Carl Vertrees

I’m impressed with the direction The Redmond Spokesman is taking under Tim Trainor’s leadership.

When he asked if I would consider reviving my column, he didn’t have to twist my arm.

My connection with The Spokesman began in January 1975, when I became Western Communications’ second publisher in Redmond. WesCom had acquired the newspaper from long-time owner Mary Brown in 1971.

In about 1980 I began writing a column which appeared weekly until my retirement in January 2021. Yes, Ginger and I are still here, in the same home on a large lot in north Redmond.

We could think of no other place we’d rather live. We’re comfortable with the growth and believe Redmond still has its own personality. We wouldn’t go back to the Seattle area where we were born and raised.

The rapid expansion in Central Oregon has resulted in several major benefits: Numerous jobs created by new industries mean our kids don’t have to move away, and more doctors and medical facilities allow us older folks to remain here. A dramatic increase in flights and destinations at the Redmond airport means we no longer have to fly north to go south.

Our daughters are married and independent, living in Des Moines, Wash., and McMinnville, Ore. We first became grandparents in 2006. Grace is 16 and a junior at McMinnville High School where her brother Ben, 14, is entering as a freshman. Their cousin Lizzy, also 14 and a freshman, is attending a charter high school in Federal Way.

My first goal after retirement was to take the OSU Master Gardener class. I skipped the next-to-last day of work to attend the first class. We continue to plant a large garden every spring despite our potentially hazardous weather and the critters that occasionally maraud it. Tomatoes are usually our most bountiful crop, starting our own seedlings in April and putting them in the ground in late May. Our changing climate creates new anomalies that provide challenges. The hot summer has hampered pollination, but a warmer September and October will probably facilitate ripening.

Ginger and I have been superintendents of Land Products exhibits at the Deschutes County Fair since 2008 in the open class building, which represents the down-to-earth tenets upon which fairs were established.

Early in retirement we started attending a twice-weekly exercise class designed for older folks. We added additional days of aerobics and weight training, something we had never done before. I believe that routine has helped us become octogenarians. The class also broadened our network of friends to fill in for those who have died or moved away.

And I began making wine, four to six batches a year, from wine kits manufactured in Canada. I discontinued that in 2019 catering to a ruptured heart valve that made lifting six gallons of liquid too strenuous.

We remain relatively healthy. I have most of my originally issued body parts. Ginger has two new knees and a hip to enhance her mobility. We were inoculated against Covid as early as possible, and twice boosted.

We are not snowbirds, but we have learned how to escape occasionally, usually in the late fall or winter when cooler, shorter days make outdoor activities less conducive in Central Oregon. We toured Australia and New Zealand in 2008 and sailed the Mediterranean in 2016.

Before Covid we went on cruises now and then, the last one in 2019 to celebrate 50 years since we departed Alaska where I served three years in the U.S. Navy with Armed Forces Radio. We’ve discovered the warmth of Kauai and Mexico.

Kiwanis remains my major volunteer activity. I’ll relinquish the job of secretary in October after 19 years in that position. I’ve chaired the wine dinner committee and scholarships. Ginger joined the Redmond Garden Club after she retired two years after I did, from Central Oregon Community College support staff.

The other major change in my personal life occurred on Jan. 6, 2021, when I gave up my lifelong registration as a Republican. The insurrection at the nation’s Capitol was too much. I may be moderate politically, but I can tolerate only so much. I’ve been disenchanted with Oregon’s redistricting this year. Living in the same home for nearly 48 years, we’ve been severed from Redmond with legislative representation from The Dalles and Vale.

Life goes on.