Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
September 16, 2015
Howlak Tichum
Drivers class by AARP
Jeanie M. Smith ~ 1936-2015
Jeanie Marie Smith
was born January 21,
1936 in Portland, Oregon
to Charles Benjamin and
Margaret Louise Bussey.
She passed gently into
Spirit World Saturday
morning, August 22, 2015
in Portland with family at
her side.
Growing up in
Milwaukie, Oregon, with
parents who were both
school teachers, her child-
hood home was filled with
classical music, opera, the
fine arts, dance and lively
political and social discus-
sions.
Her parents instilled a
love of learning, the prac-
tice and respect for all liv-
ing things, appreciation
for creative endeavors,
the beauty and benefits of
nature and self-confi-
dence.
While Jeanie was in
junior high, her dad intro-
duced her to downhill ski-
ing on Mt. Hood. She
loved it! Her competitive
spirit even caught the eye
of a member of the
Women’s U.S. Ski Team.
Jeanie loved competition.
She graduated Class of
1954 from Milwaukie
Union High School, ac-
tively participating in dra-
matic and comedic pro-
ductions and served as
president of the Thespian
Dramatic Troupe, often
earning ‘best actor’
awards for her perfor-
mances.
Reading literature and
writing poetry began early
and earned her place in
the accelerated English
writing class.
In 1954, she was
crowned Miss Milwaukie
and went on to compete
in Seaside for the Miss
Oregon title.
In 1955, she married
Gordon N. Olson, raising
two daughters, Debra and
Becky Rae. Time was
filled with taking care of
the home, involving the
girls in ice skating, trips to
her grandparents’ Oregon
beach property, and wa-
ter-ski and camping trips to
Devils Lake and Pelton Dam
with friends and kids galore.
In 1968, she married
Doug Thompson who had
two sons, Rex and Brian, who
lived in Eugene.
The move to Beaverton
started an active chapter in
her life. She worked fulltime
at Silver Eagle Trucking
Company, and would occa-
sionally enjoy timing her com-
mute over Ger mantown
Road in their Porsche.
Weekends were always
busy—Sailing the San Juan
Islands, backpack trips in the
Oregon mountains, and
working as crew for Doug’s
race car extravaganzas up
and down the West Coast.
As if that wasn’t enough,
her love for downhill skiing
returned, with her being the
fourth woman in Oregon to
achieve the highest level of
ski instructor certification
and teaching at Mt. Hood Ski
Bowl. She also had the op-
portunity to helicopter ski on
Mt. Hood.
In the mid-70s, she be-
came a single mom with one
daughter in college and one
at home. During this time,
the 1978 airline deregulation
was taking shape and her en-
trepreneurial drive began
with the creation of Prestige
Travel, a niche business spe-
cializing in corporate travel.
While building her client
base, she was introduced to
Ken Smith, General Man-
ager/Secretary Treasurer of
the Confederated Tribes of
Warm Springs.
In 1981 she married Ken
Smith who had a son Greg
and a daughter Michele. It
was a week after their mar-
riage, Ken received the call
and was interviewed and later
appointed Assistant Secretary
for Indian Affairs in The
Department of Interior, and
off they went to Washington
D.C. for four years.
With the move to D.C.,
she yet again saw an oppor-
tunity to carve another niche
business by creating Topaz
Enterprises, a travel manage-
ment consulting and auditing
firm.
Her clients included For-
tune 500 companies across
the country, and she was of-
ten described as “the nation’s
foremost air-fare watchdog,”
being quoted in The Wall
Street Jo u r n a l , The New
York Times, USA Today, and
trade and financial publica-
tions. The industry loved her
presence on any platform.
She ran with the big dogs and
was in high demand as a
speaker and writer.
In 1985 Jeanie and Ken
returned to their families and
friends in Oregon, where
Jeanie relocated her business
and Ken returned to work
with his own consulting busi-
ness.
During the 1990’s she
contributed to the arts again
by working closely with the
Museum of Warm Springs
Huckleberry Harvest events,
hosted at their home and sup-
porting the Futures for Chil-
dren auction fundraisers in
New Mexico.
Jeanie sold and retired
from Topaz Consulting in
1997 and began pursuing her
love of ceramic and visual
arts in her new studio built
on the Deschutes River.
In 1998 they purchased a
home in Palm Springs and
would enjoy the best of both
worlds splitting time between
the two homes. Retirement
brought time to delve into
hiking, travel, golf, ceramics,
photography, painting and
collage. Her art has been
shown in galleries from Palm
Springs, Los Angeles, Sandy,
Portland and Madras.
In 2008 they returned to
Oregon 100 percent, and re-
cently settled into their won-
derful condo downtown.
Jeanie loved to entertain.
Page 5
Her creative healthy food
combinations, invigorating
conversations, beautiful
settings, with smiles and
laughter to fill the room
were her hallmark.
Jeanie and Ken traveled
the world from motor-
home to cr uise ships.
They loved exploring an-
cient ruins, wildlife, muse-
ums and the sandy
beaches. She even jumped
in to swim with the sharks!
That was our Jeanie.
Jeanie embraced life
with exuberant enthusi-
asm. Adventurous, posi-
tive, athletic, creative,
strong-willed and competi-
tive, caring and sensitive,
humorous, intelligent,
beautiful. She participated
fully and gleefully in life.
She truly was an amaz-
ing woman. Her attitude
toward death echoed “I
was never afraid of life,
why would I be afraid of
death?”
She leaves a hole which
she would want filled with
happy memories, smiles
and laughter. We send her
love and appreciation as
she goes off on her next
adventure! We love you.
Thank you for being you.
Jeanie is survived by
her husband, Ken Smith.
Her daughters Debra
Daniels, Becky Rae
Schroeder (David) and
Michele Hensel (Kendal).
Six great-grandchildren and
many dear cousins and her
loyal dog Benni. She was
preceded in death by her
parents; sister, Nancy V.
Kelly and son, Greg Smith.
Memorial services will
be held Thursday, Sep-
tember 17, 2015 at 1:30
p.m. at the Sunnyside Little
Chapel of the Chimes,
11667 SE Stevens Rd,
Happy Valley, OR 97086
(sunnysidechimes.com).
In lieu of flowers, do-
nations may be made to
Art Adventure Gallery in
Madras (artadventure-
gallery.com) or Ovarian
Cancer Alliance of Oregon
and SW Washington
(ovariancancerosw.org).
Refresh your driving
skills with the AARP Smart
Driver course. This is for
drivers 50 and older.
You’re learn:
Defensive driving tech-
niques, proven safety strat-
egies, new traffic laws and
rules of the road. Plus,
there are no tests to pass.
You simply sign up and
learn. Upon completion
you could receive a multi-
year discount on your car
insurance.
The class will be from
9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Fri-
day, October 2, with a
one-hour lunch break. The
location will be at the Fam-
ily Resource Center. Call
the library for more infor-
mation, 541-553-1078.
Registration cost is
covered by the War m
Springs Health and Hu-
man Ser vices Branch.
Class limit is 15.
Trading at the River in Sept.
The Oregon Native Busi-
ness Network (ONABEN)
Trading at the River Native
Marketplace is coming up at
Portland next Friday, Septem-
ber 25.
Trading at the River will
be from noon until 7 p.m.
outside the Ecotrust Building
in Portland’s Pearl District.
To learn more visit the event
website at:
tradingattheriver.com
Volunteer with basket weavers
T he Basket Weavers
Gathering is coming to
Warm Springs, and the lo-
cal committee is looking for
volunteers to help make la-
pel pins for the participants
attending.
If you would like to help,
drop in Wednesday between
2 and 7 p.m. at the Educa-
tion Building, first floor train-
ing room.
Culture Coalition offering grants
The Jefferson County Cul-
tural Coalition is encouraging
local nonprofit organizations
involved in arts, humanities,
cultural and heritage activities
to apply for funds.
JCCC receives funds from
the Oregon Cultural Trust to
grant to cultural projects. The
average grant awards are un-
der $1,000.
Interested nonprofit orga-
nizations can download the
grant application form, bud-
get worksheet, grant guide-
lines and a grant checklist
from the JCCC website
www.jeffersonculture.org.
Read through the guide-
lines before applying to en-
sure your organization is
qualified. Organizations that
do not have tax-exempt sta-
tus may use a fiscal sponsor
with tax-exempt status.
The deadline for applica-
tions to be received is Oct.
16. Award notifications will be
sent out in early November.
Contact JCCC with any
questions at:
jeffersonculture@gmail.com.
JCCC is a nonprofit orga-
nization that receives annual
funds from the Oregon Cul-
tural Trust to support pro-
grams and activities that fos-
ter arts, heritage and humani-
ties in Jefferson County.
All grant recipients must be
nonprofit organizations with
residents in Jefferson County.
Being overweight or obese increases your risk of
diseases and health problems, such as heart disease,
diabetes and high blood pressure.
Not surprisingly, the steps to lose weight are the
same as the steps to prevent weight gain:
Daily exercise, a healthy diet, and a long-term com-
mitment to watch what you eat and drink.
EPA adopts fish consumption rate for Wash.
The Environmental Pro-
tection Agency made a land-
mark move this month, an-
nouncing fish consumption
rates that strengthened Wash-
ington State’s human health
criteria and water quality
standards.
The EPA’s decision came
after Washington failed to de-
velop acceptable water qual-
ity standards, and the state
legislature failed to pass a
toxics reduction bill.
Each state is mandated to
set water quality standards to
protect its residents from
toxics such as mercury and
PCBs.
Those standards are based
on human health measures
including how much fish
people eat and an acceptable
cancer risk level.
Washington’s federally
mandated standards are simi-
lar to those set in Oregon in
2011.
They are designed to pro-
tect residents who consume
up to 175 grams of fish and
shellfish per day. The previ-
ous human health criteria
were protective of residents
who consumed up to 6 grams
of fish and shellfish per day.
“The need to update hu-
man health criteria and water
quality standards throughout
the Columbia Basin has been
a huge struggle for tribes in
the region,” said N. Kathryn
Brigham, chairwoman of the
Columbia River Inter-Tribal
Fish Commission..
The EPA decision, she
said, is a monumental step
forward.
“It signifies a shift for the
state’s residents and the com-
munities who rely heavily on
the region’s fish and shellfish
for their diets and need pro-
tection from toxics in their
food.
“Its consistency with Or-
egon allows us to take a re-
gional approach to improving
the water quality of the Co-
lumbia River and throughout
the Pacific Northwest.”
The need for Washington
to update its fish consump-
tion rate and water quality
standard became vital after
the state of Oregon adopted
similar criteria.
The data behind Oregon
and Washington’s new crite-
ria is largely tied to tribal com-
munities that rely heavily on
fish populations for subsis-
tence and cultural use.
The Warm Springs Office of Information
Systems has this tip to help you help yourself
from becoming a victim of cyber crime.
One of the best ways to keep cyber crimi-
nals from getting into your computer, your
business and your personal information is to
have strong passwords, and to keep them
safe.
Keep your passwords in a safe place and
try not to use the same password for every
service you use online.