DECEMBER 29, 2016 // 9
County Commissioner Scott Lee has led
an active life, sailing, fi shing, farming and
owning Bikes and Beyond in Astoria. Now
there’s a “for sale” sign in the window of his
shop, a tip-off that he’s planning some changes
in his life.
“A classic liberal arts education taught me
history and how to think and write,” Lee says.
“That and a loving family are the things that
I have carried with me in my life.” In 2018,
he’ll leave offi ce and move on to something
new: “It’s a big world and life is short.”
Lee says he plans to travel with his father,
and “maybe get back into farming, or work
for a nonprofi t. I have a keen interest in peace,
justice and environmental issues. With the
skills I’ve learned, I think I’d be a real asset.”
His constituents would agree.
Scott Lee
Pierre Toutain-Dorbec
Pierre Toutain-Dorbec and his wife
operate the Cannon Beach Hotel. How he
got there, starting from a boyhood in Paris,
involves warfare and art. He left France for
Vietnam in 1968 as a photojournalist. His in-
tended two months turned into 15 years, then
15 more years in India. At last he decided
that he had had enough of photojournalism
and returned to France to open a photogra-
phy gallery.
At an opening, Toutain-Dorbec met Clau-
dia, an American tourist who owned an hotel.
One thing led to another and they married
and moved to Oregon. “It was no problem,”
Toutain-Dorbec says, “I am used to traveling.”
Their future plans include more traveling, and on each trip Toutain-Dorbec will do an-
other photo story. And of course, there’s the hotel. Toutain-Dorbec says, “We never know in
life. Sometimes there are surprises, and I love Oregon.”
Debbie Twombly began life in the old St. Mary Hospital in Astoria. She grew up in Jew-
ell, with a grammar school graduating class of four, the same four who entered fi rst grade.
She went to Portland State, and since then she’s taught school for 26 years, read bedtime sto-
ries on KMUN for 33 years, and for the last 18 years hosted KMUN’s Troll Radio Review.
Twombly enjoys traveling outside the country, and she sees herself doing more traveling
in the future. When she travels she visits and volunteers in schools (“a joyful thing”). She
says, “I like to get to know people
and to make myself at home in a
place.”
Still, Twombly says, “I’m happy
where I am. Astoria has always
been an amazing place, and I love
the way it has evolved.”
Debbie Twombly, center, with her family in Jewell.