149TH YEAR, NO. 24
DailyAstorian.com // TuEsdAY, AugusT 24, 2021
$1.50
1923-2021
Henningsgaard
Miller seen as a
transformational
figure for the city
First woman to serve as Astoria mayor
The Astorian
MORE INSIDE
Edith
Henningsgaard
Astoria’s rebirth began
Miller, a transformational
with Henningsgaard • A3
figure in late 20th century
Astoria, died on Saturday.
She was 97.
As the first woman to graduated from high school
serve as Astoria mayor, she at the age of 15 and trained
brought a level of profes- to become a nurse at the
sionalism to City Hall. A University of Iowa.
number of important Astoria
Edith Gensicke met her
government careers began first husband, Blair Hen-
during her administration, ningsgaard, at a U.S. Army
including her city manager, hospital, where she was a
nurse and he was
the late Jim Flint,
recuperating. Blair
the city’s commu-
nity development
Henningsgaard had
director, Paul Ben-
seen combat action
oit, and Ron Louie,
in Bastogne, where
who became the
his unit was encir-
cled by the German
first Chinese-Amer-
ican police chief.
army.
Her
adminis-
Edith
After Blair Hen-
pro-
tration was a piv- Henningsgaard ningsgaard
posed
marriage
Miller
otal moment in the
during a one-week
city’s life. Planning
and urban development leave, she said, “No, I don’t
work during her seven years have any shoes.” A phy-
set the stage for the civic sician said he would give
rebirth that blossomed after Edith his shoe ration stamp.
They married in 1945.
she was out of office.
Henningsgaard Miller’s
Following the war, the
storied life included a whirl- newly married Hennings-
wind World War II court- gaards lived in Portland,
ship, a late-in-life politi- where the young physician
cal candidacy and survival was doing his residency at
of an airplane crash on the Good Samaritan. The cou-
ple considered moving to
Columbia River.
“My mom lived a long South Bend, Washington,
life. She adored her chil- when an acquaintance said:
dren and her grandchildren “You would be a natural for
and was proud and hum- Astoria.”
bled to have been mayor of
The Henningsgaards had
Astoria,” said Blair Hen- four children: Blair Jr., Lisa,
ningsgaard Jr., her son, who Jolee and Bill. In those years,
serves as city attorney.
Edith raised funds for the
American Red Cross, played
Raised in Iowa
golf and was president of the
Born in 1923, her life League of Women Voters.
began on a Cedar Rapids,
After Dr. Henningsgaard
Iowa, farm, where she was died suddenly in 1980, Edith
fourth of five children of worked for Bobbie McCal-
German-Irish ancestry. She
attended a one-room school, See Henningsgaard, Page A3
College to forgive
some student debt
By KATIE
FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
Clatsop
Community
College is looking to elimi-
nate more than $400,000 in
student debt, an initiative
that could provide finan-
cial relief for more than
500 students impacted by
the coronavirus pandemic.
The relief is aimed
at students with unpaid
account balances who were
enrolled at the start of the
pandemic emergency dec-
laration on March 13, 2020
through this year’s spring
term. The amounts that
students owe range from
just a few dollars to sev-
eral thousand. The highest
amount owed is $7,027.
The debt-elimination
initiative comes from a
one-time Higher Education
Emergency Relief Fund
award through the U.S.
Department of Education.
BuffaloBills.com
Astoria’s Jordan Poyer, in his fifth season with Buffalo, interacts with fans at a training camp practice.
POYER PREPARES
FOR NFL SEASON
Astoria grad
and Bills
shooting for
Super Bowl
By GARY HENLEY
The Astorian
T
here’s a treat for NFL fans
heading into the new sea-
son. With luck, no more
cardboard cutouts in the stands,
or automated music and fake fan
noise over the loudspeakers.
All the way through the Super
Bowl, last season had limited
numbers of fans, as well as a ban
on pregame tailgate parties, with
players and coaches having to
wear masks on the sidelines.
And who can forget the card-
board cutouts?
“That was just weird, man,”
said Astoria’s Jordan Poyer.
Poyer’s Buffalo Bills will be
one team even more anxious to
have a full stadium, since the Bills
have one of the most loyal fan
bases, giving Buffalo a true home
field advantage.
“We’re excited to have fans
back in the stadiums, and we’re
excited to give something for them
to cheer about,” Poyer said earlier
this summer, before training camp
began.
Poyer’s hometown fans caught
a glimpse of their hero in June,
when he made his first visit to
Astoria in over a year and staged
an “NFL Experience” workout at
CMH Field. He also used the visit
to shoot footage for a documen-
tary about his alcoholism, shar-
ing the message, “It’s OK to ask
for help.”
Hailey Hoffman/The Astorian
Local fans cheered for Jordan Poyer at CMH Field for a documentary
about the football player.
‘I KNOW WHAT I’VE DONE IN THE
LEAGUE, PEOPLE KNOW AND SEE
WHAT I’VE DONE. I JUST WANT TO KEEP
BETTERING MYSELF, AND EVERYTHING
ELSE WILL FALL INTO PLACE.’
Jordan Poyer | Buffalo Bills safety
Other than that, his offseason
was “as normal as it can get, under
the circumstances,” Poyer said.
“I’ve just been working, grinding
hard, getting ready for the season.”
Poyer took a vacation to the
Bahamas, “but other than that, I
just went back and forth between
Florida and Buffalo.”
17 games
Besides the real fans and the
real noise, the big change in the
NFL this season will be its first
17-game schedule. The league has
cut one week off of the preseason,
and added one game to the regular
season. The NFL has been playing
Photographer
brings old photos
back to life
By R.J. MARX
The Astorian
S
See Poyer, Page A6
See College, Page A6
Flood Valley Taphouse
coming to Warrenton
‘Get the angle that nobody sees’
EASIDE — The stunning
photographic renditions of
the Prom from 100 years ago
owe their beauty not only to
the intrepid photographers of
the time, but to the man who
helped them find a new life.
Photo restorationist Bruce
Andrews archived century-old
a 16-game schedule since 1978.
“We have 17 (regular season)
games now,” said Poyer, entering
his ninth year in the NFL and his
fifth in Buffalo. “It will definitely
be a grind every season. But as a
competitor, that’s what you want.
You want more games, more TV
time, more opportunities to make
plays.”
And the Bills are ready to break
through. After losing four straight
Super Bowls in the ‘90s, Buffalo
won its first playoff game since
1995, when the Bills defeated
Indianapolis 27-24 in last year’s
museum negatives and photo-
graphs and restored them to a
crisp and brilliant freshness.
He works from his house
on S. Edgewood Street, in
front of a large computer and
surrounded by boxes of post-
cards, prints and negatives.
“I’ve done photo resto-
rations for over 25 years,”
Andrews said. “I started out
doing my own photos, and
collected a goodly amount of
negatives and slides that folks
have either discarded, aban-
doned or I fished out of the
garbage, dirty beyond mea-
sure. People didn’t know who
or what they were.
“I guess it was partly due
to my feeling that as a photog-
rapher myself, the people who
took these images originally
took them because they meant
enough to them to capture
R.J. Marx/The Astorian
See Andrews, Page A6
Bruce Andrews is a photo
restorationist in Seaside.
Food and beer
near the Shilo Inn
By ETHAN MYERS
The Astorian
WARRENTON — A
craft beer destination from
Chehalis, Washington, is
coming to town.
Flood Valley Taphouse
will open next month in
the vacant building next to
Shilo Inn and Walgreens
on E. Harbor Drive.
They will serve break-
fast, lunch and dinner. The
menu will feature a variety
of classic taphouse items:
burgers,
sandwiches,
soups, salads and fish and
chips, along with a list of
beers.
See Taphouse, Page A6