The skanner., December 14, 2011, Page 12, Image 12

Colbert
continued from page 6
this.”
At 14, you could get an adult job, she remembers. And
during hard times, many of the young men she knew signed
up for the services. She found work at the Lone Star Rifle
Co. making shell casings for M1 rifles.
“I worked on the line and we made 38,000 rifle shells in
8 hours.”
Colbert remembers the crime sprees of Clyde Barrow and
Pretty Boy Floyd. And that during the Depression many
people were constantly on the move looking for a way to
survive.
“So many people don’t have jobs,” she says. “Times are
repeating themselves pretty fast, because at that time people
did not have jobs and they came from every direction.”
Colbert’s husband moved north to Portland, Ore., where
he found a good job at a railroad company, and she followed
him in 1942. She rented a room at the intersection of N.
Larrabee and NE Broadway, she says. She found a job at
Gunderson’s shipyard working from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm,
cleaning ships. One of a team of 12 women, she was paid
from $1.35 to $1.42 an hour.
“They said some of those ships had-
n’t been cleaned in 12 years,” she says.
“We were cleaning those ships and get-
ting them ready to go overseas and
back.
“The guys were joining the
Longshoremen and getting pretty good
pay. But those guys weren’t cleaning
the ships. The union hall was at 4th and
Morrison and they had jobs. You could
sign up to be a merchant seaman or work in the shipyard.”
The Colberts moved to Vanport and began arranging for
other family members to join them. Colbert drove down to
Texas to bring the children to Portland.
“She was very instrumental in bringing people here,” says
Kelly. “First she sent for my youngest sister and her hus-
band. Then she sent for my dad and my mom and five of my
siblings. There were eight of us and three of
us stayed behind for another six months. I
was 10 when my dad sent for us. That was
our family in 1946.”
Colbert only gave up driving three years
ago, when she was 97. And she still has a
great memory, vividly recalling the events
of the Vanport flood of 1948.
“The kids were at school,” she says, “and
they told them ‘Go home and tell your
mother to get to higher ground.’ The kids
were running in the streets and people were
saying, ‘What’s wrong with the kids?
What’s wrong with the kids?’ I remember
looking out of the window and seeing water
just water for as far as you could see.”
Kelly, who was 11 at the time, also
remembers that day. Everyone believed that
Thressia Del Colbert’s 100th birthday celebration drew relatives
a lot of people were drowning in the flood,
from Portland and around the country.
he remembers. Even now he finds it hard to
One of Colbert’s lasting legacies is her contribution to
believe that the official count was
dozens of neighborhood children. Every summer she would
just 15 lives lost.
After the flood the children in the rent a school bus and organize work parties, taking young
family had to go to different people from the neighborhood out to farms to pick produce.
schools. Some went to Chapman For many it was their first job and a source of pride.
“We grew up picking everything they grew in Oregon,”
Elementary, others to Elliot.
says
Kelly. “She drove the bus and took us out to farms
Families had to stay in makeshift
where we’d pick beans, strawberries, walnuts, cherries,
shelters for more than six months.
“They didn’t have anything,” cucumbers. We went 50 miles in every direction.
“We learned a good work ethic through her. She led by
Colbert says. “Just what Goodwill
example.
I never knew her to smoke or cuss. Aunt Stell was
and the Salvation Army gave
our role model and she was the best role model you could
them.”
Colbert gave birth to two children, Fay, now deceased, have. I felt that way and I know everyone else did too.”
To this day, people come up to Colbert to thank her for
and Margaret, a retired Washington County Deputy Sheriff.
taking
them to the fields to work and giving them their first
She bought a house on N. Commercial at Blandena, She
also held down a variety of jobs, working for some time at chance to earn money.
“If I took you on the bus you couldn’t go fishing,” she
a poultry factory and also for a Dr. Buck who lived in the
says. “You had to work or you weren’t’ coming back.”
Laurelhurst neighborhood.
Many Portlanders
remember Colbert as
the person who
helped them get their
first job.
We honor the many
accomplishments of African
Americans.
Movies
continued from page 9
It is our primary goal as a
labor union to better the
lives of all people working
in the building trades
through advocacy, civil
demonstration, and the
long-held belief that work-
ers deserve a "family wage" - fair pay for an honest day's work.
A family wage, and the benefits that go with it, not only strength-
ens families, but also allows our communities to become
stronger, more cohesive, and more responsive to their citizens'
needs.
Our family wage agenda reflects our commitment to people
working in the building trades, and to workers everywhere. In this
small way, we are doing our part to help people achieve the
American Dream. This dream that workers can hold dear regard-
less of race, color, national origin, gender, creed, or religious
beliefs.
The Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters
alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (G) Animated adventure finds Alvin (Justin
Long) and company running amuck on a luxurious cruise ship only to end up stranded on
a tropical island after being accidentally being tossed overboard. Voice cast includes Jason
Lee, Matthew Gray Gubler, David Cross, Anna Faris and Alyssa Milano.
Cook County (Unrated) Prodigal Papa drama about a recently-paroled ex-con (Xander
Berkeley) who returns home to mend his relationship with his estranged teenage son (Ryan
Donowho) only to discover that the boy’s uncle (Anson Mount) has turned the place into a
meth lab teeming with addicts. Support cast includes Polly Cole, Makenna Fitzsimmons
and Yankie Grant.
Representing more than 5.000 construction workers in Oregon State.
Do you want to know more about becoming a
Union carpenter?
Corman’s world: exploits of a hollywood rebel (R for violence, nudity and profani-
ty) Reverential biopic about Roger Corman, the legendary B-movie director who helped
launch countless film careers, including those of Jack Nicholson, William Shatner and
Robert De Niro, while cranking out a never-ending string of low-budget offerings. With
appearances by Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Pam Grier, Peter Bogdanovich, Peter
Fonda and Ron Howard.
the Pill (Unrated) Better-late-than-never comedy chronicling the efforts of a confirmed
bachelor (Noah Bean) to get a girl (Rachel Boston) he just shared a one-night stand with to
take the Morning After pill. With Anna Chlumsky, Jean Brassard and S. Lue McWilliams.
Page 12 The Portland Skanner
december 14, 2011