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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (July 10, 2017)
7A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, JULY 10, 2017 Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Mourners at Paul Gillum’s memorial service listen to Pastor Jerry Conklin of the Lewis and Clark Bible Church on Saturday. Gillum died suddenly on June 18. Gillum: Described as respectful, compassionate, fun, kind Continued from Page 1A Driving in town Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Astoria Police Deputy Chief Eric Halverson speaks at Saturday’s memorial service for former Detective Paul Gillum. More photos from the service online at DailyAstorian.com Gillum and his family settled in Astoria in the mid-1960s. They had spent time in Warrenton before while camping at Fort Stevens State Park. Tim Gillum, his brother and a former Astoria Police corporal, recalled an early impression their father, Donald, offered about their new home. “You guys aren’t going to be driving here in Astoria,” he told his sons. “Too many hills.” As it turned out, Gillum’s commitments made driving a necessity. After returning to Astoria in 1974 from Viet- nam, where he earned awards like the Vietnam Service Medal and the Combat Action Ribbon his six-year tour, he became a Medix paramedic and reserve police officer in Astoria. He became a full-time officer in 1979, a position he held for 27 years. He twice earned the Medal of Valor for rescu- ing bystanders from gunfire. In 1989, he became a U.S. marshal, which allowed him to patrol fed- eral properties during his police shifts, and he also became a detective. Gillum headed secu- rity for a number of Hollywood movies filmed in Astoria, including “The Goonies” and “Kinder- garten Cop.” An optimist Astoria Police Deputy Chief Eric Halver- son, who at 16 years old joined Gillum during his patrol shift for a ride-along, described his mentor as respectful, compassionate, gracious, fun, kind, gentle, uplifting and an optimist with a wonderful laugh. Since Gillum’s death, the department has received condolence calls, not only from people he worked with, but also from those he arrested. “In the difficulties of the world, there’s something to be learned from someone who has served others so well,” Halverson said. “See, it was not just part of his job. It was part of his life’s work.” Other service Gillum served 16 years on the Clatsop Com- munity College Board of Directors after he was first elected in 1999. At one point, the college faced a loss of accreditation due to outdated facilities. But Gillum was integral to the efforts that led to Columbia Hall’s construction, as well as other restoration efforts, Rosemary Bak- er-Monaghan, the board’s chairwoman, said. She recalled a handful of times when Gillum would attend a board meeting during a patrol shift. He would arrive in full uniform and com- municate with dispatchers and other officers over radio, often forcing him to respond to a call during a meeting. “As unsettling as that can be every once in a while when you remember that he was a police officer, it was also one of the best things about working with Paul,” Baker-Monaghan said. “He had an ability in a discussion to give someone a new or different perspective on any given issue under consideration because he understood where you were coming from.” A deacon After his retirement from the Police Depart- ment, Gillum became a transport deputy with the Clatsop County Sheriff’s Office, as well as a deacon. Members of the Lewis and Clark Bible Church recalled Gillum’s love of donuts, easy fodder for jokes considering his previous career. He held a number of hobbies, such as car col- lecting and traveling, and he was well-known as a sculptor. One of his most famous works is the Astoria Centennial fountain in Maritime Memo- rial Park, which he restored in 2011 for the city’s bicentennial. Albert Wood, one of Gillum’s best friends, was also a Vietnam War veteran and member of the Astoria Police Department. He reflected on the multiple occasions when Gillum would him help through emotional issues in his own life. During his remarks Saturday, he turned toward Gillum’s wife of 45 years, Jo Abing, and his son, James Gillum — an Iraq War veteran. “Jo, I loved him, too,” he said. “I know it’s hard to share him, but I had a piece of him.” Relay for Life: Around 400 participated Allen: ‘This is what I want to do. This keeps me healthy and happy’ Continued from Page 1A For those of you out there in treatment or have finished your treatment, you are my heroes.” Continued from Page 1A Walking for a cause The Relay for Life, which ran from 10 a.m. to midnight Saturday, boasted 22 teams and around 400 participants throughout the day, accord- ing to Parvi. And before a sin- gle lap was walked, it was announced that the event had already raised more than $29,000. After introducing a con- tingent of local pageant win- ners, including Miss Clatsop County 2017 Hannah Gar- hofer and Miss North Coast 2017 Nicole Ramsdell, Parvi asked, “Now you might be wondering why we are bring- ing our pageant people here.” The answer was to honor their grand marshal, Mari- lyn Halbrook, who died in December from cancer. Hal- brook, who worked with Relay for Life for much of the last two decades, was also involved in the Miss Ore- gon Scholarship Program for many years. Parvi noted that the date of the local relay was even changed at one point so it wouldn’t compete with the pageant for Halbrook’s sake. Before beginning the open- ing survivor lap, a recording of a song by 2007 Miss Ore- gon Kari Virding and 2002 Miss America Katie Harding, performed at this year’s Miss walks down a well-worn path on the hillside, keeping his hands on the rope. As he works in the garden, he clips and unclips onto the ropes hanging from the guardrail above him. Landscape to match Photos by Damian Mulinix/For The Daily Astorian ABOVE: Cancer survivors are greeted as they make the opening lap of Saturday’s Relay for Life at Astoria High School. BELOW: Participants in Saturday’s Relay for Life walk the track at Astoria High School. Twenty-two teams took part in the event that ran from 10 a.m. to midnight. Oregon pageant in honor of Halbrook, was played. Lynette also took the opportunity to talk about the new Cancer Care Center, not- ing that when she first spoke at the Clatsop event four years ago, it was still in the concep- tual stage. The center is now set to open in October. “This new facility is some- thing our whole commu- nity can truly be proud of,” she said. “Not only will we be able to expand our cur- rent medical oncology, but we are adding radiation oncol- ogy services. No longer will people have to travel one or more hours away for radia- tion treatment.” She also reminded the crowd, by way of poet Ralph Waldo Emerson that, “A hero is no braver than an ordinary man (or woman), but he (or she) is brave for five minutes longer.” Allen served as presi- dent of the Senior Center for two years and was there when the center underwent an extensive remodel. He started the garden because the renovated building looked so nice. He thought it deserved a landscape to match. “What do you think of me tying myself to the bus?” Allen had asked the center’s executive director, Larry Miller, when first trying to figure out how he would access the area and begin a garden there. “Well, how would we do it?” Miller replied. Allen bought red tow ropes at Deals Only and said, “Just don’t drive the bus off with me attached.” He told Miller if the bus ever keeled over on top of him — an unlikely scenario — to leave him there and continue with the garden. “It will be like putting a ship into the ocean and cre- ating a reef!” he says now, grinning. He organizes the gar- den in two large binders. Bulbs were mysterious to him when he first moved to Astoria — he lived most of his life in the California desert — but he fell in love with daffodils. In his bind- ers, he records what he’s planted and when; he slips seed and bulb packets into clear plastic pockets so he can reference the planting instructions printed on their backs. From rock to blooms The garden was all rock, no soil when he started. Now poppies are in their last spring bloom and sum- mer flowers like dahlias are getting ready to put out flowers. His goal is to have a garden of perennials that overlap, as one plant fades, another begins to bloom. He’s let a patch of bright pink wild peas flourish. Every day he walks down the hill from his house to check the garden’s progress, to weed and water and build it bit by bit. “This is what I want to do,” he says. “This keeps me healthy and happy.” — Katie Frankowicz
