Mar 19, 2012
Mary Packer arrived in the Cedar Mill area in September of 1975, right around the same time that a group of citizens were starting the Cedar Mill Community Library. Mary shares her early experiences volunteering with this group as the library formed and struggled to find funding to operate. Mary documents the growth and expansion of the library and the yearly rummage sale, the MESS, as it became a success and transformed into our ongoing resale store, Second Edition. This interview is part of a larger project funded by the Oregon Cultural Trust and the Cultural Coalition of Washington County to capture the memories of our three decades of service by digitizing and providing online access to historic photographs, articles, documents and oral histories about the library's founding.
(Intro
music)
0:05: Mark:
As part of a grant to document
and explore the founding of the Cedar Mill Community Library
over
thirty-five
years
ago,
we’ve
recorded
conversations with several of the library
founders. This interview is with
Mary
Packer, an early library supporter who became an
influential board member and volunteer as the library grew.
Enjoy!
0:21: Mark: If you could tell us your name and a little bit about your family, and maybe how long you've lived in Cedar Mill.
0:27: Mary: Well, I’m Mary Packer, and we moved here in 1975. My husband had worked for Ralphs Grocery Company in … down in California, and then got a job with Fred Meyer running their dairy plant. So he came up here earlier with one of our children, and then we followed in September. We have six children; three of them came with us, and three were older and stayed down there on their own at that time, but they all eventually came here.
1:12: Mary: So when we first arrived and bought a house up in Lost Park, and the Welcome Wagon lady came to visit, the first thing I asked about was the library, ‘cause we had chosen a different house that didn't work out and so we had looked at this house. Anyway, she said that they were just getting started in … getting started starting a library. We were avid users of the library where we lived in Fullerton and in Arcadia, in California.
1:46: Mary: So coincidently, one of our neighbors was a friend of my daughters, or they made friends, and her father Frank Gregor was one of the starters, or was very involved in this program. And so at the time they were having an Open House and the Ice Cream Social, and getting signa- … well, anyway, having an Ice Cream Social, so Susie insisted that we go. So we went as a family, and signed the big certificate that they had at the time, the poster, and started getting involved. And so it was through that that I decided that would be a good way to get acquainted with people in the community.
Mark: OK.
2:39: Mary: I had done Girl Scouts and Boy
Scouts,
and all
of that
stuff,
in our prior
location, and thought this was a good
thing,
so that's how I
became involved. I wasn't really involved in the initial
set up of the organization; they had already
established, I think, their nonprofit status at that
time.
Mark: So about what year was that?
Mary: Well, I came in ’75, in September, so I think the works had started in ’74. And I think they had the nonprofit status at that time -- I'm not positive about that. And so … I don't remember exactly … I remember the opening, and being involved then. One of the first things that I did was I was involved in cataloging.
Mark: Wow.
3:40: Mary: Yeah. And so, and I did nonfiction. And at the time I … WCCLS also was started, and so they were already there and …
Mark: And that’s the Washington County Cooperative Library System (sic).
Mary: County. Yeah. And through them, and PCC, they offered a lot of classes for … in library … work, and so we all took some of those classes. And we also … in doing the catalog … and we went down to … well, first we looked at Beaverton, and were really disappointed in their method of cataloging. And so we went downtown, and we used some reference material that they had down there, and I guess did a fairly good job of … at least we were recognized for that … doing good cataloging.
4:45: Mary: And then there were so many people in the community that were involved in different ways, at that time. Andy Anderson and his wife Polly were some of the volunteers, and they … he was a real … he did a lot of construction work. And so he built (a) card catalog, built shelves for us, and that kind of thing. So it was …
5:14: Mark: So what I'm … curious where the books were coming from.
Mary: Oh, they were all dona--
Mark: What can you tell us about that?
Mary: The books were all donated, and there was … I mean they just came in in hordes, and there was a good deal of controversy at the time because of not … Some of them of course were very outdated, and so there was this difficulty about what are we going to do with these books. And so disposing of them became an issue, because people thought, “Well we donated them, they need to be used, and if you're not using them, send them to some reservations,” or things like that. And then we thought, “Well why should we send misinformation, or old stuff, to …” And so there was an issue about that. But it eventually just calmed down, and people realized what our goal was, and that we couldn't … use all that material.
6:16: Mark: Sounds like you got involved in
the process kind of mid-way.
Mary: Well,
yeah.
Mark: Did they have a location at that
point,
when you got
involved? And did they know it was going to
be? And
do you know
kind of how that came about?
Mary: Yes, yeah.
Well, I … because Mr. Bales offered us the space down
here,
and
at a
reasonable
rate,
and so
that's
where it opened
up.
But they had
originally planned to open a small library up on
107th
and Cornell, in a little …
it was
a
storefront of some
kind,
and eventually
just a
preschool took that
property, and it was going to be a
7-11
or something like
that,
and the
residents weren't happy about
that.
So that was
going to be, and there was a book mobile up
there at the time, and so that was the
beginning, actually, was the book
mobile, and then from there we moved
to Bales … location.
7:19: Mark: So was it … it was a book mobile, with the books that you guys had been collecting?
Mary: I believe so, yes.
Mark: So it wasn't associated with any … established library?
Mary: No. There wasn’t any … No, no. The founders really worked hard to keep the ball rolling. Fred Gregor and Joyce Stride were … kind of took care of the library itself, and getting that rolling and set up all of that. And then it just it … I mean it just grew by leaps and bounds, just took off right from the start, and we always … we had a lot of different programs going, just like you do today, to get the community involved, and also for fundraising. We worked with the high school; we just did everything we could to get different kinds of elements in the community to become aware of the library. And it seemed to work well.
8:19: Mark: And when was the opening day? Do you remember?
Mary: It was in January of 1976. (I) don't know the exact day; it could have been right after the first, but sometime in January.
Mark: And were you a part of the … Washington County immediately from the start, or …
Mary: Well, I’m not sure, I think that sort of all developed in that first year. Because I know that we had these different classes that were sponsored by PCC, but I know that WCCLS also had … some help in getting those going.
9:00: Mark: Since you weren't around when they had the nonprofit status all … already, do you know anything about how that came about? What are your memories about why they decided to go that route?
Mary: Well, because I think that was the only route they could go. There just wasn't … we weren’t a community … a city. And the folks wanted something right here in Cedar Mill, so that it would be community-based rather than … I don't think that they ever talked to Beaverton … I'm not sure about … being a part of that. But I know that the residents here had to pay to use Beaverton, and also to use Portland and Multnomah County Library.
Mark: Oh, really?
9:51: Mary: Yeah. So this then would be a non-fee, for the residents, for the people in this area, over the people throughout the county.
Mark: That’s a good reason to start your own library, it sounds like.
Mary: Yeah.
Mark: So what are the … what were the main obstacles that you personally came across in the first … leading up to the library opening and then maybe the first year?
Mary: Well, I think one of the biggest obstacles -- not necessarily an obstacle, but -- was just getting recognition that we were serious, and that it was really a library and not just a joke. And getting … just to have credibility. That we were doing things in the proper manner, and doing things the right way. So I think that that was the obstacle, because the community just, came right in and supported us, and there was, I don't think, ever a problem getting sufficient volunteers. And our children's program just took off beautifully, I mean as far as storytelling. Janette Gill, who you'll talk to later, was very involved in that. And so we had terrific turnouts in that space down there, where it could hardly hold all the people that were involved, and so that's when the move came, to move up to this location.
11:30: Mark: So was the criticism coming from outside the community?
Mary: Yes.
Mark: Other libraries?
Mary: Yes. Yeah.
Mark: Ok. How was the library staffed in the beginning?
Mary: All volunteers. And, let’s see, I'm trying to think what our process was. I think at one time people wrote their names on the card, and then that became questionable, because other people would see who had … was reading the books, etc. And so I know that changed and I’m forgetting exactly how that process worked. Anyway, we also worked at getting grants, at the time. We worked hard at getting members of the community to join the Association so that we could use those funds for eventually purchasing books. And so we did start then, purchasing books also, when we had enough funds.
12:39: Mark: So the initial funds came solely from people joining the association?
Mary: Yes. Um hmm. And then I think we held our first M.E.S.S. the second year that we were open, and earned $2000, or something like that.
Mark: So what's the “M.E.S.S.”?
Mary: The “M.E.S.S.” is the “miscellaneous etcetera super sale.”
13:04: Mark: Oh, Ok. So did that eventually lead to Second Edition?
Mary: Yes. Yeah. ‘Cause we did that on an annual basis, and each chairman tried to outdo the previous chairman in the funds raised. So I think in the final years we were raising something like $16,000 in that one event, and we were running out of … Well, when we did M.E.S.S. initially, people housed things in their garages, and then it was brought to the Bales location … Thriftway location … for the sale. And then we were offered space at C. E. Mason School, so that gave us a lot more space. And so that's when it really began to grow. And then we were no longer able to have that space, and that's when we started thinking about the resale shop. We had thought about it previously, because there was a little white house somewhere, next to the gas station down there, and for a couple years, we … before the actual M.E.S.S. sale, we housed some clothing and odds and ends there, and opened it for a few hours a couple days a week. And that was very popular in the community, so that gave us the initial thought about a resale shop.
14:41:
Mary: So then when we lost that
space,
everybody was
talking about having a resale shop, and so I got a group together
and we—Jack Thurber was involved in
that,
and a number
of other
people—just setting
up,
“How
are we going to find out if it would be viable?”, and “What do we need to
do?”,
so we went and
interviewed all of the other resale shops, or very many of the
non-profit and profit in the
Portland area, and sort of took the best ideas from
… gathered
what we thought were
the better ideas. And they were all extremely helpful
to us. (We) took those things got
started.
15:22: Mark: About what year was that?
Mary: That was in 1987. So that first year we made $33,000, and we … the Association, or (rather) the Board, approved our project, and they gave us $6000 for start-up money, and we replaced … gave that all back to them.
15:45: Mark: Did you have to carve out a space here, or was it at a different location for a while?
Mary: Well, it was here. The DMV used to be located at the end of this building, and they were moving out of that space, and we were able to get that space.
16:05: Mark: So it sounds like Cedar Mill became a part of WCCLS pretty early on then.
Mary: Yes, I think that they did, yeah. And as I said, Fred Gregor and Joyce Stride kind of took over coordinating the library activities that first year. And then at the end of that year they asked me if I would do that, and so I said “yes”. And so then I was sort of “coordinator” of the library. And after that year, then we were able to hire Kathy Mann, under the CETA program, where wages were paid by, oh, the government somehow. So it got young people coming out of school the ability to get a job, and so they were funded through the CETA program. I'm not sure if the total wage was, or just part of it, but it was a program that the government sponsored. And so Kathy was with us then.
17:14: Mark: Was she a librarian?
Mary: Yes. Yeah, she had a degree. And then after her we had another librarian, Greg Smoots, and then John (lastname?) came in after that, and then Peter (Leonard).
Mark: Ok.
Mary: So (I) was that … coordinated that effort. And I think just before that, I also was … or after that effort I was volunteer coordinator for a while. And so I attended all of the Board meetings for about ten years, because of just reporting to them on the activities. And then I became a member of the Board and went through the ranks there.
17:54: Mark: So we talked about some of the difficulties in the first year. So since you were involved in the first ten years or so, so intimately, what were the big challenges … during that time?
Mary: Well, I think we were always … the biggest challenge I think was the fundraising and getting funds to keep it going. And just … one of the things I remember, aside from the money, was just getting everything done, and thinking “Wow, if we get this done, we’ll be caught up,” and then we realized that if we ever caught up, we would not be viable. (Chuckle.)
18:33: Mary: And so it's just been wonderful to see that continue, continue, continue, continue, as this place has just grown and expanded. And it's just exactly step by step what happened all along the way, we were just always not having enough space, not having enough material, not having enough as the community just grew around us. And so it's just wonderful that that momentum has been … has continued. Because there was a lot of momentum and public support when we … I was always on the phone calling for volunteers. At one point, for volunteers for the M.E.S.S., and the minute they heard my name and “Cedar Mill”, “Ooo-kay, I will do it again.” And so the community was extremely supportive.
19:23: Mary: And also we went … we did a lot of things with AM Northwest (local TV program). We appeared on that, and got our name in the newspapers. So we did a lot of outreach in the community to … to have our name seen, and our activities reported on. We got a lot of good support from all of those agencies that we went to. Harry Bodine was a reporter at the time, so we always got him to say a few good words about us. And AM Northwest was always very cooperative. So those were some of the things that we did to … to stay alive. But it all helped. However, the community was just extremely supportive, and continued to donate books, and we then had a budget where we could buy books.
20:22: Mary: And I'm thinking that Mary Jane was our first paid employee, outside of CETA. So she was here early on.
20:39: Mark: So when you look back now … you talked a little bit about this … but thinking of where the Library’s at now, is this … can you ever have imagined that it would be a library this size … working this way … with a branch library?
Mary: Yeah. Yes. Yes. It isn’t a surprise, let me put it that way.
Mark: Ok. Well, that’s good to know.
Mary: Yeah, that’s what we were … that was the whole hope, that it would be here forever, and that it would continue to grow to meet the needs of the community, in many ways. And we were, early on, always very interested in the growth of the children's area, and reaching out to the children in the community.
21:27: Mark: So do you have any advice to other communities who are looking at doing something similar? I know there's a group in Aloha that’s doing something … trying to establish a library over there.
Mary: Yes. Well, I think it's really important to reach out to as many different segments of the community as you can, and to get as many forces involved as possible, and to keep them going. My feeling always was that for each volunteer that you have, you have the core of a support group in the community. And so the more volunteers you have, the bigger your core of support grows. And I think that's what’s kept our levies passing is because we have a lot of volunteers, and each one of them has a lot of friends, and influence within a certain group of people. And so that way it really gets a lot of support throughout the community. So that would be … my advice is to just get a lot of volunteers, and get their support, and go from there.
22:48: Mark: Sounds like good advice. Well, that’s the extent of our questions. Is there anything else that you want to add, that you’ve thought of while you've been going through these?
Mary: Well,
it was just a great
experience for me. And
of course I'm
still involved, and will be until I can’t do it.
And it's just rewarding to see what has
happened, and I've been rewarded by having
wonderful friends as a result of all of
this.
I guess one of the
things that surprises me, or
not
really, it's just that technology
…
the technology that
has changed the way that we … that the library is seen
now,
with computers and
all of that. So just in
general,
not specific
to our library, but all of
them,
and
how it still is a great
resource, providing all of those new
technologies.
(recording
splice)
23:49:
Mark: At this point, Mary added a few more details about
the resale shop and Second Edition, which we added
here.
(recording splice)
Mary: … store, but a resale shop, that was … had high standards. ‘Cause that's what we wanted in the community, rather than just another Goodwill kind of store. And we've done that, we've made it a first class shop all along. And then when we were having the M.E.S.S., Ken Findley was also on our Board along the way, so he would be a good resource also, but he was always very supportive, giving us equipment and just all kinds of help in setting up, and allowing us to use their property, for the sale. And just giving us as much help as we needed. So that was always appreciated.
Mark: So I'm not familiar with … what business did he …
Mary: Ken Findley
was
Odus Bales’
stepson.
So
he was part of
the Bales
organization.
(recording
splice)
25:03: Mary: And we would go and tell
our sad story, or our interesting
story,
to
furniture
suppliers …
anything that
we needed, we would go in force with a
couple of us and give our wonderful story and
get discounts, and get
donations. Maury (Maurice Packer, Mary’s
husband) got
a lot of donations through Fred Meyer. When we set up
the
resale
shop,
they had a lot of
extra materials and fixtures that we got from
them.
And
so we just
went wherever we could, and got what we could get for
less than anyone else was paying, so that helped a
lot.
That
was one of
the challenges that went along with not enough
funding, we just never could buy anything
without getting some kind of a
discount.
So they all
knew us down there, in the SE business
district, where they were selling
things, and we would go through their
warehouses and find … Grand + Benedicts
had
a
used
section,
and we would … I
(think) it
was seven
stories,
and we’d roam through that finding what we
needed, and getting it for
…
sometimes,
oh, well you
could just have that. So that was both for the
library
and for Second Edition. Lee Brenner was great
at it too;
she would go
and
(chuckle)
get all kinds of
stuff.
26:44: Mark: Well thank you very much for coming to talk to us about this.
Mary: Thank you. It's been a pleasure.
(end music)