A6 • Friday, December 21, 2018 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com
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THE MAN WHO BLESSED KEIKO
with the divine through nature
providing sacred spaces through-
out our campus.”
SEEN FROM
SEASIDE
R.J. MARX
Lasting legacy
Seaside owes debt to
Tom Chatterton
W
hen Seaside’s Mary
Blake read a remem-
brance of Tom Chatterton
at the Seaside City Council this
fall, newcomers may be unaware
of the long history and contribu-
tions Chatterton made to the city
of Seaside.
Chatterton was a renaissance
man, a builder, landscaper, volun-
teer, preacher, counselor, adviser,
mentor and more. Many of Sea-
side’s public spaces bear his mark.
Chatterton was a member of the
South Clatsop Interfaith Partner-
ship, bringing together represen-
tatives of the secular and spiritual
communities. He was a member of
t the city’s landmark commission,
the public library siting committee
and served on the tree board from
its inception until 2011.
“He volunteered thousands of
personal hours over his quarter
of a century commitment,” Mary
Blake, former longtime director of
the Sunset Empire Park and Rec-
reation District recalled.” With-
out question it was a labor of deep
love.”
A love for animals
“Not only did Tom volunteer
with us,” Blake said. “He shared
his talents and skills with others.
He would perform commitment
ceremonies, weddings, celebration
of life gatherings for friends and
community members. As well as
services for our four-legged mem-
bers of our families.”
Perhaps his most legendary
moment was when he conducted a
service for Keiko the whale.
In January 1996, Tom Chatter-
ton sat mesmerized as he watched
Keiko the orca being airlifted to
the Oregon Coast Aquarium in
Newport, where the International
Marine Mammal Project built a
state-of-the-art rescue and rehabil-
The memorial in front of Keiko’s exhibit at the Oregon Coast Aquarium.
Seaside’s Tom Chatterton is remem-
bered for his spiritual message and
love of the city.
itation facility, where Keiko was
fl own to bring him back to health.
When Keiko died in Decem-
ber 2003, Chatterton was moved
to write a poem as a memo-
rial, which he sent to the aquar-
ium. He was contacted by Pat-
rick Helbling, acting president at
the aquarium, who told him that
the aquarium had received many
phone calls and emails about the
whale’s death. Chatterton sug-
gested the remembrance service
and was later asked to offi ciate.
More than 700 mourners turned
out in Newport, as Keiko’s for-
mer handlers recalled his love of
games and gentleness.
Animals large and small were
his passion. Chatterton was
described as sharing his home
with three cats and Buckley, a
6-year-old Lhasa Apso. “I think
we’re hardwired by creation to
deal with nature’s creatures on
a deep level,” Chatterton told a
reporter.
Chatterton served as an inde-
pendent chaplain and offered ser-
vices for normal “passages-of-life
events” and as a support in times
of crisis. For many people, those
times of crisis involved pets.
One of Chatterton’s goals was
to bring a pet cemetery to Clatsop
County.
“Some dear friends of mine lost
their 13-year-old cocker spaniel
about fi ve years ago,” Chatterton
told the Signal. “She went into a
grieving period and did not come
out of the house for seven weeks.
“That started our remarkable
25 year relationship,” she said.
His work was so good it grew
to include the entire district, she
said, from design to mentoring
kids on how to pick out boul-
ders to plant materials. “Nothing
was done without Tom’s steady
guidance, landscape mastery and
whimsical wit,” Blake said.
They worked so well together,
he helped transform a crumbling
unused Scout hut into a commu-
nity structure that today hosts
civic and nonprofi t groups at
no charge, known as the “Mary
Blake Playhouse,” intended
to provide common areas
where people can visit and get
connected.
No detail was too small —
Chatterton selected Idaho quartz
for the layered rock fountain,
designed so the quartz’ mica con-
tent gives the fountain a slight
iridescence when the morning
sun shines. He even knew what
time of day was best for view-
ing. Shrubs, plants and trees were
“chosen in a nursery in the foot-
hills of Mount Hood,” Chatterton
said at the time, noting that the
grounds featured several species
not often seen on the North Coast.
The remarkable landscaping
was enjoyed by all of our com-
munity, Blake said. “It was a
source of pride for all,” she said.
“It also was something that went
through each season with great
beauty and introspection. Tom
was very spiritual. He connected
Oregon Coast Aquarium
I thought, who responds to people
who are hurting over an animal?”
His dream was to create a Clat-
sop County pet cemetery — alas,
never fulfi lled — and to expand
his ministry to include veterinary
chaplaincy.
Landscape dreams
But it was as a landscaper and
designer that Chatterton ultimately
left his mark on Seaside.
Within a year of moving to
Seaside in 1992, he ran an ad in
the local newspaper inviting indi-
viduals interested in forming a
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.
Within a year, the fellowship
was formed. Chatterton also had
a deep spiritual passion and reg-
ularly attended various other
churches, including the Catho-
lic and Lutheran churches, and
he wrote about his faith in col-
umns in both the Signal and Daily
Astorian.
It was in the city’s parks,
nooks and crannies that his mark
is the most evident. He fi lled in
the spaces with his own majestic
vision.
“The district, with the help of
the city, just completed the con-
struction of the Seaside Youth
Center,” Blake said. “We had
this beautiful building but it was
stark naked! No landscaping
whatsoever!”
Chatterton volunteered to
design a landscaping plan and
Blake agreed to support it with
resources.
“I fi rst met him through my
work with the park district and his
emergence as a volunteer during
the early days of the district as he
designed the landscaping in and
around the pool and youth cen-
ter as well as the community cen-
ter,” Sunset Empire Park and Rec-
reation District board member
Michael Hinton said in Novem-
ber. “He strove to maintain and
enhance his work into the memo-
rial garden near the skate park.”
Chatterton continued to work
with rec district director Skyler
Archibald. “He had strong con-
victions on all things landscap-
ing but was an amazing volunteer
who never expected anything in
return for his service,” Archibald
said. “That area doesn’t have all
the exact same features as it did
when he designed it but we’ve
tried to keep the essence of the
design while making the building
a bit more visible from the road.”
Archibald said he and Chatter-
ton had been working together on
a piece of art by the skate park to
honor Jacob McCulloch, a vol-
unteer fi refi ghter, Seaside High
School grad, skater and surf-
boarder who was killed in a car
accident in 2005.
Other projects included design
of a columbarium for the Amer-
ican Legion, and an “ambitious”
plan for a veterans memorial for
Broadway Park reached the engi-
neering phase, but remains an
unfi nished goal.
“His failing eyesight and
health impaired his ability to keep
up with his love,” Hinton said.
City councilors Tom Horning
and Tita Montero proposed that a
tree of “appropriate species and
size” be planted in his memory at
Cartwright Park.
That appropriate species was a
redwood — a sturdy giant.
“He was deeply engaged to
help improve the quality of life
for all of us,” Blake said. “He
will forever remain alive in our
hearts, memory and beautiful
naturescapes he envisioned and
planted.”
Christmas: It’s the most
wonderful time of the year
VIEW FROM
THE PORCH
EVE MARX
M
y husband, also known as
“Mr. Sax,” has been living
up to his name playing sax-
ophone versions of Christmas music
pretty much around the clock. He’s in
a band and they’ve got some holiday
shows; he says the thing about Christ-
mas music is that even if you think
you know all the songs, you still have
to practice. We live in a small house
and there is no getting away from the
sound of “Winter Wonderland,” “Let
it Snow,” and “Have Yourself a Merry
Little Christmas,” like it or not.
I rather like Christmas music.
Every now and then it comes up
why do I celebrate Christmas and not
Hanukkah? Why not celebrate both?
When I was a kid, my parents put up a
Christmas tree my mother insisted on
calling a Hanukkah bush. One of my
stepfathers, defi nitely Jewish, was into
extravagant gift. One year he gave me a
pair of English jodphurs and boots and
signed me up for riding lessons. That
was the same year he gave me a Chatty
Cathy doll and my stepsister Chatty
Cathy Baby. We pulled the strings that
allowed them to talk so much by New
Year’s Eve they were broken.
In middle school I was in chorus
and there was a Christmas program.
I learned all the words to “We Three
Kings of Orient Are,” and “Do You
Hear What I Hear,” and “The Little
Drummer Boy” — songs I still love.
PUBLISHER
EDITOR
Kari Borgen
R.J. Marx
Eve Marx
Christmas is always better with a dog!
A sad thing about that middle
school holiday program was that my
mother invited my grandfather, her
father, to attend. My grandfather came
to this country to escape Nazi’s and
was horrifi ed that his Jewish grand-
child would be singing Christian
songs. I’m pretty sure he walked out
of the show before the fi nale number,
”Silent Night” was sung. What both-
ered him was the message infi ltrat-
ing my ears, a message he thought dis-
tinctly Christian.
Aside from novelty tunes like “I
Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,”
and my own favorite, the Beach Boys
rendition of “Little Saint Nick,” the
message of Christmas music generally
refl ects what some might call values.
“Do You Hear What I Hear” includes
in its lyrics the words, “Pray for peace,
people everywhere.” John Lennon’s
“Happy Christmas, War is Over,”
released in 1972 with Yoko Ono,
CIRCULATION
MANAGER
PRODUCTION
MANAGER
Jeremy Feldman
John D. Bruijn
ADVERTISING
SALES
SYSTEMS
MANAGER
April Olsen
Carl Earl
CLASSIFIED
SALES
Danielle Fisher
spread a message of unity, resolution,
optimism and peace. Stevie Wonder’s
“Someday at Christmas,” encour-
ages hope for a better tomorrow. The
Ramones “Merry Christmas, I Don’t
Want to Fight Tonight” suggests that
no matter what is going on between
you and your family members, give it
a rest, at least until New Year’s.
This Christmas, although I’ve
improvised our tree, I also sprinkled
every available surface of the house,
including the bathroom, with fairy
lights. I know my son, now an adult,
would love me to recreate the Christ-
mas food of his youth, i.e. pancakes
for breakfast; a mid-afternoon snack
of shrimp dip, and a grand and much
slaved over dinner of roast beef and
Yorkshire pudding.
My main goal for the holiday is to
be a spreader of joy and good cheer.
It’s ridiculously easy to fi nd a kind
word for someone who at that very
moment could use a kind word. This
is also the time to give money to oth-
ers doing work you admire, be that
your local fi re department, animal
shelter or rescue group, water council
or land trust.
I’ll never forget my mother watch-
ing the Andy Williams Christmas Spe-
cial in 1966, transfi xed in front of our
black and white television while he
sang, “It’s The Most Wonderful Time
of the Year.”
“It’s the most wonderful time of the
year
There’ll be much mistletoe-ing
And hearts will be glowing
When loved ones are near
It’s the most wonderful time of the
year!”
Merry Christmas, everyone!
STAFF WRITER
Brenna Visser
CONTRIBUTING
WRITERS
Skyler Archibald
Katherine Lacaze
Eve Marx
Esther Moberg
A new look online
By Jim Van Nostrand
The Daily Astorian
The Daily Astorian and
its sister newspapers on the
North Coast launched new
websites Tuesday, Dec. 10.
This includes the Sea-
side Signal, Cannon Beach
Gazette and Coast River
Business Journal. The new
Chinook Observer website
launched in late November.
What is changing? For
starters, the websites will
load much faster. Slow load
times have been a constant
frustration for both our
readers and our staff for a
long time now. We think
you will be very pleased
with the difference.
The websites will also
look very different. It’s a
fresher, cleaner viewing
platform for news. All the
content is customized for
optimal display on smart-
phones and tablets, as well
as desktop computers. And
the visual presentation of
photos and video is much
more eye-popping.
On the back end, our
reporters and editors will
have more tools at their dis-
posal to deliver news more
quickly and present it in
new ways. Reporters, for
example, will be able to post
breaking stories, photos and
video from their smart-
phones directly online when
the occasion demands.
There are usually some
glitches when media com-
panies transfer their web-
sites to new hosts, and this
move is no different.
The most noticeable will
be that most old links to sto-
ries won’t work anymore.
The stories will still be there,
just with different addresses.
We’ve imported archives
going back over a decade.
There’s a robust search
engine to fi nd them again.
The other is a new
commenting system. Old
comments will no longer
appear, and readers wishing
to comment on stories will
need to create new logins.
What won’t change is
our commitment to provide
the most comprehensive
local news about the North
Coast available anywhere,
both online and in print.
This new system is simply
a means to that end.
We welcome your feed-
back as you kick the tires.
Send your thoughts to edi-
tor@dailyastorian.com.
Seaside Signal
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