Sunday, September 17, 2023

Randy and Barbara Jelinek




George Randall ‘Randy’ Jelinek,
1927-2001

McMinnville N-R/News-Register Aug 25, 2001

Born 21 Nov 1927  Three Rivers, St. Joseph County, Michigan

Died 22 Aug 2001 (aged 73)  McMinnville, Yamhill County, Oregon

George Randall “Randy” Jelinek of McMinnville died Aug. 22, 2001, in his home, from complications of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. He was 73.

Mr. Jelinek was chairman of the Linfield College art department from 1965 to 1980.

A memorial celebration with art and music will be held from 1 to 5 p.m. Sept. 15 in Renshaw Hall at Linfield College, McMinnville.

He was born Nov. 21, 1927, in Three Rivers, Mich., and raised in Grand Island, Neb.

He and Barbara Fincher were married Aug. 23, 1953.

Mr. Jelinek studied in Vienna, Austria, in 1956-57. He then returned to the United States and earned a bachelor of arts degree from the Art Institute of Chicago and a master of fine arts degree from the University of Washington. He lived in Illinois, New Jersey, and Everett and Renton, Wash., before moving to McMinnville.

After retiring as chairman of the Linfield art department, he did free-lance commercial art work, including creation of logos for the city of McMinnville and Yamhill County.

He and his wife lived and worked in Scotland in 1983, in Zimbabwe in 1995 and in China in 1998.

Mr. Jelinek was a founding member of the McMinnville Art Association, which later became the Arts Alliance of Yamhill County. He had exhibited his work in the Arlene Schnitzer Gallery, Portland, and recently contributed to a retrospective show honoring Portland artist Jack McLarty.

He also was active on the Yamhill County Democratic Central Committee, serving as a precinctperson. He was a supporter of Gallery Theater, McMinnville, and other cultural groups.

Survivors include his wife; two daughters, Julie Baird of Jackson Hole, Wyo., and Victoria Jelinek of Los Angeles; a son, Gregory Monnix Jelinek of Seattle; three brothers, Donald Jelinek and David Jelinek, both of Grand Island, Neb., and Howard Jelinek of Jacksonville, Fla.; and three grandchildren.

PHOTO black & white from Linfield Archives, circa 1979-1979. Professor Randall Jelinek is captured in a candid moment during class. Jelinek was chair of the art department from 1965 to 1980. He was also a founding member of the McMinnville Art Association, now called the Arts Alliance of Yamhill County. Photo likely by Reid Blackburn.

PHOTO color added by Sheri West.

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Barbara Fincher Jelinek,
1933 - 2022

McMinnville N-R/News-Register September-October 2022

Student, teacher, traveler, writer, activist and actress, Barbara Fincher Jelinek died September 25, 2022, in Seattle, Washington, having moved there in 2015 after 51 years in McMinnville, Oregon.

Born March 23, 1933, in Steger, Illinois, to Laura Monnix and Joseph Victor Fincher, Barbara received a bachelor’s degree from the School of Speech and Drama at Northwestern University in Evanston. In the years that followed, Barbara went farther afield, studying in Vienna, New York and Mexico City, ultimately completing a master’s degree in Education from Linfield College, after following her husband, Randall Jelinek, to McMinnville in 1965 when he was appointed Chair of the Art Department there.

While her children were young, Barbara was an editor and writer for Linfield College’s various publications, an adjunct teacher of English at the college, and a freelance writer for the News-Register. In 1968, she received state and national awards for a series of articles in that newspaper about the need for separate facilities for mentally ill adolescents, at the time housed with the elderly in the State Hospital in Salem. Phil Bladine, publisher, distributed copies of the series to all members of the Oregon State Legislature, which led to their establishing Poyama Land, a treatment center for children in Polk, Marion, and Yamhill counties.

Simultaneously, Barbara held various positions in Yamhill County’s Democratic Central Committee, including the role of chairperson, and was the candidate for state representative in 1983, the same year she was invited to the White House to meet President Jimmy Carter.

Barbara continued to support civic projects and cultural organizations throughout her life, such as the Linfield Chamber Orchestra, the Arts Alliance, and Gallery Theater. The latter was so named because it started in 1968 with summer performances in what was then the Linfield art building’s art gallery.

Beginning with that summer of 1968, Barbara had leading roles in numerous Gallery plays, such as The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, and The Lion in Winter. More recently, she was Maria Callas in Master Class and a woman struggling to recover from a stroke in Wings, by Arthur Kopit. She also directed numerous plays at Gallery, at Sheridan High School and at McMinnville High School, in collaboration with her fellow drama teacher and dear friend, Carol Burnett.

Over the course of her lifetime, Barbara taught drama and English in Illinois, New Jersey, Washington state and Oregon and was awarded two Fulbright Scholarships to teach in Scotland and Zimbabwe, respectively. Even after retiring from McMinnville High School, Barbara continued to teach drama and English as a Second Language in China.

A companion throughout her adventures, Barbara’s husband died August 22, 2001, a day before their 48th wedding anniversary. They are survived by their children, Julie Baird and Gregory Monnix Jelinek, both of Seattle, and Victoria Jelinek Jensen of Chamonix. Her grandchildren are Daniel Jelinek, Kaya Baird, Finnegan Jelinek, Zoe Jelinek, and Sebastian Jensen.

Barbara claimed the best summing up of one’s life is an epitaph she once read containing the remains of a young woman at a cathedral on Scotland’s principal Orkney Island:

She lived respected
And died regretted.

In lieu of a festive gathering to honor Barbara at this time, people are asked to donate to the Zoe Jelinek Memorial Fund on www.gofundme.com. Tragically, Barbara’s granddaughter Zoe died in a sudden accident earlier on the same day that Barbara had the stroke that would send her to intensive care and ultimately conclude her own life.

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This is an abbreviated version of Barbara’s obituary from September because there will now be a memorial service and reception to honor Barbara’s life. Those who knew Barbara, in one way or another, are invited to join her family to reminisce, chuckle, lament, and enjoy the opportunity to celebrate a unique woman’s life.

Thursday, 13 April, 2023, 2 p.m., the Gallery Theater, 210 N.E. Ford St., McMinnville, Oregon.

Student, teacher, writer, activist, actress, Barbara Fincher Jelinek died September 25, 2022, in Seattle, Washington, having moved there in 2015 after 51 years in Oregon. Over the course of her lifetime, Barbara taught Drama and English in various states and countries, and was a founding member of the Gallery Players Theater in the 1960s.

A companion throughout her adventures, Randall, Barbara’s husband, died Aug. 22, 2001. They are survived by their children, Julie Baird, Gregory M. Jelinek, and Victoria Jensen. Their grandchildren are Daniel Jelinek, Finnegan Jelinek, Kaya Baird, and Sebastian Jensen. Sadly, a fifth grandchild, Zoe Jelinek, is deceased.

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