January 26, 2018 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 3A
Liz Johnson makes ‘this area special’
Johnson works
as the outreach
coordinator for
Cannon Beach
museum
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Cannon Beach Gazette
BRENNA VISSER/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
Liz Johnson is the outreach coordinator for the Cannon Beach History Center and Museum.
about it,” she said.
On top of that, Johnson
took on Meals on Wheels,
summer reading programs and
the Lunch Buddy program —
a countywide mentorship pro-
gram for students in elementa-
ry through middle school.
While she’s worked with a
number of kids, one girl in par-
ticular made an impact.
“I had a girl in fourth grade
who was very difficult to deal
with when I first met her. At
first she was shy, didn’t want
anything to do with me,” John-
son said. “Now she’s blos-
somed, and does really well
in school. When I met her she
really hated school. Now she’s
going into high school on the
honor roll. It’s feels like more
than just mentoring, I guess.”
Her love for volunteering
served as an advantage when
the outreach coordinator posi-
tion opened up at the museum,
where a large part of her job is
recruiting and managing the
history center’s volunteers.
And recruiting those vol-
unteers becomes even more
crucial when Cottage and
Garden Tour season rolls
around.
“There’s just three of us (at
the museum), and we do it by
ourselves. Just trying to get
volunteers and homeowners
to be a part is a full-time job
in itself,” Johnson said.
With almost no prior event
planning experience, Johnson
learned many of the skills,
like keeping track of all the
details, calling homeowners,
organizing catering and even
baking some of the goodies
offered at the event.
“At the museum I’ve
learned a lot of skills I would
not have learned otherwise.
I have nonprofit experience.
Event planning. Maintenance
experience. Even baking ex-
perience,” she laughed.
But Johnson does take time
to herself. When she’s not at
the museum, she likes to go to
concerts and looks forward to
Seaside’s Barbershop Quartet
festival. She would have gone
to StackStock, but she said she
had a volunteering commit-
ment at the same time. She’s
an avid Portland Trail Blazers
fan, and when all else fails, an
evening at home with her cat
is where she likes to be.
Death and dying: a conversation for life
Participants
asked what
they hope for
when death
approaches
By Nancy McCarthy
For Cannon Beach Gazette
Twenty-two friends and
strangers gathered recently
to have one of the most im-
portant conversations of their
lives. The topic: death.
The guided discussion
gave participants a way to ex-
press their feelings about the
concept of dying, remember
the death of someone they
loved and talk about what they
hoped for their loved ones and
themselves at the time of their
own deaths.
“This discussion isn’t to
solve any problems,” said
Jenny Sasser, an education-
al gerontologist who led the
90-minute exchange. “We’re
trying to have a conversation
about what matters most to us
when we reach our end.”
Held at the Cannon Beach
History Center and Museum,
the program, “Talking About
Dying,” was sponsored by
Oregon Humanities through
the Oregon Community Foun-
dation.
Although the conversa-
tion started somewhat easily
when Sasser asked the partici-
pants to give a word or phrase
that came to them when they
thought about dying, the re-
“
THE WORDS THE PARTICIPANTS
USED TO DESCRIBE THEIR
THOUGHTS ABOUT DYING RANGED
FROM FEAR TO INEVITABILITY.
sponses turned more difficult
after they broke into small
groups to talk about their ex-
periences and hopes.
The words the participants
used to describe their thoughts
about dying ranged from fear
to inevitability.
“Wow!” said one member
of the group. “Yikes!” said
another.
“Comfort,
control,
choice,” added a third per-
son, and her neighbor added,
“compassion.”
“It’s a fact of life,” some-
one else said.
As they turned to their
small groups, Sasser asked
them to recall someone in
their lives who had already
died. How did they live to-
ward their dying? “Not just
how did they die, but how did
they prepare for it?” Sasser
asked. And then, she directed
them to discuss their own ex-
periences during their loved
ones’ deaths.
The consensus of one
group’s members was that
“none of us wanted to go to
a nursing home,” and they
didn’t want to suffer.
“How a loved one dies but
also where they die is conse-
quential,” Sasser said.
While one person noted
that “not having control (over
how death should occur) can
create fear and anger,” an-
other person asked, “Can you
really control yourself at the
time?”
Observing how a loved
one dies “shapes our attitudes
about our own dying,” Sasser
said.
“How we approach our
dying can be a gift to others,”
she added. “Dying is not dis-
connected from living. At
some point there is an end,
and if we live fully to the end,
it is a gift for others.”
After the group went into
their small groups for a second
time, Sasser said she could
hear laughter. The groups’ as-
signment was to discuss their
hopes for their own deaths.
“Notice I didn’t say your
fears,” Sasser said. Talking
about fears sets a different
tone for the conversation, she
added.
The participants talked
about the desire to control the
way they die. They discussed
the need to talk to their fam-
ilies or friends early about
medical preferences during
the final days. One of the par-
ticipants also discussed the
need for family members to
be willing to let go.
Those who don’t have fam-
ilies or close friends to discuss
their dying wishes with could
turn to a “death doula,” noted
history center director Elaine
Trucke, who participated in
the conversation.
Like a birth doula, who
coaches a pregnant woman
through the delivery of her
baby, a death doula provides
emotional support and acts an
advocate for the person who is
dying.
Sasser suggested prepar-
ing an advance directive that
states treatment preferences.
In addition, she said, it might
be helpful to prepare a playlist
that can be played at the end
of life.
“What would you like to
hear even as you’re going
out?” asked Sasser.
Pets must also be consid-
ered when making end-of-life
preparations, she said.
“Our web of relationships
includes nonhuman beings,”
Sasser added.
Some plans that must be
made — like what will hap-
pen to pets — may be prag-
matic, but those plans are
based on feelings, on what the
person wants, Sasser said.
She urged the participants
to continue thinking about
what they hoped for at the
time of their deaths.
“Ask what that means,
what is doable and what still
needs to be put into place, and
what conversation you still
must have,” she said.
Classes for parents coming to the Heights
By Katherine Lacaze
For Cannon Beach Gazette
When it comes to parenting
a significant responsibility as-
sumed by a majority of people
in their lifetime — everyone
could periodically use a little
extra training and support.
“Nobody has all the an-
swers,” said Lori Wilson
Honl, of Northwest Parent-
ing, an organization that is
co-sponsoring a six-week
parenting program at The
Heights Elementary School in
Seaside.
The free, group-based
program, also sponsored by
the Seaside School District,
kicked off Jan. 11. Using a
curriculum called Active Par-
enting Now, Wilson Honl is
Saturday, Jan. 27
GRAYBEAL, Daniel Mark — Memorial and potluck re-
ception at 1 p.m. at Imago Dei Church, 1302 S.E. Ankeny
St. in Portland. All are welcome. Graybeal, 39, of Albany,
formerly of Cannon Beach and Seaside, died Friday, Jan. 5,
2018, in Albany. Fisher Funeral Home in Albany is in charge
of the arrangements.
By Brenna Visser
Liz Johnson has thought
about leaving the North Coast
a few times. But there’s some-
thing special that always
brings the Seaside local back.
“The people. They make
this area special,” she said.
“Anytime something happens,
there’s always someone there
ready to help in any situation.”
It’s a quality she finds spe-
cial possibly because of how
often she has assumed the
role to be ready to help. As the
outreach coordinator for the
Cannon Beach History Center
and Museum, Johnson is the
one behind the scenes, helping
with tasks as small as changing
light bulbs to coordinating the
Cottage and Garden Tour, the
museum’s largest event of the
year.
It’s through her love of
volunteering that she came to
work for the museum.
“I grew up working in
hospitality. I worked in it for
almost half my life,” Johnson
said. “I decided I’ve got to
give back to the community
with my extra time.”
About seven years ago, her
longtime friend Elaine Trucke,
the museum’s executive di-
rector, encouraged Johnson to
volunteer at the museum. “I
had no idea the museum exist-
ed, and the more I was there,
the more I became passionate
MEMORIALS
leading parents and guardians
in learning new skills and
ways to promote their chil-
dren’s success in school and
life. The classes take place
Thursday evenings, with din-
ner served at 6 p.m. and the
class running from 6:30 to 8.
Dinner and child care is pro-
vided for free.
About a dozen families
are registered for the pro-
gram, but newcomers can join
through the third week. The
information tends to build on
itself and participants bene-
fit from being part of a con-
sistent, cohesive group, said
Wilson Honl, who currently
is a teacher at Head Start in
Warrenton and has instruct-
ed parenting classes for more
than 20 years.
She believes participation
as a group creates an advan-
tageous setting for parents to
gain insight and support not
only from her instruction, but
from one another, as well.
“Being able to hear from
other parents can be really
valuable,” she said. Each per-
son is “going to bring their
own experiences and ques-
tions.”
The course features a mix
of verbal instruction, educa-
tional videos and group dis-
cussion, geared toward the
same philosophy: parenting,
as with any job that’s reward-
ing and difficult, requires
training and support. Parent-
ing skills being addressed
throughout the course in-
clude fostering strong rela-
tionships; using discipline
to teach lessons; commu-
nication with children and
co-parents; helping children
express their feelings; devel-
oping self-care habits; and
motivating children to build
self-worth and personal pow-
er.
The end goal is to “pro-
tect and prepare our children
to survive and thrive in the
kind of society in which they
live,” Wilson Honl said. As
society changes, people have
to change how they parent.
They can help their children
learn to make wise choices
at a young age, when those
decisions are easy and the re-
percussions are small, as op-
posed to large and life-threat-
ening.
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