THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2019 // 9
the mid-1990s in Coboway, a fictional
Oregon town modeled on Astoria. (See
the Bookmonger’s review on page 19.)
The Aunt Dilly character in “Forty
Ways” is based on the Hummastis’ own
aunt, Helmi Peterson, whom Neil cared
for during her decline. Arnie, who lived
in Bellingham, Wash., at the time, occa-
sionally drove south to help his brother.
“I can tell you that the representa-
tion of the aunt is very accurate,” Arnie
said, adding that many of the novel’s
lines are directly from his aunt’s mouth,
and many incidents are based on Neil’s
experiences as a caregiver. “If you have
a relative with dementia, or you know
someone who is, I think there would be
many moments of recognition in this
book.”
Arnie’s brother had a knack for cap-
turing the improbable-seeming reality of,
say, precocious children and the politics
of secondary education. A lover of liter-
ature and baseball, Neil was a scholar,
wordsmith and Renaissance man who
would seize on a subject or project and
be unable let it go, Arnie said.
“Once he got involved in some-
thing, he went in wholeheartedly, then
that became almost an obsession,” Arnie
said. “He just went full force into what-
ever he decided to look into.”
Arnie Hummasti
A Jewell School staff photo from 1989-90. Neil Hummasti is pictured second row, second-to-last column.
A literary life
Laura Clark, a Jewell resident who
was one Neil’s students in the 1980s and
’90s, isn’t at all surprised her teacher
wrote novels in his spare time. “Other
than teaching, I’m pretty sure that was
his main thing,” she said.
Susan Wilcoxen, a colleague of Neil’s
who taught English at Jewell before
and after him, remembers Hummasti as
a good writer, but not one who talked
about it often. Over the years, Neil pub-
lished short stories and other works in
various magazines and literary reviews.
Wilcoxen remembers Neil making
weekend trips to Portland. “He haunted
Powell’s (City of Books),” she said.
As a teacher, Neil introduced students
to Shakespeare, Hemingway and Dick-
ens, and guided students to find their
voice in his creative writing classes.
“He was a favorite of ours,” Clark
said. “A group of us usually took an
elective in his class because it was so
fun.”
Neil would take his students on
annual overnight field trips to Ashland to
catch a few plays at the Oregon Shake-
speare Festival.
“Everything we could take from him,
Arnie Hummasti
A photo of Neil Hummasti, left, and his
older brother, Arnie, taken shortly before
Neil’s death.
Arnie Hummasti
Teacher and posthumous author Neil
Hummasti.
Arnie Hummasti
Neil Hummast in Leningrad (now
Saint Petersburg) with his aunt, Helmi
Peterson, upon whom the character of
Dilly in Hummasti’s novel ‘Forty Ways to
Square a Circle’ is based.
we did, if we had a chance to take it,”
Clark said.
When he needed to be, Neil was a
strict disciplinarian, but one who wanted
all of his students to succeed. “We had
a couple knuckleheads in our class, and
he was able to keep them in line, so to
speak, without being mean,” Clark said.
“He was just a very kind man.”
Neil Hummasti died at age 61 and
is buried in Svensen Pioneer Cemetery,
from which Arnie’s press takes its name.
Now, nearly eight years after his death,
this undiscovered author is earning some
measure of local literary recognition.
“I just think he was a talent, and I just
think that his writing deserves broader
exposure,” Arnie said. “He just really
didn’t have a chance before he died to
promote (his books), or even get them
published.”
“I See London, I See France…” and
“Forty Ways to Square a Circle” are
available in Astoria at Lucy’s Books,
Godfather’s Books, Finn Ware and Riv-
erSea Gallery, as well as at bookstores
in Seaside, Cannon Beach and Manza-
nita. The Astoria Library also has cop-
ies in circulation. For more informa-
tion, visit neilhummasti.com. CW