MADRAS, Ore. – When Margaret Lever Dement was growing up poor with eight siblings, birthday parties were so rare she doesn't remember any for herself.
However, soon she will have a birthday she is sure to recall, her 100th.
Margaret turns 100 on Aug. 12, 2011. Her open-to-the-public 100th birthday party will be 1:30-4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 13, at the Jefferson Co. Senior Center. 860 SW Madison St.
The second of Marguerite and Henry Lever’s nine children, she is one of four still living. She was born in 1911 in Dixon in the Missouri Ozarks.
Her mother was an accomplished musician. The background of her father – who later became a real estate broker and agent in Madras – included coaching and serving as athletic director at Linfield College in McMinnville.
Margaret graduated from Oregon’s Myrtle Point High School in 1930 and from Linfield in 1934.
Linfield officials say Margaret is one of the college’s oldest living alumna. College records show she earned a bachelor of arts degree in English. Margaret says she minored in music and journalism, too.
Her first job out of college was teaching English and music at Glendale High School in Oregon. She also taught full time at high schools in Oakridge, Vernonia and Myrtle Point. She has been a substitute teacher at Madras High School.
A former manager of the Jefferson County Historical Society Museum in Madras, she used to be a news correspondent for the Oregon Journal and Oregonian daily newspapers of Portland.
She has been organist at St. Mark's Episcopal Church here, played piano at the Jefferson Co. Senior Center and Mountain View Living Center in Madras, edited the center’s newsletter and was secretary for the Seniors of Jefferson County.
Margaret and Karl Dement, who died in 1979 at age 65, had three children. Daughter Marian and her husband, Jon Granby, live in Madras.
Son Thomas Dement lives in Spokane. Son Erik died at age 2 in a tragic drowning.
The Granbys and Thomas Dement are hosts of the party.Wildcatville photo from April 2009
Jackson Vaughn, Linfield College Wildcats head softball coach, and assistant coaches Erica Hancock, Greg Herman and Shelley Vaughan, are the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division III National Coaching Staff of the Year.
They are pictured above. In the large photo is Jackson Vaughn. Left to right in the smaller photos are Hancock, Herman and Shelley Vaughn left to right.
Also announced by the association on 6/30/2011 was the fact Vaughan and his staff are the West Region Coaching Staff of the Year award winners.
The Wildcats went 51-3 in the 2011 season, culminating in their second national championship in five seasons. The first title was in 2007. Linfield set NCAA Division III records for wins and home runs (103) in a season.
Ranked No. 1 in the NFCA poll from the start of the season until the finish – the first team ever to do so – Linfield set new standards for team success. The Wildcats put together a 35-game win streak on their way to capturing an eighth straight Northwest Conference championship, a second consecutive regional title, plus the inaugural NWC Tournament crown.
At the NCAA regional in Pella, Iowa, Linfield won all four games while outscoring opponents 49-0. The Wildcats flew from Iowa to the NCAA finals in Salem Va., where they won six of seven games, outscoring the opposition 50-9.
Linfield’s season statistics were also impressive. The Wildcats broke the 2007 national championship team’s record for batting average, hitting .396. The team also set new standards for slugging percentage (.682), on-base percentage (.471), hits (.595) and runs scored (484). The record-breaking 103 home runs on the season surpassed only their own number of 78 from a year ago.
Linfield NFCA All-American first baseman Staci Doucette set new single-season records for batting average (.547), on-base percentage (.653) and walks (45). Her teammate and fellow All-American, Emilee Lepp, a catcher, set the school- and NCAA-record for home runs with 29, as well as single-season marks for slugging percentage (1.089), hits (89), total bases (195), runs (74), and RBI (94).
Through 10 seasons at Linfield, Jackson Vaughan has recorded a 368-86-1 record with eight straight NWC titles, four national finals appearances, one national championship runner-up finish, and two national titles.
MADRAS, Ore. – When Margaret Lever Dement was growing up poor with eight siblings, birthday parties were so rare she doesn't remember any for herself.