December 24, 2015 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 5A
Wendy was the bright star in many hearts
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time I met Wendy Richardson
it was to talk to her about a
community event that she was or-
ganizing.
I was a freelance writer in
2008, assigned to write a story for
the Coast Business Journal about
“Where the Stars Play,” a concert
series held in the summer at Qua-
tat Park in Seaside. Wendy had
organized it for several years on
behalf of the Sunset Park and Rec-
reation District. It was designed to
draw people downtown and into
local businesses.
Wendy generously gave her
time to share with me her enthusi-
asm for the event, which, she felt,
bene¿ ted the community and gave
mostly unknown bands some rec-
ognition and a little pocket money.
We met in her small of¿ ce ne[t to
Seaside Health Foods on Roos-
evelt Drive. She worked there as
the sales representative for The
Daily Astorian.
Little did we know that about
three months later, I would start
working in that same of¿ ce as the
South County reporter for The
Daily Astorian and we would be-
come fast and close friends.
Wendy’s generosity, love for
her community and desire to help
others — even when it meant im-
pinging on her own time or re-
sources – are the qualities all of
her friends are writing about this
week on her Facebook page in her
memory. Wendy died of a massive
stroke Monday.
“Your friendship, generosity,
kindness and wicked sense of hu-
mor have kept me aÀ oat through
sad times. You always knew the
right thing to say, or when a hug
IMPRESSIONS
NANCY McCARTHY
was just what I needed,” wrote
Gretchen Fulop Darnell. “I fear
Seaside will never be the same.”
“The many lives you have
touched, the many people who
have been healed by your words!
Thank you for your gift of love
throughout the community,”
wrote Linda Smith.
“Thank you for all that you
taught me, helped me through
and shared with me! I am forev-
er grateful for your love and wis-
dom,” added Angela Fairless.
Every weekday morning for
nearly seven years, until I retired
last March, Wendy would come
into my of¿ ce for a quick chat. It
would be our way of starting the
day. We shared our personal trials
and triumphs in those conversa-
tions and usually ended up laugh-
ing. She had many tribulations
that dogged her throughout the
time we worked together, prob-
lems that I’m pretty sure few peo-
ple knew about because her smile
and vivacity masked her stress.
In some ways, Wendy seemed
naïve about people, but her faith
in them usually worked out. Like
the time a stranger came into our
of¿ ce with some hard luck story.
Wendy loaned the woman $25 —
money she couldn’t spare at the
time. The woman promised to pay
her back, even though she was on
her way out of town. A few months
went by. But to my great surprise,
the woman repaid the loan.
Wendy was always sheltering
people under her wing, especially
young people. Whenever we went
to lunch together, there inevitably
would be a person at the restaurant
— a waitress or someone we would
run into — who had either lived
temporarily with Wendy’s family
or who had gone to school with one
of Wendy’s three children and who
Wendy had somewhat “adopted.”
Family was the dominant
theme that ran through Wendy’s
life. She dearly loved her husband,
Al, and her three children, Ali[,
Andie and Nick. But what im-
pressed me so much was how she
raised the kids to be thoughtful,
creative, caring, educated adults.
Two years ago, Wendy celebrat-
ed three graduations in the same
month Ali[ and Andie graduated
from college and Nick graduated
from Seaside High School. Nick
is now attending Lane Communi-
ty College in Eugene.
In this day, when there’s so
much talk about high school drop-
outs and the high cost of a college
education, to have all three chil-
dren graduating in the same month
is quite a feat!
But her motherly instincts
didn’t end with her children. Wen-
dy was the of¿ ce “mother,” too.
When Seaside reporter Katherine
Lacaze needed furniture for her
baby, Wendy dug out her leftover
furniture from her garage.
“You showed me how to sew a
button onto my jacket,” wrote Er-
ick Bengal, former Cannon Beach
reporter, on Wendy’s Facebook
page. “You shared your home-
cooked meals with me....You
counseled and consoled me during
some of my darker days at the Ga-
Wendy Rich-
ardson with
son Nick.
JEFF TER HAR PHOTO/
SEASIDE SIGNAL
zette. And I always looked forward
to our talks. I can’t believe I don’t
have those to look forward to any-
more.”
“I just realized I still have the
jumper cables she loaned me in my
back seat,” former Seaside reporter
Louie Opatz wrote on Facebook.
“Wendy was always so generous,
gregarious and loving – and all
those things so selÀ essly. She never
did--and never would have--asked
for those jumper cables back.”
Wendy was the true spirit of
the Seaside community, a tireless
volunteer for the high school, the
Seaside Chamber of Commerce
and other local organizations. She
would work full days at the of¿ ce,
then spend evenings and weekends
(and, during beach volleyball tour-
naments, early mornings) helping
out in the community.
She taught me the true meaning
of the phrase, “It takes a village....”
She introduced me to this village
of South County, to her friends and
her family, and she made me feel
comfortable here. There wasn’t a
Thanksgiving or Christmas that
went by that she didn’t invite me
to share it with her and her family.
Maybe it is right, too, that we
honor Wendy at Christmas. She
and her mother ran the Christ-
mas shop, “‘Tis the Season” in
Cannon Beach for more than 20
years. Christmas was Wendy’s fa-
vorite holiday.
She often talked about her
mother, who died several years
ago; Wendy missed her very much.
In a ¿ nal Facebook post last
weekend, Wendy showed a pic-
ture she had taken of a rainbow
over the house that she and Al
had moved into a few months
ago. She adored the house and its
location near West Lake.
The rainbow seemed to sym-
bolize that all was well, ¿ nally, in
Wendy’s life, and, as always, she
wanted to share the happy moment.
“Beautiful rainbow over the
house this morning,” Wendy wrote.
“Thanks, mom.”
Fort Clatsop holiday happenings
How the Lewis and Clark E[pedition endured the winter of 1805-06
ASTORIA — Lewis and
Clark National Historical
Park will offer special pro-
grams about the Corps of
Discovery’s winter at Fort
Clatsop on the days follow-
ing Christmas.
Starting Saturday, Dec.
26, Fort Clatsop will fea-
ture living history programs
by park rangers each day
through Jan. 2.
Costumed rangers will
present daily À intlock muz-
zle-loading programs at
1:30 and 3:30 p.m. Hands-
on programs about vari-
ous aspects of the e[plor-
ers’ winter at Fort Clatsop
will be available at the
fort at 10:30 a.m. to 12:30
p.m. and from 2 to 3 p.m.
Ranger-guided walks on
the Netul River Trail will
be offered at 2 p.m. Satur-
day, Dec. 26 and Monday
through Saturday, Dec. 28
to Jan. 2.
Movies will also be
playing for visitors to enjoy
in the Fort Clatsop visitor
center: “A Clatsop Winter
Story,” a 22-minute movie
about the 1805-06 winter
from a Clatsop Indian per-
spective, and “Lewis and
Clark: ConÀ uence of Time
and Courage,” a 34-minute
movie about the entire voy-
age, will be offered each
hour.
The park is closed on
Christmas Day, Dec. 25.
Fort Clatsop is located
southwest of Astoria, three
miles southeast of U.S.
Highway 101. The park,
including the Fort to Sea
LETTERS
Man’s illness
and his cure
Many of us might re-
member growing up in
a time when drugs and
drinking, foul language
and all manner of loose
living was rare and even
discouraged.
Wow,
have
things
changed! I wonder if we
have any clue what hap-
pened and how. Remem-
ber when you didn’t have
to lock your door, when a
handshake would seal the
deal? A man’s word could
be trusted.
How about a marriage
that lasted a lifetime. That
sure would be nice if kids
could count on the folks
being together for their
kids to see them growing
up.
Is it just me, or has a
dark cloud covered the
earth? Has the human race
totally lost its mind?
This did not happen
over night, but slowly
— hardly getting our at-
tention. Generation after
generation, until we see
what a terrible mess we’ve
made of things. There
seems to be a universal
condition that has us bent
on our destruction, a pow-
erful illness taking its toll.
I have the cure for sin. Ask
me how?
The truth will set you
free.
Robert Register
Seaside
2I¿ cers Iailed to
respond to emergency
Why would a law en-
forcement
dispatcher
fail to send HELP to two
women stranded in a pool
of water on the roadway,
especially after being told
that a 71-year-old woman,
with a knee injury, was
in the vehicle and need
assistance getting out of
the car? The person at the
dispatch center was also
told that the vehicle had
stalled and that water was
coming into the passenger
compartment. At this point
it appears the dispatcher,
with great calm, told the
caller to call a tow truck,
which the lady did but ap-
parently none responded.
Finally after some time
a police of¿ cer did stop
and offer them a ride. He
took them to the Safeway
parking lot in Seaside,
told them that he had other
things to do, dropped them
off cold, wet and alone, to
take care of themselves
from there on.
I am dumbfounded. I
thought the number one job
for law enforcement was
to protect life and proper-
ty. If this is so, how could
a peace of¿ cer, on a rainy
cold December night, drop
both women off at a Safe-
way parking lot — one, an
injured elderly woman —
and tell them to call a cab.
I’m stunned.
It appears to me the
appropriate thing to have
done on a rainy and cold
night would have been to
take them to the Seaside
Police Station and let them
make a phone call to a
friend for help. Shouldn’t
this be part of an of¿ cer’s
training?
Samuel Patrick
Astoria
The gift of cancer
research funding
I am a 20-year cancer
survivor who owes her
life to the tremendous can-
cer research done prior to
my diagnosis, and I know
most cancer survivors feel
the same way. Without
research, the successful
chemotherapy and radi-
ation protocols used to-
day would still be on the
drawing board. Right now
we are in danger of losing
the progress we’ve made
and derailing future treat-
ment advancements unless
Congress increases federal
cancer research funding.
What better gift can
Congress deliver this holi-
day season than a renewed
commitment to ¿ ghting
a disease that kills more
than 8,000 Oregonians
yearly?
Over the past decade,
À at funding and inÀ ation
have jeopardized prog-
ress against cancer. Fed-
eral funding for medical
research has dropped
more than 24 percent in
inÀ ation-adjusted dollars
since 2003, forcing cancer
centers to halt promising
clinical trials and drying
up the grant pool for re-
searchers.
Budget proposals being
voted on in Congress over
the ne[t few weeks in-
clude the largest single in-
crease for cancer research
in a decade. Cancer strikes
one in two men and one
in three women, includ-
ing roughly 22,400 Ore-
gonians each year. As the
American Cancer Society
Cancer Action Network
lead advocate in Oregon,
I urge Oregon’s members
of Congress to vote to in-
crease research funding
in the 2016 budget. Let’s
ensure more Oregonians
with cancer can join me
and say, “I’m cancer free.”
Lois Fitzpatrick
Seaside
Trail, the visitor center,
fort, Netul River Trail, and
the parking lots, is open
from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The park also includes
the Salt Works site near the
Promenade in Seaside and the
Middle Village/Station Camp
site just east of Fort Columbia
in Washington.
Admission to the Fort
Clatsop unit of the park is
$3 per adult and includes
Netul Landing and the Fort
to Sea Trail. There is no
admission fee for the Salt
Works or Middle Village/
Station Camp. Passes to Na-
tional Park Service sites are
accepted for free admission.
For further information,
call the park at 503-861-
2471 or visit www.nps.gov/
lewi.
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