Saturday, March 29, 2025

Linfielder and ardent Linfield Wildcats supporter John Prutsman, Linfield Class of 1957, died in Portland on March 21, 2025.

Linfielder and ardent Linfield Wildcats supporter John Prutsman, Linfield Class of 1957, died in Portland on March 21, 2025.






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John Charles Prutsman obituary

April 1, 1935-March 21, 2025

Obituary published on Legacy.com by Threadgill's Memorial Services, LLC on Mar. 24, 2025.

John Charles Prutsman, age 89, of Portland, a loving husband, father, and grandfather, passed away on March 21, 2025.

Born on April 1, 1935, at Emanuel Hospital in Portland, Oregon, John was the son of "Cotton" and Nola Prutsman. He had a deep love for his hometown, residing in the same home he and his wife, Evelyn, shared for over 62 years-just a mile from where he was raised.

Growing up in West Portland, John attended Lincoln High School, graduating with the Class of 1954. He went on to earn his bachelor's degree from Linfield College in 1957.

A proud member of Linfield College's 1956 football team, John helped lay the foundation for what would become the longest winning streak in college football history, spanning 68 seasons.

John was a respected leader in both his professional and civic life. With a distinguished career in industrial chemical sales, he built lasting friendships with colleagues and clients alike. His generosity and willingness to give his time to others were evident in his many passions and volunteer efforts.

He sang in a barbershop quartet, worked as a volunteer blacksmith at Fort Vancouver, served as a Boy Scout troop leader, was an active member of the Portland Rainmakers, climbed with The Mazamas, was an honored Toastmaster, and was always ready to lend a hand with any project.

John is survived by his beloved wife, Evelyn; daughter, Linda Redmond, and her husband, Michael Redmond; son, Jim Prutsman, and his wife, Staci Prutsman, as well as six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of John, please visit our floral store.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

 Source:

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/john-prutsman-obituary?id=57966574

 

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WILDCATVILLE POSTSCRIPTS:

= Few in Oregon athletics have earned more respect, and as many honors, as Ad Rutschman. No wonder that many of his Linfield loyalists took it personally when they perceived that his influence was being stripped by a new administration with a lot to learn about Linfield. Angry alumni reacted by forming a committee called POLE (Protect Our Linfield Experience) that called the administration and trustees to account.” (Source: George Pasero, Oregonian sports column in newspaper’s Sept. 29, 1996, edition.) The POLE situation took place during the Linfield presidential administration (1992-2005) of Vivian Bull. John Prutsman was a POLE organizer.

During her Linfield presidential tenure, Ad Rutschman retired as the college’s athletic director in 1996 leaving that job after his 25 years of service. Some contend she precipitated his retirement and naming him athletic director emeritus was to placate those, including alumni, who disagreed with her alleged action to make him retire.

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VIDEO: John Prutsman welcomes you to Wildcatville on Nov. 9, 2013.

Source: https://wildcatville.blogspot.com/2013/12/this-is-wildcatville.html

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John Prutsman (Linfield Class of 1957) is proud he played on the same Linfield football team (1954) as all-stars Ad Rutschman, Howard Morris and Vic Fox. Aug. 2, 2022

Source: https://wildcatville.blogspot.com/2022/08/john-prutsman-linfield-class-of-1957-is.html

 

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SEE PHOTO

Linfielders John Prutsman (Linfield College Class of 1957) and Nancy Steinbach Haack (Class of 1968). 8/23/2022 by Wildcatville

 

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SEE PHOTO
Go to Linfield Homecoming football games and you're likely to see Linfielder John Prutsman, Class of 1957, wearing a cardinal red (Linfield school colors are cardinal & purple) athletic jacket heralding being a player on Linfield's Streak-starting 1956 Northwest Conference football championship team. From Portland and a grad of that city's Lincoln High School, 6-foot-2, 175-pounds, John lettered for Linfield football playing for Coach Paul DurhamSee photo taken in 2014 of John Prutsman and Bob Ferguson.

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The first time Linfield won the NWC championship was in 1935 (the year I was born) and Paul Durham was on the team. That was the start of a long dry season. In 1956 Linfield won the NWC championship for only the second time and Paul Durham was the coach. The Red Jackets were a gift to all the lettermen on the team. I have no idea who the benefactor was. The jacket was made by Dehen in Portland who also made all the letterman sweaters and had our first name inside just under the collar. The school always paid for your first letterman sweater which was a  pullover. If you wanted a cardigan you paid for that yourself. Pruts (Source: Email Wed, Oct 25, 2023 at 12:49PM from John Prutsman)

 

Sunday, March 23, 2025

HOW A COTTAGE GROVE BARBER SHOP PLAYED A ROLE IN MIKE MALEY ATTENDING LINFIELD

Linfield College baseball players Kip Patterson, Mike Maley
and Mike Springer on the day Linfield won the 1971 national
baseball championship in Phoenix, Ariz.

HOW A COTTAGE GROVE BARBER SHOP PLAYED A ROLE IN MIKE MALEY ATTENDING LINFIELD

Growing up in the small logging community of Lorane, Oregon, Mike Maley traveled with his father on some Saturdays to Cottage Grove to get a haircut.

Waiting in the two-chair shop for his turn, Mike enjoyed reading the sports section of The Oregonian, a Portland newspaper he normally wouldn’t see. And he also read the  Eugene Register Guard, the main newspaper of the area, there, too.

Mike didn’t know of Linfield or Linfield baseball until reading newspaper stories about the college, including about its sport program, including its 1966 national championship baseball team.

After reading Linfield, he would go to college there and be the first of his family to earn a college degree, he also really wanted to play baseball for the Linfield Wildcats. He did both.

Mike attended Crow High School, a school that consolidated students from his hometown and the nearby community of Crow. The school’s total enrollment was 160 students.

In his senior year 1968 he led (pitcher, outfielder) his team to a state high school baseball title in a game played at Portland Civic Stadium. He was an Oregon all-state selection, playing the State-Metro series. Mike said he was gratified to be the only small school player selected. Future Linfield teammates Mike Springer, Ron Webb, Spencer Wales, and Mike Smithey also played in that series.

A highlight of his time as a Wildcat baseball player was being a starting outfielder on the Linfield 1971 national championship team.

In his 1972 senior year at Linfield, uniform #32, he was a unanimous Northwest Conference all-star selection and a first team West Coast NAIA all-star outfielder. Prior to his senior season Mike received Northwest Conference honorable mention all-star designations.

Postscripts:

--Lorane, Crow, Cottage Grove and Eugene are in Lane County, western Oregon. It’s about 13 miles from Lorane to Cottage Grove and about 22 miles from Cottage Grove to Eugene. It’s more than 90 miles from Eugene to McMinnville.

--Mike graduated from Crow High School (home ,of the “Cougars”) in 1968 and from Linfield in 1972.

--He was the valedictorian of his high school graduating class 0f 36. Mike jokes he got that by default because he was one of the few students that consistently did their homework.

--He met his wife Kathy (Lund) at Linfield and a couple of years ago they celebrated their 50-year anniversary.

--After Linfield, Mike went on to earn a Masters of Social Work from Portland State University. His entire professional career was working in services for people with intellectual and development disabilities and their families.

Originally posted at Wildcatville blog 3/23/2025


Sunday, February 16, 2025

Story from 1990 about Amy Tan, Linfield College alumnus/famous author. (Not posted here, see similiary posting!

 Story about Amy Tan, Linfield College alumnus/famous author. It appeared in the March 14, 1990 Salem, Oregon Statesman-Journal daily newspaper.

 




More:

https://wildcatville.blogspot.com/2023/08/famous-author-amy-tan-attended-linfield.html

Friday, December 27, 2024

Tribute to Elmer & Myrtle Fricke by Dick Hughes

 

For your information, this “Capital Chatter” Dec 26, 2024, column (dateline, Salem, Ore.) about the Frickes was written by Dick Hughes, Linfield Class of 1975.

 

Capital Chatter: A journalism inspiration and Myrtle's memorial

·         By DICK HUGHES For the Oregon Capital Insider

·         Dec 26, 2024

https://www.oregoncapitalinsider.com/opinion/capital-chatter-a-journalism-inspiration-and-myrtles-memorial/article_7cc73bf2-c464-11ef-9f44-6716a809f8a3.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=oregon-capital-insider&utm_medium=email&utm_content=read%20more

In a small but very personal way, Elmer C. Fricke changed the course of Oregon journalism. This is my story.

As a Linfield College student in the 1970s, I regarded Elmer as a curmudgeonly but lively professor of math and computer science.

https://www.oregoncapitalinsider.com/opinion/capital-chatter-a-journalism-inspiration-and-myrtles-memorial/article_7cc73bf2-c464-11ef-9f44-6716a809f8a3.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=oregon-capital-insider&utm_medium=email&utm_content=read%20more

At Linfield football games, he was known for shouting “Fumble!” from the stands when the opposing team had the ball. At First Baptist Church, where he and his wife, Myrtle, were in the choir, his wisecracking during sermons elicited many an eyeroll or “shush!” from her.

Elmer also served on the McMinnville School Board, one of many good people who contributed their time and talent without trying to advance a political agenda or launch a political career.

In 1976, editor Jeb Bladine hired me as features editor at the McMinnville News-Register. I was so green, yet so full of myself, that I’m surprised Jeb didn’t fire me five minutes into the job. Instead, I stayed five years.

Jeb taught me how to be a journalist, including knowledge of Oregon’s laws allowing access to government meetings and records:

“The Oregon form of government requires an informed public aware of the deliberations and decisions of governing bodies and the information upon which such decisions were made. It is the intent of the Public Meetings Law that decisions of governing bodies be arrived at openly.”

Among my duties was covering the McMinnville School District. State law limits school boards, city councils and many other government bodies to discussing only certain subjects in closed-door meetings, formally called “executive sessions.”

One evening, I was covering a routine school board meeting. The lawyer for the district told the board to retreat into executive session to discuss a minor agenda item, one that I hadn’t planned to write about.

I don’t remember the topic, but it didn’t qualify for an executive session under the Public Meetings Law. I objected, saying the executive session was illegal.

Quite annoyed, the highly respected McMinnville attorney dismissed my concern, telling the board: “We can discuss that later. Let’s go ahead and do this.”

Then board member Elmer Fricke spoke up: “If Dick says it’s illegal, that’s good enough for me and I’m leaving.”

At that moment I understood the importance of the free press in keeping watch over government. If Elmer left, the board would be without a quorum to conduct business.

Furious, the attorney caved. Board members proceeded to discuss the topic in open session.

That incident fueled my journalistic courage, instilling the awareness and confidence to cite the Public Meetings Law and quote the Oregon attorney general’s handbook whenever necessary.

Not that I am without fault. In a later story, I misstated how much the district paid that attorney. I called him to apologize and said we’d run a correction. “Don’t bother,” he said. “No one pays attention to what you write anyway.”

Public bodies make mistakes. So do I and other journalists, more than we realize but — I believe — fewer than the public assumes. 

I’ve won dozens of journalistic awards through the years. I recall the specifics of only a few. What I do remember are the errors I’ve let creep into my writing. Almost always they’re dumb typos or brain freezes. Rarely do they arise from misunderstandings.

In last week’s Capital Chatter, I twice misspelled Sen. Lynn Findley’s last name despite typing it correctly three other times. I listed 5th District Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer as a Democrat in “Oregon insiders: Who’s who in and around state government.” 

Argh. It was not a good day.

Meanwhile, trust in the mass media continues to decline. During the 1970s, up to 72% of the public expressed confidence in the media’s ability to report news “fully, accurately and fairly.” That has dropped to 31% as of last month, according to Gallup. What’s even scarier is that many Americans instead trust “information” they get through social media.

As for Elmer Fricke, he not only was my journalistic hero but also an example for how to live.

When my mother died, Myrtle and Elmer became beloved substitute grandparents to our two kids. Our daughter especially remembers her outings with them.

Elmer’s funeral in 2007 brought together people of all ages, swapping heartwarming and often hilarious stories about his impact. I expect a similar multi-generational turnout for beloved Myrtle’s memorial service on Jan. 18, 2025. To me, that is a measure of a life well-lived.

https://www.macyandson.com/obituaries/Myrtle-N-Fricke?obId=34144525

I told the school board story at Elmer’s service. First Baptist was packed, as I later recounted in a March 20, 2008, commentary in the Salem Statesman Journal. I concluded the column with these words:

“Leaving the service, I asked my wife whether she thought many people would attend my funeral, which I hope is a long way off.

“She replied, smiling: ‘It’ll be packed. Half will be glad; half will be sad.’”

Get the best independent source of news and analysis of Oregon state government delivered to your inbox twice a week.

Dick Hughes, who writes the weekly Capital Chatter column, has been covering the Oregon political scene since 1976. Contact him at at
TheHughesisms@Gmail.com, Facebook.com/Hughesisms, YouTube.com/DickHughes or @DickHughes

Friday, October 25, 2024

'Wild Heart' author Kim Frier (of FrierMeier) of Bellingham, Whatcom County, Washington






Sat, 11/18/2023 - 4:00pm to 5:00pm
Event address: 
Village Books
1200 11th St
BellinghamWA 98225
Celebrate the launch of Wild Heart with us in the Readings Gallery! Author Kim Allyson Freier will join us for this family event.
 

Kids Event! Free Admission! RESCHEDULED FOR 11/18/23!

Through lyrical language and enchanting illustrations Wild Heart transports young readers to wilderness landscapes across the globe – from majestic mountains to mysterious rainforests, golden canyonlands, frozen tundra, arid savanna, to the ocean depths and more. The allure of these captivating places fosters a deeper understanding of belonging to the family of life on earth. But is wildness found only in faraway places? Where do you find your very own wild heart?

Throughout her career in environmental education and civic engagement as a university professor and program administrator, museum director, outdoor educator, interpreter and organizational leader, Kim Allyson Freier, Ed.D has aspired to guide people deeper into their intrinsic and reciprocal relationships with the natural world and with each other. Her long-held dream has been to bring the wonder of wilderness into children's minds and hearts and to nurture their delight in, kinship with, gratitude for and responsibility toward the earth's abundant gifts.

Rebecca Rothman is an illustrator and graphic designer living in Seattle. Inspired by the connection between all forms of life, she believes that tiny acts of kindness can change the world. Her most favorite things are dogs, coffee, copic markers, yoga, fancy cocktails, tasty snacks, vinyl, crazy socks, gardening, and dogs – always dogs. Visit her online at rebecca-rothman.com or Instagram @OldDogsNewShoes

 Photos by Wildcatville October 2024, Bellingham, Whatcom County, Washington
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Thursday, October 10, 2024

Linfield and brewing: The two loves of Art Larrance's life


Art Larrance
(1944-2024) the Oregon beer pioneer is remembered by family, and colleagues for his life, legacy and accomplishments on

Celebration of Life of Linfielder Art Larrance (1944-2024) on Oct. 10, 2024, in Portland at Revolution Hall (formerly Portland’s Washington High School). During the event, Art’s son, Tim Larrance, said Linfield and brewing were the two loves of his father's life.

An Oregon native, Art was born Feb 26, 1944, and died of a heart attack on May 26, 2024.

He graduated from Hihi (Hillsboro, Washington County, Oregon) High School in 1962 and from Linfield College (McMinnville, Yamhill County, Oregon) in 1966.

The baseball cards and decal included with this story were handouts at Art’s celebration. 

 



 

Tuesday, October 08, 2024

Memo to Linfield Board of Trustees. Quit stalling, name HHPA for Coach Paul Durham


Memo to Linfield Board of Trustees: Quit stalling, name HHPA for Coach Paul Durham.

On Oct. 18, 2024, we celebrate the 111th anniversary of Paul Henry Durham. In 1913 he was born on that date in Portland and died June 22, 2007,at age 93 in Honolulu.

 

Linfield Athletics would not be what it is/they are today without his leadership, coaching, caring, humor, humility and commitment.

But, while we celebrate him, we are disappointed Linfield, his alma mater, continues to refuse to name the Linfield HHPA (Health, Human Performance and Athletics Building) for him.

 

HHPA has Paul Durham’s name on its exterior facing Linfield Avenue and his name and images are appear prominently inside of it.

 

Nonetheless, since the building opened in 1989, Linfield Board of Trustees refuse to name the building for him.

Coach Paul Durham did “right” for Linfield.

 

Linfield should do “right” by naming AAPA the Paul Durham Health, Human Performance and Athletics Building.



--Posted Oct. 8, 2024. 

--Photos/video clips by Wildcatville, fall 2024.


Oct. 18, 1913 – June 22, 2007


STORY:

http://www.salem-news.com/sports/july12007/linfield_coach_070107.php


OBITUARY:

https://www.macyandson.com/obituaries/Paul-H-Durham?obId=1647189