THE RAPS SHEET Summer 2017 Retirement Association of Portland State Portland State University Post Office Box 751--RAPS Portland OR 97207-0751 Campus Public Safety Building, second floor, SW Montgomery at Broadway Office Manager Rebecca Butterworth (503)725-3447, rapsmail@pdx.edu Office Hours: Tues. & Weds., 9-1:30; Thurs., 9-3. Campus mail: RAPS Web: www.pdx.edu/raps Officers Doug Swanson Co-President Dawn White Co-President Brian Lewis Secretary Ansel Johnson Treasurer Eileen Brennan RAPS Sheet Editor Larry Sawyer RAPS Representative to Regional & National Retirement Associations, Website Editor Board Members-at-Large Steven Brenner Nancy Eriksson Charlie White Committees Nancy Koroloff History Preservation and Pictorial History Book Chair Nancy Eriksson Social Committee Chair Clarence Hein Friendship Chair Priscilla Blumel Membership Chair Nancy Chapman Scholarship Chair Charlie White Awards Chair RAPS Annual Summer Picnic on August 17 at Willamette Park The RAPS Summer Picnic returns to Willamette Park Photograph by Larry Sawyer lease join RAPS members and their families for our annual summer picnic which returns to Willamette Park this year. Willamette Park is located at 6805 SW Macadam Avenue in Portland, and we are assigned to Shelter A. This covered picnic area is located in the south part of the park next to the South Parking Lot. Both the shelter and the site are accessible for people with disabilities. The park is served by buses 35, 36, and 99. The Willamette Park stop is #3620. The festivities will begin at 4:00 pm Thursday, August 17. As always, it will be a potluck, so bring your own beverages and a dish to share. Nancy Eriksson is coordinating the picnic; please contact her with questions and to tell her what dish you will be bringing so that she can insure we have a balanced menu. Nancy’s phone number is 503913-7200; her email is Nan254@hotmail.com. . P
Co-President’s Message When Wim Wiewel hosted the President’s Annual Luncheon for Staff and Faculty in May, it was in a new role as outgoing president. He had announced last year that he was leaving his post at the end of the school year, going on a one-year sabbatical, and returning in the fall of 2018 to teach in PSU’s College of Urban and Public Affairs. The May gathering gave RAPS members a chance to wish Wim well after nine years at the helm of PSU. It came as quite a surprise, then, when Wim announced on June 20 that his plans have dramatically changed. He will become Lewis & Clark’s 25th president on October 1. According to Wim, accepting the presidency at L&C allows him and his wife Alice to “stay in the community we’ve come to love and call home. It will allow us to continue to be deeply involved in shaping higher education and contribute to Portland’s success.” Close on the heels of Wim’s announcement came the news from Provost Sona Andrews that she is leaving her post at the end of August. Sona has been a strong supporter of RAPS since arriving on campus five years ago. She will take a sabbatical next year but plans to remain in the community for the time being. Change is in the air with a new President, Dr. Rahmat Shoureshi, and a to-be-named provost coming on board this fall. We hope to have both leaders speak to us early in their tenures. Until then, enjoy the summer, friends and colleagues. I look forward to seeing you at our annual picnic on August 17! -- Dawn White, Co-President Football Tickets Available for First Home Game PSU Football fans: once again, the PSU athletics department has provided us with complimentary tickets for the university’s first football home game of the year to be held at Providence Park, 1844 SW Morrison St, Portland, OR 97205. This game with the University of California, Davis is scheduled for September 16, 2017 at 2pm. What a way to start the fall! We will have 20 tickets on a first come, first-served basis. The maximum per person is two tickets – at no charge. Please call or email the RAPS office and leave your name and contact information (503-725-3447 or rapsmail@pdx.edu ). You will be notified when the tickets are available for pickup. Enjoy. --Susan Poulsen, Co-President Please Update Your Contact Information Have you moved, changed your phone number, or changed your email address? Please contact Rebecca Butterworth in the RAPS Office at rapsmail@pdx.edu, or call her at 503-725-3447 by July 28. Leave a message if Rebecca is not in the office. This will assure that you receive our mailings, email announcements, and the 2017 RAPS Membership Directory. 2
RAPS Group Reports The RAPS Book Group. On June 20 we met at the home of Steve and Eileen Brennan and discussed Walter Isaacson’s The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution. Full of new ideas and new knowledge, it was a rewarding book. And when the next day’s newspaper carried the news of the troubles of the executive at Uber, one could see a pattern similar to the entrepreneurs we had just been reading about. The book group will meet through the summer. In July we are reading The BadAss Librarians of Timbuktu and Their Race to Save the World’s Most Precious Manuscripts by Joshua Hammer. It is a true story of the saving of ancient manuscripts from Al Qaeda militants. We will be meeting on July 18 at the home of Joan Shireman, 13584 SE Snowfire Drive, Happy Valley: joanshireman@gmail.com or 503-698-9951. In August we are reading Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman, described (by Amazon) as “funny and moving, sweet and inspiring, celebrating the importance of community and connection.” We are meeting to discuss it on August 15 at the home of Marge Terdal, Terwilliger Plaza, 2545 Terwilliger Blvd, Apartment 812, dbmt@pdx.edu or 503-808-7438. In September we will read Mink River by Brian Doyle. It is a novel about the lives of the inhabitants of a small, fictional town on the Oregon coast, and has been well reviewed. We will meet in September at the home of Nancy Chapman, 4214 Hazelfern Place: chapmannj@comcast.net or 503-234-0162. It sounds like a good summer, doesn’t it? The book group meets the third Tuesday of every month at 1:30. If you plan to come, please contact the person hosting that month and let him or her know that you will be there. New members are always welcome.- -Joan Shireman The RAPS Bridge Group. The RAPS bridge group meets in the afternoon on the first Tuesday of each month. We begin play at 12:15pm. We try to finish up by 4pm. We meet in Smith Center, usually on the second floor, but sometimes on the third floor. Please mark your calendars for the following upcoming months, bridge dates, and rooms: Tuesday, August 1, 2017; in SMSU 294 Tuesday, September 5, 2017; in SMSU 294 Tuesday, October 3, 2017; in SMSU 327 Tuesday, November 7, 2017; in SMSU 294 Tuesday, December 5, 2017; in SMSU 294 I will send out the reminder email notice about one week prior to each date we play. The RAPS Bridge Group members are very friendly and are always looking for new players. If you wish to join us, please contact Steve Brennan, 503-646-6297. My email address is the.steve.brennan@gmail.com. --Steve Brennan The RAPS Hiking Group. Ten hikers walked the Fanno Creek Trail through Tigard in May. The section we hiked for a round trip of about 5 miles took us through downtown Tigard and several parks along Fanno Creek. We ate lunch at Max’s Fanno Creek Brew Pub in downtown Tigard before hiking back to our starting trailhead. In June, six hikers walked a section of the Wilson River Trail for a round trip of 7.2 miles. This section was out of sight of the river for over 50% of the time and had an elevation gain over a ridge. There were many wildflowers in bloom. Tom Dieterich identified them and Cilla recorded them. They included: Columbia lily, Fireweed, Foxglove, Birds-foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatis), Rough hedge nettle (Stachys rigida), Delphinium, Penstemon, Bleeding hearts, Monkey flower (Mimulus), Angelica lucida, Ox-eye daisies, and Hawkweed. Birds were heard but not identified. The May and June hikes were coordinated by Cilla Murray. In July, we will hike the historic Hug Point near Cannon Beach. This is a hike for regular hikers as it is hosted at a beach home of one of the hikers. In August, we will re-hike the Bull of the Woods Trail in the old Cascades. Last year’s hikers in August described it as “Huckleberry Heaven.” Bring a plastic bag. If we are lucky, we will stop to pick some. More information can be found on the hikers RAPS webpage at: https://www.pdx.edu/raps/RAPS-Hikers. --Larry Sawyer 3
RAPS Awards Presented at May Luncheon 2017 RAPS awardees and presenters included (from left): Clarence Hein, Cristine Paschild, Steve Brannan, Larry Sawyer, and Scott Burns. t the President’s Gathering for Retired Faculty and Staff in May, RAPS honored Cristine Paschild and Scott Burns. Cris got RAPS’ Special Recognition Award and Scott received the Outstanding RAPS Member plaque. Paschild is the University Archivist, and she has transformed the archival collection, organizing and classifying, making it easily accessible to researchers and those interested in PSU history. She has attached names to hundreds of photos, a very large percentage of which were of RAPS members. Due to her initiative, there are regular informative displays in the main floor hallway. Her award was presented by Clarence Hein, one of the RAPS members regularly using the Archives. Burns was honored for his services to RAPS, the University, and his discipline. His wine tours for RAPS are fascinating, and they raise money for the RAPS scholarships. His name can frequently be found in the local and regional press, explaining phenomena such as the landslides in the West Hills or the movement of glaciers in the Alps. He is a leader in informing the public of PSU’s extensive research activity and its vital role in Portland. His plaque was presented by Larry Sawyer, who nominated him. --Charlie White, Awards Committee Chair --Photograph by Steve Brennan 4 A
???–Doug Swanson In Memoriam: Armyn Roberts Brooke, 1929-2017 rmyn Roberts Brooke, who served Portland State as a teacher and tutor, died April 30 at age 87. Ms. Brooke was born on May 29, 1929, near her family’s wheat farm in Oakesdale, Washington. At the age of six she went to live with her aunt and uncle, then later reunited with her mother and brothers. She spent most of her high school years traveling throughout the South as her stepfather pursued a military career. She attended 10 high schools in four years, finally returning to Washington and graduating from Leavenworth High School in 1946. At the University of Washington, where she earned a bachelor’s in elementary education, Ms. Brooke met her future husband, a graduate student named Clarke Brooke, Jr. The couple married in 1949 and moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, where she taught elementary school and her husband pursued a Ph.D. in geography at the University of Nebraska. After two years in Ethiopia, where the first of the couple’s three daughters was born, the family moved to Portland and Dr. Brooke began his teaching career in the Department of Geography at Portland State. In 1974 Ms. Brooke completed a master’s in teaching at PSU and began teaching and substituting in Portland-area schools. In 1977 she joined Portland State, teaching and tutoring students in study skills, vocabulary, and English as a second language. The family often ventured overseas as Dr. Brooke conducted research in Tanzania, Lebanon, and Afghanistan. In 1975 they lived in a van for six months while traveling throughout Europe studying endangered domestic animal breeds. The Brookes continued their world travels in retirement, including a trip down the Amazon River. They visited Patagonia, Chile, Alaska, Egypt, the Antarctic, the Arctic, and the Caribbean. Ms. Clark continued her involvement in the Unitarian Church, AAUW, Lake Oswego Library, and various Democratic political causes. She was a supporter of cultural arts and was a longtime season subscriber to Portland Arts and Lectures, Chamber Music Northwest, White Bird Dance, Artists Repertory Theater, and Portland Opera. Ms. Brooke’s husband died in 2009. She is survived by her three daughters and their spouses, Ann Brooke, of Kauai, Hawaii; Jill and Brad Wall, of Portland; Megan Brooke and Peter Schoonmaker, of Portland; granddaughter, Emily Clemons; and grandsons Guy, Cole, and Henry Schoonmaker. Memorial donations in Ms. Brooke’s name may be made to the Lake Oswego Public Library, 706 Fourth Street, Lake Oswego, Oregon, 97034. –Doug Swanson 1971 Photograph of Armyn Brooke from PSU Digital Archives 5 A
In Memoriam: Ann Weikel, 1935-2017 nn Weikel, professor emerita of history who taught at Portland State for more than 30 years, died May 11 at her home. She was 81 years old. Prof. Weikel was born in New York City on December 26, 1935, the only child of Reba and William Weikel. She grew up in Schenectady, New York, received a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts, in 1959, and a Ph.D. from Yale University in 1965. Before coming to Portland State in 1967, she taught at Mt. Holyoke and Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois. An engaged citizen long before she came to Portland—as a graduate student in 1963, Prof. Weikel participated in the March on Washington— her activism continued throughout her years in Oregon. Soon after arriving in Portland she became active in the Democratic Party, campaigning for Senator Wayne Morse’s re-election in 1968. Prof. Weikel was active in the AAUP as local president and as a member of the National Executive Committee, and she served as a board member of the Episcopal Women’s History Project. Prof. Weikel’s specialty was early modern English history, and she was the editor of three volumes of Wakefield Court Rolls (1537-1540, 1550-1552, 1583-1585), published by the Yorkshire Archaeological Society. She also wrote on the Counter-Reformation in Elizabethan England and authored the entry on Mary Tudor in the Dictionary of National Biography. Her academic guidance led several students to pursue doctoral studies at prestigious universities, including Cambridge. Even after retiring from Portland State in 1999, Prof. Weikel continued to teach and conduct historical research. In 2007 she was named historian and archivist of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in northwest Portland, and it was there that she taught many classes in church history. Under her direction, the cathedral’s History Guild published The History of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral: Fulfilling the Promise, 18542014. She also served on the Trinity Vestry, the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon Budget and Program Council, and the national board of the Episcopal Women’s History Project. Prof. Weikel is survived by cousins John Weikel, William Carleton Weikel, and Janet Hovis, as well as by many friends. A memorial service was held June 5 at Trinity Cathedral. --Doug Swanson 6 A
In Memoriam: Don Balmer, 1927-2017 on Balmer, a Lewis & Clark College professor who contributed to the establishment of the college’s public administration program—which was later consolidated with the Portland State Master of Public Administration program—died April 8. A longtime chair of the Lewis & Clark political science department, Prof. Balmer began offering seminars and classes in public administration to federal, state, and local government executives in the 1970s. Ron Cease, who chaired the Portland State Department of Public Administration for many years, recalled that both L&C and PSU proposed public administration master’s degree programs in the 1970s. Both programs were approved, and the two institutions agreed to cooperate by bringing visiting professors to Portland and offering joint courses. “Clearly, the relationship between the two programs was a good one—competitive certainly, but also cooperative,” Prof. Cease said. “The good relations obviously eased the consolidation of the two faculties at PSU in 1996.” President Judith Ramaley and Dean Nohad Toulan, of the College of Urban and Public Affairs, agreed to bring the Lewis & Clark program, faculty and all, to Portland State. The PSU public administration program also agreed, and Cease, the program’s chair, played a major role in implementing the consolidation. Prof. Balmer died in Portland at age 90. He is survived by his wife of 68 years, Betty, and their children and grandchildren. A memorial service was held June 17 at Lewis & Clark College. “Don Balmer was a great leader, a colleague, and a fine friend,” said Prof. Cease. --Doug Swanson RAPS Scholarship Contributions cholarship contributions were received by the PSU Foundation from the following donors between January 1 and May 20, 2017: Barbara Alberty in honor of Scott Burns June Brinkman in memory of Richard Brinkman Arthur and Charlene Emlen Dave and Mary Krug in memory of Mr. Rob Krug Tony Leineweber in memory of Dan Bernstine Bill and Genna Lemman in memory of Brock Dixon Larry and Diane Sawyer Robert Tufts in memory of Ellen Sanders Tufts We also received scholarship donations from the Robert W. Vogelsang Memorial Raffle held at member meetings and from the wine tour led by Scott Burns in May. 7 D S
Spring 2017 RAPS Member Events Scott Burns led the May 3 RAPS Hood River wine tour, stopping at Wy’East Tasting Room. Tom Dieterich’s camera captures a June wildflower field on the Wilson River Trail hike. --Photographs by Larry Sawyer
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