Local author connects
Astoria with short stories
Descendant
of Northwest
pioneers savors
waterfront locales
PATRICK WEBB
Growing up with four brothers, it was
almost inevitable that Dorothy Delia would
answer to “Dede.” The nickname stuck, and
six decades later Northwest author Dede
Montgomery is happy to see it on the cov-
ers of her books. Her latest, “Humanity’s
Grace,” is the second she’s written with an
Astoria setting.
The book is styled as a series of 15
interconnected shorter works, a format
described by author friend Jeff Fearnside as
“a novel in stories.”
The book takes a handful of lesser char-
acters from Montgomery’s earlier novel,
“Beyond the Ripples,” and features others
throughout. “There is an incident, a death,
that connects a number of different char-
acters – many who will never know each
other” she explained. “I wanted them to be
linked so that they read as a novel.”
Montgomery grew up in Wilsonville
before moving east. Her father, journal-
ist Richard G. Montgomery, chose the La
Grande Observer over The Daily Asto-
rian when both editor positions opened in
the 1970s. “He loved Astoria, but felt he
wanted to understand Eastern Oregon,”
Montgomery said.
While processing her grief after his
death, she highlighted the family’s deep
Oregon connections, spanning 7 gener-
ations, in the 2017 memoir “My Music
Man.” The memoir described games at the
family’s beach cabin in Ocean Park, Wash-
ington, her father’s rapport with former
Gov. Tom McCall, as well as her
father’s work in promoting the Oregon
See Page 13
Dede Montgomery is the author of
‘Humanity’s Grace,’ as well as two other
fiction books set in Astoria.
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