July 28, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 7A
Mushen to
resign from Port
Commission
The first floor of her home is
devoted to a nursing museum
Nursing from Page 1A
Commissioner
cites health
reasons
By Edward Stratton
EO Media Group
Robert Mushen, who led
the Port of Astoria Commis-
sion through a tumultuous
period of infighting, said he
will resign as commissioner
for health reasons.
Mushen, 73, was ap-
pointed to the Port Commis-
sion in 2014 to replace Com-
missioner Jack Bland and
ran unopposed for election
in 2015. A Cannon Beach
resident, he has often served
as an emissary between the
Port and South County.
He will announce his res-
ignation during Tuesday’s
Port Commission meeting.
In April, Mushen suf-
fered a blood pressure spike
during a heated discussion
among commissioners and
Port Attorney Eileen Eakins.
He briefly lost the ability to
speak coherently during a
vote, after which the meet-
ing was canceled and he was
taken by paramedics to Co-
lumbia Memorial Hospital.
“I can’t take a chance on
having that health problem
happening again,” Mushen
said.
“It’s a sad decision, but
it’s really the only one I can
come to,” he added. “It’s not
about me. It’s about the Port
moving forward.”
Mushen said his doc-
Robert
Mushen
tors
found
no signs of
a
stroke,
but that his
personality
would
not
allow him to
take it easy
and avoid an-
other poten-
tial episode.
Mushen served as the
commission’s president at a
time when the panel was di-
vided 3-2, so he often had to
referee contentious debates.
Commissioner Bill Hunsing-
er and former Commissioner
Stephen Fulton were critical
of both fellow commission-
ers and Port management,
but found themselves on the
losing end of several votes.
Earlier this month, com-
missioners selected Frank
Spence, who was elected in
May, as president. Mushen
was named secretary.
A retired eye surgeon,
Mushen moved to Cannon
Beach from Seattle 17 years
ago. Before joining the Port
Commission, he was ap-
pointed to replace Ann
Samuelson on the Clatsop
County Commission in late
2009, serving until replaced
by Debra Birkby in Janu-
ary 2011. He has served on
the boards of the Seaside
Chamber of Commerce and
Clatsop Community Action,
and on the Clatsop County
Health Services Advisory
Council, Friends of the Re-
gional Food Bank and Can-
non Beach Emergency Pre-
paredness Committee.
It was during that year she
decided her love of the Pa-
cific Ocean was real, and she
vowed to return to the North
Coast.
Her love for writing also
was real, so Melodie even-
tually pursued a master’s
degree in journalism and be-
gan writing books for nurses
who wanted more from their
careers. Her books segued
into speaking engagements
throughout the U.S. and in
several countries.
Throughout her travels,
Melodie always found time
to scour antique stores, flea
markets and garage sales,
searching for mementos that
depicted nurses and encour-
aged pride and productivity in
nursing.
After she and Gary decided
to make Cannon Beach their
permanent home five years
ago, she started the museum.
It’s open from 1 to 4 p.m. Sat-
urdays during the summer and
by appointment during the rest
of the year (contact informa-
tion is on the website, www.
pronurse.com). Admission is
free.
The South Hemlock Street
house, once owned and oper-
ated as a gift shop by Cannon
Beach resident Marlene Laws,
was already in a commercial
zone. Melodie, in her often
contrary way of thinking, de-
cided that since those interest-
ed in tourism were always try-
ing to put “heads in beds,” she
might have something unusual
to attract tourists.
“Nurses are always trying
NANCY MCCARTHY/FOR CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
A summer uniform for nurs-
ing cadets hangs in the Lost
Art of Nursing. The U.S. Ca-
det Nurse Corps was estab-
lished by Congress in 1943
to train women between the
ages of 17 and 35 to be nurs-
es and to ensure there were
enough nurses in the nation
during World War II. The
program ended in 1948.
Melodie Chenevert points to a photo of Irene English
Countryman, who directed the Methodist-Kahler School
of Nursing in Rochester, Minn. from 1923-1938. Country-
man eventually moved to Arch Cape. Chenevert, who also
received her nursing diploma from Methodist-Kahler, dis-
plays Countryman’s nursing cape and caps.
to get heads out of beds,” she
said, laughing.
Museum visitors include
current nurses, retired nurses
relatives or friends of nurses
and those who never consid-
ered being a nurse. She has
had as many as 25 people
come through on a Saturday
and as many during midweek;
they stay from 10 minutes to
three hours, sharing memories,
glancing at the nursing kitsch,
browsing the nursing books, or
buying specially made nursing
stickers and necklaces.
Comments in the guest
book include the words
“amazing,”
“awesome”
and “fascinating.” One vis-
itor called the museum a
“joy-filled, magical journey
through nursing.”
Eventually, Melodie wants
to share her museum with a
larger community, by housing
it in a university or even cre-
ating a national nursing mu-
seum, possibly in Portland. “I
would like to see the collec-
tion stay in the Northwest,”
she said.
She worries that people
will forget the time when
nurses, like those in the his-
toric posters and magazine
covers, were celebrated and
considered bold, noble and
patriotic. She also worries that
the mementos she has rescued
NANCY MCCARTHY/FOR CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
over the years will once again
be discarded.
Most of all, Melodie,
whose first class in nursing
school was called “nursing
arts,” is concerned that the
emphasis on nursing as an art
as well as a science has been
overlooked. That’s why a
nursing museum is important,
she added.
“I think there’s not much
interest in history in general in
this country,” she said. “With
nurses, they’re so consumed
by the here and now, they
don’t think about their his-
tory or their future. They’re
just trying to get through their
shift.”
Cannon Beach trainer Ira Evansen finds ‘Valhalla’ at fitness gym
By Kaelia Neal
EO Media
Former MMA
fighter devotes
energy to fitness
KAELIA NEAL/EO MEDIA GROUP
Ira Evansen has devoted his
life to fitness.
A school dropout, who was
briefly homeless as a young
man, Evansen found his con-
fidence as a gym rat, testing
himself through taekwondo and
mixed martial arts.
Evansen, now 34, owns
Valhalla Alpha Fit Gym in
Gearhart, where classes such as
powerlifting, boxing, wrestling
and Zumba are offered.
“Fitness is a large pie and
we cover a large part of it,”
Evansen said.
The gym has classes Mon-
day through Friday, though
there is 24-hour access for
members. On Wednesdays,
Spanish Spoken Alpha Fit al-
lows people to train with Span-
ish translation. Children as
young as 6 can also train.
A Cannon Beach native and
an only child, fitness has always
been a big part of Evansen’s
life. “When I was younger, I
was always surfing,” he said.
Ira Evansen racks the bar-
bell after an overhead squat
at Valhalla Alpha Fit Gym.
But the road to Evansen’s
success was not always smooth.
He dropped out of school in the
seventh grade, and ran around
with an older group of boys that
led to some trouble. Eventual-
ly, when Evansen turned 18,
he began working at Cleanline
Surf Shop in Seaside.
Evansen said he decided to
make a bold move and abrupt-
ly fled to California with his
best friend where they had no
place to stay. After about eight
months of being homeless,
Evansen decided enough was
enough. He left the streets and
moved to Seattle with his fa-
ther, where he was introduced
to something new.
Evansen “got into training
taekwondo” and then joined
Rings Sports United in Bellev-
ue, Washington, “where you
could talk how you wanted to,”
and it was “family oriented.”
“I hung out there all night
like a gym rat,” he said.
Evansen competed in MMA
professionally in Texas and Se-
attle. After living in California,
Seattle, Texas and Las Vegas,
at 27, Evansen decided it was
time for a change.
“I needed to go home to
regroup,” he said. “I never
thought I would stay here. I
don’t want any more big cities.
I just want the ocean and surf-
ing.”
Evansen wanted a career
that involved his passion for fit-
ness. “I thought, ‘What else am
I going to do? Why not open a
gym?’”
Evansen said he based
his gym on the principles of
Throwdown Gym in San Di-
ego. “MMA, Zumba, yoga
… everything under one roof.
When I started Valhalla it was
my dream to do that.”
For six years now, Evansen
has owned, conducted class-
es and worked out at Valhalla
Gym. “I really do believe in
this fitness stuff. It’s a lifestyle
to keep up with these crazy she-
nanigans.”
Evansen still surfs at Can-
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non Beach. A group will “ran-
domly go and show up. All of
a sudden we’re a bunch of kids
again.” He said he enjoys the
fact that different people are
brought together by one com-
mon interest.
Though he loves surfing,
Evansen will not go alone.
“I’m scared to go out there. I’m
scared of the sharks,” he said.
He is not sure what the reason
is but believes it has something
to do with the movie “Jaws.”
“That movie really had me
going when I was a kid,” he
laughed.
Evansen is unsure of what
the future will hold for him.
He is debating whether to fight
again, but does not “want to
get hurt.” Buying the building
where Valhalla operates is also
an option.