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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (May 20, 2016)
OPINION 4A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MAY 20, 2016 A salute to all the brave parents and heroes By MURIEL JENSEN For The Daily Astorian T he approach of Memorial Day brings to mind thoughts of our heroes. At this time in our history, I am humbled by the courage displayed by our military, by their will- ingness to offer all and to give it, all too often. We are blessed, and our security is assured, by their heroism. Heroism, though, isn’t found only in combat. Many men display great bravery on the battlefi eld of their ordinary lives. My father, Michael Pacheco of New Bedford, Massachusetts, was such a man. Of Portuguese extraction, he was 5 feet 7 inches tall with a beautiful beaky nose, thick gray hair, and a sort of “Godfather ” vibe. He left school in the sixth grade, because that’s what lower middle -class immi- grant children did in the early 1930s, and went to work to help support the family. He deserves an award for bravery because he was mar- ried to my mother, Jeannette Bourgeois Pacheco. She was an inch shy of 5 feet tall with a serious Napoleonic personal- ity. She had boundless enthu- siasm for all kinds of things, and I think he decided early on Muriel that agreeing with whatever Jensen she wanted to do was easier and less exhausting than opposing it. (I should mention here that he was part of the 85th Custer Division involved in the liberation of Rome during World War II. He was also part of a team that liberated an Austrian general from the Nazis. He was one of just a few who returned from that mission, and was awarded the Bronze Star. It isn’t that he lacked the warrior instinct. But my mother was like Joan of Arc on steroids.) C ases in point: I was born to her sister, Estelle, in January 1945. In April of that year, Estelle died, leaving a husband and 14 children. Many of the younger children were taken in by the older ones who were married, and the older boys stayed with our natural father. Jeannette and Mike had been married almost 10 years at that point and had no children. Jeannette wanted to adopt my 9-year-old sister Lorraine and me, but Mike was in Italy with the Fifth Army. She contacted the Red Cross, who fi nally found him. They talked on the phone. He told her that he was in agreement with the adoption, but, though he had every intention of coming home, she should be prepared to raise us by herself if the worst happened. She started proceedings. Happily, he came home and we settled into life on the second fl oor of a tenement in New Bedford. He was a foreman in a handbag factory, and Jeannette stayed home. Life was good. Muriel Jensen’s dad, Mike Pachec y older sister, Rita, lived several blocks Submitted Photo o, with her at about 10 months old in his lap. Her sister, Lorrain nette, round out the family pho from us and had a daughter, Jenny, just six e, 9, and mom, Jean- to. months younger than I. We were constant com- panions throughout our childhood. I remember the two of us leaving her house one snowy afternoon to go to my house. Instead of the usual one-block My mother was like walk to the main thoroughfare, which would take us to my home three blocks away, we decided to explore and walked Joan of Arc on steroids. along a back street. We were stopped by a couple of bigger boys who pelted us with snowballs for being in their neigh- borhood. Jenny broke away and ran to my house, telling my The summer between my junior and senior year, I was parents something like, “Two boys grabbed Muriel and I got given custody of our class mascot, a rubber lizard named, away!” appropriately, Lizzie. I’m not sure how it started, but I care- My father declared, “That dog has got to go!” My sister lessly left it on my bed and scared my mother to death with The boys’ intentions were no more sinister than squashing snowballs on my face, but while I was doing a creditable job of squared her shoulders and said, “If the dog goes, I go.” In support it when she came in to vacuum. So we all started hiding it on disarming them, my father, with Jenny trying to keep up, came of my sister, I added, “I’m going with Lorraine!” My mother, one another. running down the street. He wore a sleeveless T-shirt, pajama who sometimes saw humor in the strangest things, said, “Well, if At the beginning of my senior year, I was to give a speech bottoms and his bedroom slippers. He had to be freezing. The the dog and the kids are gone, you won’t need me.” to parents and students about our fi nal year in high school. I “Fine!” he shouted. “Why don’t you all stay home and I’ll opened my small clutch purse to retrieve my notes, and Lizzie, boys ran and he shouted at me for not following the more pub- go?!” He left, and was back in half an hour with ice cream. lic road home. stuffed in like the last pickle in a jar, popped out. Everyone got While I was offended at the time, I often think about the a good laugh, Dad, the perpetrator, particularly. e bought me a Cinderella watch after he suffered a slipped love that sent him running out the door without stopping long ur family was far from perfect. The French and Portuguese disk and I told him I asked the kids in my third grade class enough to grab a jacket or run around the back to get the car in are volatile and passionate and every complaint or dissent at St. Anthony’s to pray for him. the dead of a Massachusetts’ winter. Lorraine joined the convent after high school and my par- is spoken at high volume. But my parents were loving and kind e got a puppy at about that same time, a toy fox terrier ents and I went to Canada to see her investiture. She received a and dug in to do whatever had to be done at a time when there with a big personality and budding teeth. The fi rst time white veil, indicating she was a novice, and was given the name was no such thing as ‘fi nding yourself.’ Whatever they wanted we left him alone, my mother tied him to the leg of the sofa, by which she would be known for the rest of her life. She chose personally was always second to what the family needed. As I thinking he would be unable to reach anything valuable. struggle to be a good person today, I think about how easy they “Sister Michael” for our father. My father’s leather-bound Zane Grey collection was in a When that was announced, he burst into tears. It was the made it look. bookcase across the room. A salute to all those parents out there who battle life every fi rst time I’d ever seen him cry. Are you ahead of me? When we got home, Zane Grey was He worked nights when I went into high school, but he got up day to keep their children safe and loved. everywhere. Tippy had chewed through his leash, most of the a few hours early every Friday night to take my friends and me to Astoria resident Muriel Jensen has published more than 70 books, the bottom of the sofa and the rocker of a chair. our football games, then brought us home and went on to work. books and novellas. M W riter’s N otebook H O W Where to write • U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D): 2338 Rayburn HOB, Washington, D.C., 20515. Phone: 202- 225-0855. Fax 202-225-9497. Dis- trict offi ce: 12725 SW Millikan Way, Suite 220, Beaverton, OR 97005. Phone: 503-469-6010. Fax 503-326-5066. Web: bonamici.house. gov/ • U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D): 313 Hart Sen- ate Offi ce Building, Washington, D.C. 20510. Phone: 202-224-3753. Web: www.merkley.sen- ate.gov • U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D): 221 Dirk- sen Senate Offi ce Building, Washington, D.C., 20510. Phone: 202-224-5244. Web: www. wyden.senate.gov • State Rep. Brad Witt (D): State Capi- tol, 900 Court Street N.E., H-373, Salem, OR 97301. Phone: 503-986-1431. Web: www.leg. state.or.us/witt/ Email: rep.bradwitt@state. or.us • State Rep. Deborah Boone (D): 900 Court St. N.E., H-481, Salem, OR 97301. Phone: 503- 986-1432. Email: rep.deborah boone@state. or.us District offi ce: P.O. Box 928, Cannon Beach, OR 97110. Phone: 503-986-1432. Web: www.leg.state.or.us/ boone/ • State Sen. Betsy Johnson (D): State Cap- itol, 900 Court St. N.E., S-314, Salem, OR 97301. Telephone: 503-986-1716. Email: sen. betsy johnson@state.or.us Web: www.bet- syjohnson.com District Offi ce: P.O. Box R, Scappoose, OR 97056. Phone: 503-543-4046. Fax: 503-543-5296. Astoria offi ce phone: 503-338-1280. • Port of Astoria: Executive Director, 10 Pier 1 Suite 308, Astoria, OR 97103. Phone: 503-741- 3300. Email: admin@portofastoria.com • Clatsop County Board of Commis- sioners: c/o County Manager, 800 Exchange St., Suite 410, Astoria, OR 97103. Phone: 503-325-1000. STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher • LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager • CARL EARL, Systems Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager • DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager Founded in 1873