turned winter upside-down
across the U.S. during a week of heavy holiday travel,
bringing spring-like warmth to the Northeast, a risk of
tornadoes in the South and so much snow across the
West that even skiing slopes have been overwhelmed.
B Y
N ANCY
M C C ARTHY
WVHHPVVRULJKWWKDWWKH¿UVW
time I met Wendy Richard-
son it was to talk to her about a
community event that she was
organizing.
I was a freelance writer in
2008, assigned to write a story
for the Coast River Business
Journal about “Where the Stars
Play,” a concert series held in
the summer at Quatat Park in
Daily Astorian File Photo
Seaside. Wendy had organized The Daily Astorian advertising team in 2014. From left, Brandy Stewart, Wendy Richard-
it for several years on behalf son, Kimberly A. Flaigg, Laura Kaim, Lisa Cadonau, Betty Smith and Holly Larkins.
of the Sunset Empire Park and
Recreation District. It was de-
Wendy’s faith in people
signed to draw people down-
town and into local businesses.
usually worked out.
Wendy generously gave her
time to share with me her en-
GUHQ$OL[$QGLHDQG1LFN%XW weekends (and, during beach
thusiasm for the event, which,
VKHIHOWEHQH¿WHGWKHFRPPX-
what impressed me so much volleyball tournaments, early
nity and gave mostly unknown
was how she raised the kids to mornings) helping out in the
be thoughtful, creative, caring, community.
bands some recognition and a
She taught me the true
educated adults. Two years ago,
little pocket money. We met in
Wendy celebrated three gradu- meaning of the phrase, “It
KHUVPDOORI¿FHQH[WWR6HDVLGH
DWLRQVLQWKHVDPHPRQWK$OL[ takes a village. …” She in-
Health Foods on Roosevelt
and Andie graduated from col- troduced me to this village of
Drive. She worked there as the
OHJH DQG 1LFN JUDGXDWHG IURP South County, to her friends
sales representative for The
6HDVLGH +LJK 6FKRRO 1LFN LV and her family, and she made
Daily Astorian.
now attending Lane Communi- me feel comfortable here.
Little did we know that
There wasn’t a Thanksgiving
ty College in Eugene.
about three months later, I
In this day, when there’s so or Christmas that went by that
would start working in that
much talk about high school she didn’t invite me to share it
VDPHRI¿FHDVWKH6RXWK&RXQ-
dropouts and the high cost of with her and her family.
ty reporter for The Daily Asto-
Maybe it is right, too, that
a college education, to have
rian and we would become fast
and close friends.
Wendy Richardson’s last all three children graduating in we honor Wendy at Christmas.
Facebook post to her page the same month is quite a feat! She and her mother ran the
But her motherly instincts Christmas shop, ’Tis the Sea-
endy’s generosity, love Dec. 19: “Beautiful rainbow
for her community and over the house this morn- didn’t end with her children. son in Cannon Beach for more
:HQG\ ZDV WKH RI¿FH ³PRWK- than 20 years. Christmas was
desire to help others — even ing. Thanks mom.”
er,” too. When Seaside report- Wendy’s favorite holiday.
when it meant impinging on
She often talked about her
her own time or resources her throughout the time we er Katherine Lacaze needed
— are the qualities all of her worked together, problems furniture for her baby, Wendy mother, who died several years
friends are writing about this that I’m pretty sure few people dug out her leftover furniture ago; Wendy missed her very
much.
week on her Facebook page in knew about because her smile from her garage.
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“You showed me how to
her memory. Wendy died of a and vivacity masked her stress.
massive stroke Monday.
In some ways, Wendy sew a button onto my jacket,” weekend, Wendy showed a pic-
“Your friendship, generosi- seemed naive about people, wrote Erick Bengel, former ture she had taken of a rainbow
ty, kindness and wicked sense but her faith in them usually Cannon Beach reporter, on over the house that she and Al
RIKXPRUKDYHNHSWPHDÀRDW worked out. Like the time a Wendy’s Facebook page. “You had moved into a few months
through sad times. You always VWUDQJHU FDPH LQWR RXU RI¿FH shared your home-cooked ago. She adored the house and
knew the right thing to say, or with some hard luck story. meals with me. …You coun- its location near West Lake.
The rainbow seemed to
when a hug was just what I Wendy loaned the woman $25 seled and consoled me during
needed,” wrote Gretchen Fu- — money she couldn’t spare at some of my darker days at the symbolize that all was well,
lop Darnell. “I fear Seaside the time. The woman promised Gazette. And I always looked ¿QDOO\ LQ :HQG\¶V OLIH DQG
will never be the same.”
to pay her back, even though forward to our talks. I can’t be- as always, she wanted to share
“The many lives you have she was on her way out of lieve I don’t have those to look the happy moment.
“Beautiful rainbow over
touched, the many people town. A few months went by. forward to anymore.”
“I just realized I still have the house this morning,” Wen-
who have been healed by your But to my great surprise, the
the jumper cables she loaned dy wrote. “Thanks, mom.”
words! Thank you for your gift woman repaid the loan.
Nancy McCarthy is the
me in my back seat,” former
of love throughout the com-
munity,” wrote Linda Smith.
endy was always shel- Seaside reporter Louie Opatz retired Daily Astorian South
“Thank you for all that you
tering people under her wrote on Facebook. “Wendy County reporter and former
taught me, helped me through wing, especially young people. was always so generous, gre- editor of the Seaside Signal
and shared with me! I am for- Whenever we went to lunch to- garious and loving — and all and Cannon Beach Gazette.
ever grateful for your love and gether, there inevitably would WKRVH WKLQJV VR VHOÀHVVO\ 6KH
wisdom,” added Angela Fair- be a person at the restaurant — a never did — and never would
less.
waitress or someone we would have — asked for those jumper
Every weekday morning for run into — who had either cables back.”
nearly seven years, until I re- lived temporarily with Wen-
tired last March, Wendy would dy’s family or who had gone
endy was the true spirit
FRPHLQWRP\RI¿FHIRUDTXLFN to school with one of Wendy’s
of the Seaside commu-
chat. It would be our way of three children and who Wendy nity, a tireless volunteer for
starting the day. We shared our had somewhat “adopted.”
the high school, the Seaside
Family was the dominant Chamber of Commerce and
personal trials and triumphs in
those conversations and usual- theme that ran through Wen- other local organizations. She
ly ended up laughing. She had dy’s life. She dearly loved her would work full days at the of-
many tribulations that dogged husband, Al, and her three chil- ¿FH WKHQ VSHQG HYHQLQJV DQG
I
W
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Upside-down
weather pattern
across US linked
WR(O1LxR
The Associated Press
SEATTLE — Astrid
Rau just baked 16 kinds of
Christmas cookies, including
a batch in the shape of snow-
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having trouble getting in the
holiday spirit, thanks to fore-
casts that have the tempera-
ture in her hometown of Per-
kasie, Pennsylvania, hitting
72 degrees on Thursday.
“I associate cold with
Christmas,” the 55-year-old
says. “And if it’s warm it just
doesn’t feel quite right to me.”
A weather pattern part-
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turned winter upside-down
across the U.S. during a
week of heavy holiday travel,
bringing spring-like warmth
WRWKH1RUWKHDVWDULVNRIWRU-
nadoes in the South and so
much snow across the West
that even skiing slopes have
been overwhelmed.
In a reversal of a typical
&KULVWPDV IRUHFDVWHUV H[SHFW
1HZ<RUNWREHLQWKHPLGV
on the holiday — several de-
grees higher than Los Angeles.
The mild conditions have
KHOSHG JROI FRXUVHV LQ 1HZ
England do brisk business,
but the pattern comes at a
steep cost for ski resorts that
have closed and for back-
country skiers who confront
avalanche risks. And like
Rau, many Americans com-
plain that it just doesn’t feel
like the holidays without a
chill in the air.
“It’s been a great snow
season so far from the Rock-
ies to the higher elevations in
the Cascades and the north-
ern Sierras, and it’s been the
total opposite on the East
Coast,” said Bob Oravec, lead
IRUHFDVWHU ZLWK WKH 1DWLRQDO
Weather Service.
Big parts of the county
are basking in above-average
temperatures, especially east
of the Mississippi and across
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Christmas Eve along the East
Coast, Oravec said.
He laid the credit — or
blame — with a strong El
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of surface waters in the Pa-
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That’s helped drive warm air
west to east across the Lower
48 and kept colder air from
the Arctic at bay, he said.
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and California, the effects
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yet. They’re typically seen in
January through March, and
the heavy rains and snows in
the region are probably not
linked to the phenomenon,
said Washington State Clima-
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1RUWKZHVWLVVWLOOSUHGLFWHGWR
be drier than normal, so the
series of storms that dumped
feet of snow in the Cascades
this month and piled the
snowpack back above nor-
mal, were helpful, he said.
Come summer, farmers
and salmon alike will rely on
that melting snow.
In Washington, authorities
have closed the state’s main
east-west route, Interstate 90,
over the Cascade Mountains
repeatedly this week due to
heavy snows and avalanche
GDQJHU 2I¿FLDOV FORVHG D
sledding hill near Snoqualmie
Pass on Tuesday because the
storm kept the state Trans-
portation Department from
plowing the parking lot. On
Sunday, a heavy storm closed
Oregon’s Mount Ashland Ski
Area when it knocked out
power.
W
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